It's easy to understand why toilets are gross. But cars may be worse. A study has found that cars can host more germs than the average toilet seat.
The trunk of your car hosts higher amounts of bacteria than the average toilet seat, research showsImage: David J. Phillip/AP Photo/picture alliance
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Cars are not only filthy on the outside, polluting the atmosphere with CO2 emissions — they are also filthy on the inside, more so than you possibly imagine.
The inside of a car can host significantly higher levels of germs than the average toilet seat, according to a study by researchers at Aston University in Birmingham, UK.
Researchers collected swab samples from the insides of five used cars and compared them with swabs from two toilets.
In most cases, they say they found high levels of bacteria in the cars, equaling or exceeding the bacterial contamination found on the toilets.
The highest concentrations of bacteria were discovered in the trunk of the car.
Next, it was the driver's seat, then the gearstick, back seat, and dashboard.
The steering wheels had the lowest amounts of bacteria of all the areas the researchers tested. They say that's likely because people have used more hand sanitizer during the COVID-19 pandemic than they did before.
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E. coli in the trunk
Jonathan Cox, a microbiologist and lead author of the study, told DW they found large traces of E. coli in the trunk, or boot, of the cars.
"We tend to care a little bit less about cleanliness in the boot of our cars because it's the main place we put things to transport them from A to B," said Cox.
People often transport pets or muddy shoes in the trunk, said Cox, and that may explain the high levels of E. coli. The E. coli bacteria can cause serious food poisoning.
It's also become common for people to have loose fruit and vegetables rolling around the boots of their cars, said Cox. That's been the case in the UK since recent campaigns started encouraging people to reduce their use of disposable plastic bags from supermarkets.
"That's one way we can introduce these fecal coliforms into our homes and into our kitchens and potentially introduce them into our bodies," Cox said. "The purpose of the study is to create some awareness around that."
Fighting deadly pathogens
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A benchmark in surface bacteria studies
It's a reminder that just because a surface appears clean, it doesn't mean that it is clean.
Phones are no better than cars: They have also been found to be dirtier than toilets. Some studies suggest phones are up to ten times dirtier than toilet seats.
And money's even worse. Researchers at New York University have found that the surface of a single banknote can host about 3,000 types of bacteria.
Toilet seats are often used in studies of this nature — but why? It's about public perception.
"It gives people a comparison," said Cox. "Most of us bleach our toilets, probably on a daily basis, but when do we ever bleach our cars? We don't."
That attitude helps explain the results of the study, Cox said. While people know they have to clean their toilets, they don't think of their car interiors in the same way.
"The purpose of the study is not to scare people. It's just to get people thinking that the bacteria in their cars is not necessarily where they first thought, and also to get them thinking that it may be worth cleaning their cars on the inside as well as on the outside once in a while," said Cox.
Toilets: High-tech, ancient or made of gold
Everyone has to go, but hardly anyone talks about it. On World Toilet Day, here are some of the most unusual latrines around the globe.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Karmann
Ancient loo in Jerusalem
This square block of limestone with a hole in the middle is a toilet that was part of a magnificent royal estate in the 7th century B.C., according to the Israeli Antiquities Authority. The 2,700-year-old private toilet was discovered in October 2021. Underneath it, archaeologists found a septic tank hewn out of the rock, reportedly a rare find because only rich people could afford toilets.
The oldest toilets found to date were built by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia between 3,500 and 3,000 B.C. This photo shows ancient Roman toilets on the Leptis Magna archaeological site in Libya. For the Romans, going to the bathroom was far from a private affair, it was a social event. The latrines — they had no partitions — offered space for 60 people all at once.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
XXL toilet
The oversized toilet in the building's facade, designed by French designer Philippe Starck, is obviously a sculpture not meant to be used. The huge toilet bowl is an advertising gimmick for a German manufacturer in Hornberg in southern Germany. From the rim, visitors have a view of the Black Forest. The Western ceramic toilet bowl is not necessarily the standard everywhere in the world, however.
Image: Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa/picture alliance
Different customs
Toilets in Asian countries are usually of the squatting kind, which has two advantages: the posture facilitates bowel movements and there is no unsanitary toilet seat. Paper for wiping is not a must, either: in many countries, including in the Arab world, running water is provided — and preferred.
Image: Soeren Stache/dpa/picture alliance
High-tech in Japan
Japan tops the list of high-tech Western flush toilet technology, from automatic air freshener features to heated seats, inbuilt stereo music systems and of course WiFi.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Clever panels
In Japan's capital, Tokyo, some public toilets are transparent — the wall panels only become opaque when the toilet is in use. The Japanese city of Ichihara is home to the world's largest public toilet, a glass cubicle with a lavatory on a 200,000-square-meter site. It is for women only, and the designer is none other than Sou Fujimoto.
Image: Hiro Komae/AP Photo/picture alliance
Desert-style comfort
The above toilets are located in southern Tunisia, in the middle of the Chott el Djerid in Tunisia. The salt lake served a movie location for the childhood home of Luke Skywalker, one of the main protagonists in the Star Wars films.
Image: imago images/VWPics
Art project
This toilet is a work of art. Dutch star architect Rem Koolhaas designed the unisex toilet in 2006 for the "A Star is born" art project in Groningen.
Image: BrunoPress/imago images
Hundertwasser toilet
The Austrian-born architect and artist Friedensreich Hunderwasser designed this bathroom in his typical quirky, colorful and playful style. It is just one room in a building he gave the New Zealand town of Kawakawa, where he lived for many years until his death in 2000.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Chinese desert toilet
Tourists visiting scenic spots in Inner Mongolia will find this toilet in Xiangsha Bay, China's first resort in the very east of the Kubuqi Desert. More than 40% of the world's population lacks adequate hygienic sanitary facilities. The UN launched World Toilet Day (WTD) in 2001 to draw attention to the problem. "There will be no sustainable future without toilets," the website says.
Image: Imaginechina-Tuchong/imago images
Space toilet
In 2020, NASA spent $23 million (€20 million) on two toilets in space — the most expensive toilets ever. Unlike the predecessor model (pictured is the 2003 toilet in the Russian "Zvezda" module at the International Space Station ISS), the new ones are also designed for women.
Image: NASA/picture-alliance
18-karat gold
In 2016/17, visitors to the Guggenheim Museum in New York got to use this 18-karat gold toilet entitled "America," installed as a sculptural performance by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. "Whatever you eat, a two-hundred-dollar lunch or a two-dollar hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise," the artist argued — and people waited in line to use it. The artwork was stolen in 2019.
