How to Clean Cloth and Leather Car Seats

If you suspect there’s mold in your car, have no fear. The professionals are here to help. Mold is considered extremely dangerous, so avoid getting behind the wheel until you’ve taken care of the problem. We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about getting rid of mold and how you can prevent these kinds of mishaps going forward. 

What Causes Mold?

Mold is a natural part of life. In the wilderness, mold forms on trees and the ground, breaking down dead organic material. But you don’t want mold inside your home or car. 

The problem usually begins with excess moisture that doesn’t have a chance to dry properly. If you spill a bottle of water and leave your car in the garage overnight, you could wake up to a mess of mold in your car. Excess heat and humidity will only make the problem worse.

Mold will begin to grow on wet surfaces, usually upholstery, fabric and other absorbent materials. Mold spores are microscopic and invisible to the naked eye. These spores may start to spread around the inside of your vehicle, especially if you turn on the A/C or heat.

If you suspect you have mold in your car, avoid contact and leave your car immediately until you have a chance to clean up the mess. 

Why is it so Dangerous? 

Once it starts growing, mold is considered toxic to humans. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “molds produce allergens, or substances that can cause allergic reactions, irritants, and in some cases, potentially toxic substances, a.k.a. mycotoxins.”

Touching or breathing in these particles can lead to an allergic reaction. Mold also reduces air quality, making it difficult to breathe. This can be a danger to people with asthma, allergies, respiratory issues and those with compromised immune systems. 

Mold also irritates the eyes, skin and throat. Symptoms may include fever, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, red eyes and skin rash (dermatitis).

Having mold in your car can exacerbate these health risks, especially when the windows are closed. There’s not a lot of room to move around, so you will have no choice but to breathe in the mold for minutes–if not hours–on end. Rolling down the windows can help, but any amount of exposure can be hazardous to your health.

How to Recognize Mold

You may not be entirely certain that you have mold in your car. That’s okay! We’ll help you recognize the signs so you can respond immediately if you feel that your health is at risk.

The spores usually take on a white, spongy look with blue around the edges. Mildew, which is one of most common molds in households, appears black. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, mold spores “usually appear as distinctively wooly mats.” They also produce a foul odor, which is described as a “musty, earthy smell.”

Other forms of mold can appear green, gray or even brown. The spores usually gather in a circle, so be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. 

Use caution when inspecting anything that looks or smells like mold. 

How to Get Rid of Mold in Your Car

If you have mold in your car, follow these steps to remove it as safely as possible:

Act Fast

Time is of the essence when it comes to cleaning up mold. The longer it sits in your car, the longer it will spread. Mold also damages the underlying surface. It will continue to soak into the floor, carpet or upholstery the longer you wait, which could ruin your car for good.

Should You Call a Professional?

As you inspect the area in question, keep in mind that you can always hire a professional, either a cleaner who knows their way around mold or a car detailing service.

OSHA recommends hiring a professional if the affected area is more than 10 square feet, usually 3 ft. by 3 ft. This would be the entire back half of your car. If the problem is truly out of control, call for backup or consider taking your car to the local dump.

Before hiring a professional, make sure they have experience dealing with mold in tight areas. Heavy-duty mold cleanup usually requires special equipment and chemicals.

Wear Protective Gear 

It’s never a good idea to clean up mold with your bare hands. Treat the area as if it were ground zero for a new infectious disease. That means you should wear a durable pair of household cleaning gloves. They should be made of plastic or some other waterproof material so they don’t absorb the mold. Wear a face mask to avoid breathing in the spores. 

Get Outside

Mold spores love dark, wet corners, so make sure you’re not doing the spores any favors. Bring in as much light and fresh air as possible to prevent the mold from spreading further. Roll down the windows and pull your car out of the garage. Avoid working in confined areas with poor ventilation. 

Identify the Affected Area

Treating and getting rid of mold can feel like a game of whack-a-mole, especially if the mold starts to spread. As soon as you clean up one area, another spot appears. That’s why it’s important to inspect your car. Find all the affected areas and treat them at once to get rid of mold for good. 

Start with the original source of the problem and look around the affected area to see how much of it has been exposed. Look under the seats, on the carpet and in between tight nooks and crannies to see if the mold has spread. Make sure you have enough light to see the spores in question. Avoid sitting on or rubbing up against the mold, as you may spread it by accident. 

Remove Excess Debris

Depending on how long the mold had been around, it could be dry and crusty, or moist and malleable. If the mold is dry and crusty, use a brush with stiff bristles to break some of these particles loose. Use a vacuum cleaner or shop vac to suck up these pieces. It’s a good idea to either toss the brush or leave it out in the garage. The same goes for your vacuum cleaner. Make sure it has a bag and empty out the vacuum before taking it in the house–or better yet, leave it outside and use a separate vacuum for your house. 

If the mold is wet and malleable, you can use a rag or paper towel to pick up a glob. Quickly put it in the trash and take the bag out to the street so it doesn’t go near your home. You can also use a wet-dry vacuum to suck up the moist spores.

Disinfect the Area

There are several ways to disinfect the area in question. You can use a homemade cleaning solution using one part water and four parts vinegar, or one quart of water, ½ cup of vinegar, ¼ teaspoon of clove oil and one tablespoon of baking soda. Avoid touching or spilling the clove oil as direct contact can lead to skin irritation.

For hard surfaces, scrub the area with the cleaning solution and let it dry completely.

For fabric and porous surfaces, spray on the mixture using a spray bottle. Let it sit on the surface for about 20 minutes. This gives the vinegar a chance to kill the mold spores. 

For stains on seats, try using Borax powder. Let it sit on the stain for at least 10 minutes and then suck up the remaining powder with a vacuum. 

You may want to throw away the car mat or fabric in question if it is too far gone to save. In some cases, the mold may be impossible to remove. 

Soak Up the Remaining Fluid

Once the stain has had a chance to soak, use your shop vac or wet-dry vac to soak up what’s left of the cleaning mixture. It’s important to let the affected area dry naturally. Keep your car out in the sun or fresh air with the windows down to let the moisture out; otherwise, that stain will just turn into more mold. 

Wash Off Your Seats

Last but not least, it’s time to give the interior one last scrub down. Use water and a regular cleaning solution, such as detergent, to thoroughly clean off the various surfaces in your car. Use other car cleaning products to freshen up the interior. It’s always better to err on the side of caution and do more cleaning than necessary. 

Once the stain is gone, use the smell test to make sure you’re in the clear. The odor should be gone. If you still smell something a little funky, use an air freshener to breathe easier behind the wheel. Continue to spray the seats with fabric freshener like Febreze. 

In the following days and weeks, avoid sitting in the car with the windows up for long periods of time. Keep the windows down to help the space dry out.

How to Prevent Mold

As you can see, cleaning the mold out of your car is no easy feat. Considering the risks that come with sipping a beverage behind the wheel, you can never be too careful. One mistake and the entire interior could light up with mold spores, rendering your car undriveable. 

That’s why it’s best to lay down a set of seat covers. The upholstery on your seats can be a prime target for mold. Cleaning the spores out of your seats can be next to impossible. With car and truck seat covers, you don’t have to worry about spilled beverages turning into toxic spores. The material soaks up the fluid before it gets into your seats, which makes cleaning up a breeze. When things go wrong, you won’t have to treat upholstery. Just throw your seat covers in the wash and they will be good as new. As long as you get your covers in the wash immediately following a spill, you shouldn’t have to worry about mold.

We also recommend putting down a set of rubber floor mats. They come with deep grooves and ridges for pooling together excess moisture so it doesn’t end up in your floors. If a beverage goes down, carefully lift the floor mat and take it outside to let the excess fluid run off into the grass. Use water and some soap to quickly clean off the mat and you’ll be good to go.

It’s best to use custom car floor mats that fit according to the exact size and shape of your car. This way, the mat extends over the entire surface and nothing can slip between the cracks. 

The best way to prevent mold from forming in your car is to limit moisture. Use caution when sipping coffee on your way to work and always remember to roll up the windows when parking your car outdoors. A massive downpour can lead to major headaches down the line. 

Change out your car air filter to keep the air flowing in your car. Keep the windows open whenever possible to bring in some fresh air.

Regardless of how much you prepare, there’s always a chance mold could reappear in your car. Moisture is bound to get in from time to time. Give yourself more peace of mind and keep these cleaning materials on hand so you can clean up spills and stains as soon as they appear. Don’t wait until you get home to clean up the mess, as it will quickly turn into mold.

Use these tips to keep mold out of your car for good and you can breathe easy every time you drive.