I am an asthmatic and have had no attacks or exaserbations of my condition while driving the Camry Hybrid for nearly 6 months. In fact, I found that the cabin is less dusty than my other car without the system in question. The TCH filter is not HEPA certified I believe. Like I said earlier, the diesel exhaust emissions with larger particulates are far more dangerous to everyone's health. Yes, excessive ozone gas in a confined area may pose a health risk, however, the gas is easily oxidized and breaks down to oxygen rapidly. It may not even be detectable in the TCH cabin by intruments. I vacuum my cars almost weekly. The Camry's interior by far stays cleaner.

 

I also have asthma and have never had any adverse effect from the Plasmacluster Ionizer. Additionally, I've never detected any ionizer 'scent' (e.g., electrical storm).

 

Marianne, if you both can't take a long test drive with a dealer, identify where you're from, and if a TCH owner nearby reads this, he/she may volunteer for an afternoon drive.

 

I've have asthma for over 50 years. Currently on a steroid taper for the last 3 months. I have gone 4-400 miles trips with my TCH and have found my asthma is better while I'm in the TCH on a long trip. Usually long drives in other cars required me to do breathing treatments every 4 hours, not so in the TCH.

 

Wow, sounds like you had better not get this car. I might be selling mine too, I can't afford to go to the ER everytime I drive to work.

If you can't find ny other vehicle and just have to have a TCH, you can find somebody who will clip the wire to the plasma cluster if you look hard enough. It might not be the dealer, and it might affect your warranty, but it can be done.

If you live in california (or a california emissions state), just wait for the altima to hit the dealer lots and try one of those. The altima hybrid is not being sold in all states, but only in limited markets.

 

Hi Mr. Happy, I'm in Fullerton in Orange County, California. After everything yesterday I started looking at the Altima Hybrid. We are going to go down and test drive it this weekend. It doesn't have the ionizer, and from what I have read Nissan has licensed Toyota's hybrid technology, so the Altima is basically a Toyota hybrid.

I'm not sure why we never had the Altima on our radar from the beginning. It looks like a great car. I don't know why, but I thought it was a bit more expensive than it actually is. (We are doing our car search 25k and under.) We aren't looking for a race car, and according to the demensions we've read online, the Altima hybrid should be good for us.

 

Ya I got hay fever! Alphalfa I think, plasi never made it worse, ROTFFLMAO!!

 

ag4ever — Unfortunately, you can't just clip the lead to the Plasmacluster! Or, at least, you'd better clip the right lead. The tests described in the one document I posted (AC-150to152.pdf) indicate that the control line that goes from PCD1 to PCL must be held at +12 volts to switch the Plasmacluster off, and presumably grounded to switch it on! If you just clipped this lead, the unit would probably switch on! That's why you really need to unplug the connector (E12) from the actual Plasmacluster unit itself. [Were this not the case, it would have been easier to just disconnect the PCD1 line from the air-conditioning amplifier, which is easily accessible behind the glove compartment.] I'm attaching some further pages (AC-04to06.pdf) that show where the various air-conditioning components are located. I suspect that it probably is possible to do this without dismantling the car.

Stan

 

This is a bit disheartening. This is the email response I got back from Toyota in regard to my query about how the ionizer could be removed.


What Toyota doesn't grasp IMHO is that short term, most asthmatics won't have a problem with the ionizer in their car, but as the year(s)progress - so do the problems associated with ionization. The allergens that the ionizer is supposed to be "cleaning" from the air are deposited on nearby surfaces. Particularly, they appear to be deposited on the vent on the driver's side. As the pollen and other allergens accumulate, so does the driver's exposure. This is going to be accentuated by a blast of allergens every time the AC is first turned on as there will be a larger amount of stuff collected on the vent that will blow into the cab when the AC switches on. It may not be as much of a problem when the car is new, but I think it is going to become a bigger problem as time goes on.

I think Martin's suggestion that he vaccums every week is going to be VERY important to Camry hybrid owners who have severe allergies or asthma. This will greatly help to minimize the allergens that can collect on the vehicles surfaces.

I am sooooo frustrated by this. The Camry hybrid is a lovely, lovely car. It drives like a dream, and it is Motor Trends Car of the Year and we want it.

 

Any reason the non-asthmatic of the couple can't regularly wipe down the surfaces? Ionizers don't create dust and pollutants. They just settle them down to surfaces where they can be wiped off. I would think that pollutants and irritants sticking to where they can be cleaned off easier rather than just floating around in the air is a better choice.

I've been driving TCH for about 4 months and I can't say I've noticed any more dust sticking to surfaces during that time. I should know; I haven't cleaned the inside yet.