Overview

Volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs) are widely used in industry and can be emitted by many everyday products and materials. They have attracted attention in recent years because of their impact on indoor air quality. After homes and workplaces, people spend a lot of time in their vehicles. It is important to determine the material emissions of interior parts and to reduce them to an acceptable level, if required. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain comprehensive and reliable information about the types of organic compounds in the interior air of vehicles and also their concentrations. Monitoring emissions from vehicle trim components can be performed in several ways and the approach selected depends upon the desired outcome and the material type. For example, to obtain emissions data from complete assemblies (for example, a dashboard or seat), it is necessary to employ emission chambers or bags that have sufficient volume to house the complete assembly (typically = 1 m³). The performance of such tests may take several hours or even days, depending on specified equilibration times and the requirements of the relevant test protocol. This part of ISO 12219 outlines a screening method for measuring the types and levels of VOCs and SVOCs in vehicle trim components under controlled conditions using a small emission test chamber (small chamber). The described screening method can be used to investigate the emissions of car interior trim under conditions of real use where elevated temperatures are prevailing in the cabin of road vehicles. For this purpose, tests are performed at 65 °C and 100 °C. This part of ISO 12219 describes requirements for a small chamber and a test protocol. Measurements are carried out according to ISO 16000-6 (VOC) and ISO 16000-3. The capacity of a small chamber is not limited to small assemblies or representative test specimens of homogeneous car trim materials. Small chambers allow qualitative and quantitative VOC and SVOC emission data to be measured and recorded. The subsequent emission data can be used to develop a correlation between material level methods and the vehicle level method. This part of ISO 12219 is based on VDA 276 and correlates to ISO 16000-9.

Document: references other documents

Responsible national committee

NA 134-04-04-06 UA - Interior air of road vehicles  

Responsible international committee

ISO/TC 146/SC 6/WG 13 - Joint ISO/TC 146/SC 6 - ISO/TC 22 WG: Determination of volatile organic compounds in car interiors