Honda has launched an innovative new product that claims to filter viruses from the air inside a car. It’s only available in Japan at the moment, but the company plans to ramp up production to offer the product on its entire lineup.
The Kurumasuku (the name is a combination of the Japanese word for car and the English word for…well, you get that part) is aptly named because it’s not a new air filter. It’s a thin fabric covering for an air filter, not unlike the one you slip on your face when you go out these days. Made with a zinc-phosphate chemical treatment, it features millions of tiny spikes just a few nanometers long, designed to spear virus particles sucked in by the ordinary cabin filtration system.
Honda says it removed 99.8 percent of virus particles within 15 minutes in testing and should be good for 15,000 kilometers (about 9,320 miles) of use. Today, the Kurumasuku is available only on the tiny N-Box hatchback, only in Japan, and runs about $68. The company plans to expand sales to other models and other countries as fast as it can but offered no word on when it might reach our shores.
