How Often Should You Change Your Car's Cabin Air Filter?

In order to ensure reliability, a car needs to be serviced, and regularly. The best way to gauge when a car should be serviced is by checking your owner's manual, or by conforming with your local dealership. Usually, the manufacturer will recommend an oil service every 12 to 24 months, or between 5,000 and 15,000 miles — depending upon the car and its specific engine.

However, servicing a car is way more than just changing the oil. There is a much larger array of fluids, belts, and filters which all need changing at specific points in time in order to keep your car in top shape. One of those items in question is the cabin air filter, and for whatever reason, it's overlooked by many when it comes to servicing. As a general rule, most manufacturers recommend you change the cabin filter every 15,000 to 20,000 miles, but there are exceptions to that rule.

If you or your passengers suffer from allergies, it would make great sense to change your cabin air filter at least annually — ideally just before allergy season kicks in. This is because air that comes into the cabin flows through your cabin filter, so keeping this fresh and clean will restrict the amount of dust and pollen that can flow into the car.

On a similar note, for anyone that lives in a particularly dusty and polluted location, swapping the cabin air filter out more regularly than recommended by the manufacturer will help to keep the air flowing into your car at a higher quality. The cabin will block up quickly in dusty areas, which is why it makes sense to swap it out more often.

According to Ford, "A properly functioning cabin air filter can stop up to 90% of dust, pollen, and spore particles from entering the passenger compartment", so there really is nothing to lose from swapping it out as regularly as you like.

It's important to remember that different cars will have different recommendations as to when to change the cabin air filter. For example, while Ford recommends every 15,000 to 20,000 miles, Toyota suggests that it should be inspected every 10,000 miles. Inspecting it will enable the technician to see whether it's blocked and needs replacing, or clean enough to do another 10,000 miles of service.

Much like changing your own oil, changing the cabin air filter is usually something that can be done yourself at home with no specialist tools or knowledge required. Normally, the cabin air filter can be accessed behind a panel in the interior, and is simply slid out, and then a new one slid into its place. Your owner's manual should show how to access it, or, failing that, there is likely a YouTube tutorial out there detailing exactly how to tackle it.

Not only is this a quick and simple task to carry out, but it's also one of the cheapest things you can do in terms of maintaining your car. For example, AutoZone charges less than $25 for a Mazda 3 cabin air filter, and changing it should take no more than just a few minutes of your time.