Have you ever slid into the driver’s seat of your car and immediately sneezed, or gotten a whiff of something really foul? That is a pretty good indication that you might have to clean out your air vents – or even your whole air system, if you’re really feeling ambitious. This might sound like a difficult task, but it’s actually really simple and can refresh your whole car for a long time with just a little bit of elbow grease!

So first you should grab a vacuum, especially one with a long hose. Vacuum out the air vents of your car – all of them! Not only the ones that are directly facing the front seats, but the ones in the footwells, the ones for the back seats, and ESPECIALLY the defroster vent up next to the windshield. This one is often forgotten and can really collect a lot of dust. When this comes on, it’ll just blow all that dust into the air, which then goes right into your face. Not fun.

After you’ve vacuumed, get some cotton swabs dipped in a cleaning solution like Windex, or even white vinegar if you’re living the non-toxic lifestyle. Water will do as well. You’ll definitely need a few swabs, because you’re going to really go into your vents with them and get off anything that didn’t come up when you vacuumed. This can be caked on stuff like dust and pollen, which can not only make you sneeze but also smell kind of bad, especially if there’s any mildew in the vents from moisture.

If your car still smells kind of bad, you should check your cabin air filter. You can take your car into a dealership (I’m going to suggest King Kia, of course!) to have them take a look, or if you’re more of a DIY-er, you can find tutorials on the internet and do it yourself. If your cabin air filter looks gross, replace it! It’s a cheap fix and really really helps.

If there is STILL a smell, and it’s kind of musty, that might mean that there’s mildew in your AC evaporator. Drive a little ways out from your home and run the air (no AC, just air) on as high as possible for a few minutes. This will circulate air through the evaporator and dry up any moisture that’s causing mildew.

The final steps are just to Febreeze or get an air freshener and voilà! You’re all set! Air vents are easy to take care of, so make sure you maintain them and they’ll keep your car smelling fresh and feeling cool for a long time to come.