How To Get Mold Out Of Car Seats? 3 Easy Steps

Fungus or even dust isn’t my kind of driving environment, to be honest. And I never allow my car, interior, and, of course, the baby car seat to remain dirty for long. Because this attracts insects and fungus to make a living there and spreads over very quickly.

Once, Lily’s car seat grew a very small amount of mold, and I got worried as Liliy is allergic to dust and fungus. I started researching and consulting about how to get mold out of car seats.

I came up with 3 solutions: i) vinegar water, ii) salt water, and iii) a biological cleaning enzyme. Just confirm the manual supports the ingredients and apply any of the suitable solutions.

Here, you must not avoid two things. i) the manufacturer’s manual, and ii) the safety measurements. Avoiding any of these can lead you or your car seat to an unpleasant event.

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1 How To Get Mold Out Of Car Seats? The Easy And Effective Ways
2 Why Is My Car Seat Moldy?
3 Wrapping Up
4 You May Also Like

How To Get Mold Out Of Car Seats? The Easy And Effective Ways

Removing molds and other fungus from your baby’s car seat is very simple. Only a few ingredients that are easy to get and a proper application of them can remove them in no time.

Before starting the process, please maintain safety measurements, and it’s mandatory for every chemical activity.

Lily and Max’s car seat hardly got a chance to grow molds. Once I noticed that, I did some research and came up with the following solutions. But apply only the manual recommended solution on your car seat, or else the fabric and overall look can get spoilt.

Method 01: Using Vinegar With Water

Remove molds from car seats using vinegar with water

Vinegar, aka acetic acid, is one of the most reliable and effective cleaning agents against all kinds of fungi, including molds. If your car seat, along with any interior portion, gets affected by molds, apply vinegar mixed with some water.

I often use this technique to keep narrow corners in my house clean of fungi. It also works as an insect repellent. It leaves a mild smell that fades away in no time. You can also use vinegar with soap as an organic insect trap for your home garden.

To remove molds this way, you’ll need some elements, such as

Vinegar (make sure it’s 5% volume)
Water (room temperature)
Microfiber
A mixing bottle
Vacuum cleaner

After you arrange all the necessary elements, the main section starts. Just follow the steps below. It will be over in no time.

Step 01: Prepare the Mixture

You have to make a mixture of water and vinegar following a 4:1 ratio, which means 4 parts water for each 1 part vinegar. If the molds are widespread in the car seat and trying to infect the surrounding interior, you can double the vinegar portion.

Note: Before preparing the mixture, please make sure that the fabric will remain unharmed. You can find this info in the car seat manual.

Step 02: Spray the Area

You need to prepare the mixture in such a quantity that allows you to apply it twice. Now, start spraying the solution all over the affected place. Next, leave it to soak for around half an hour. In the meantime, monitor the molds with a magnifying glass.

Step 03: Rub and Then Vacuum the Area

Within less than half an hour, the mixture will soak completely. Next, grab a microfiber cloth and start rubbing at a medium pace.

You can use a soft brush, too, to agitate the activity. Next, using a wet vacuum cleaner, soak all the remaining liquids from the area.

This will accelerate the fabric drying process. If you don’t have a functional wet vacuum cleaner, just use the natural sunlight and air as long as you feel needed.

Optional: Sprinkle Some Borax

If you are a carrom player, you’ve got it right.

So, if you have some borax powder left in your stock, sprinkle it and wait for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, the powder will sit firmly and start reacting with the fungi particles. Later suck it out with a vacuum cleaner.

Method 02: Using Natural Salt

Remove molds from car seats using vinegar with natural salt

No need to confuse it with iodized sodium chloride. To fight against the molds, you can use any type of non-iodized salt, such as rock salt, sea salt, black salt, etc. A gentle solution of saline can directly affect and kill the fungi like mold.

Saline is lethal to organisms like this. So, if your car -seat fabric has no issue with saline water, feel free to apply it. Just like before, you’ll need some assets to collect, such as

Sea salt or any non-iodized salt.
Regular tap water.
A spray bottle.
A vacuum cleaner or a soft brush

After you collect all the ingredients, start preparing the solution. Only 2 steps are enough to complete the task. They are:

Step 01: Prepare the Mixture

Mix a small quantity of salt into tap water. You can use a 1:2 ratio where 1 portion of salt and 2 portions of regular tap water. Now mix it properly and pour it into a spray bottle.

Step 02: Spray at Your Liberty

As saline water directly affects fungus, you can spray saline water as much as you want. It has to be the affected area only. So, if you’re not sure about the radius of the affected portion, please check thoroughly & mark it. Now, cover the rest of the surroundings and start spraying.

Step 03: Prepare the Mixture

After spraying the affected area, leave it for around 20 minutes to soak and kill the fungus. When the area gets dried, you will see a layer of salt crusts over the surface. It’s basically a mixture of salt, fungi, and a little bit of dust.

You can remove the layer using a brush vacuum or both.

However, I prefer using the brush to break the layer into a powder and then suck them out with a vacuum cleaner. Now, whatever is left is a very inhospitable environment for fungi formation.

Note: it is the easiest way to remove molds from your baby’s car seat and car interior but the salt layer may cause a little dampness on the fabric.

As always, I prefer to make sure that the car seat manual doesn’t restrict you from using the desired solution.

Method 03: Using Biology

First, make sure your car seat model manual doesn’t reject using cleaners, especially biological cleaning products. If it’s a green signal, then this section is also for you.

These kinds of products are packed with 100% natural and safe bacteria, biodegradable surfactants, and water. So, you can expect a complete demise of visible contamination along with the bad odor. For that, you’ll need some ingredients, such as

Biological cleaning enzymes.
All-purpose cleaning material.
Spray bottle.
A soft brush.
Soft cloth for wiping.
A vacuum cleaner.

After you have collected all the ingredients, The steps are as follows

Step 01: Prepare a Cleaner Mixture

Here, you will prepare 2 types of mixtures.

The first one is regular all-purpose cleaning products with water. And the second one is a biological cleaning product with water. Before you do anything, please make sure to wear some safety measures like gloves, glass, and a mask.

Step 02: Spray the All-Purpose Cleaner Mixture

Here, you have to mark the affected area and separate it by covering the surrounding area. Now, wearing the same safety measurements, spray a good amount of all-purpose cleaner mixture and wait to soak it

Next, start rubbing the affected area with a brush and later suck the moisture out with a wet vacuum cleaner. You have to vacuum the area until there is a little bit of wetness left.

Step 03: Spray the Biological Cleaning Enzyme

Now, you’ll spray the second mixture of biological enzymes and water and leave it for about 10 minutes. If your surrounding covering is not good enough and the spray spills over there, wipe that with a cleaning cloth.

After soaking, start rubbing the area with a soft brush. This will help to clean more deeply. Never agitate the area with force because of the fabric.

It’s just a gentle rub for as long as it needs. It will remove not only the fungi but also a total clean of the area.

Step 04: Remove The Cleaning Solutions

Now use the wet vacuum cleaner again to suck out all the moisture and other particles. Later, leave your car seat, along with the car itself, open to dry. An open session of 30 minutes in a sunny place where the air flows well is enough to complete the task.

A little breeze with air freshener inside the car will be mind-refreshing after much effort.

Why Is My Car Seat Moldy?

If you have made it this far, then you may already know the reason behind it. Cleaning car seat, it is. Kids are not capable of eating or doing something neat and clean. In your case, your car seat must have faced food particles, drink spillover, vomit, etc., that you have never or hardly cleaned.

Tip: Car seat wash is equally important as the post-wash installation is. So make sure it’s properly installed.

These residues get stacked layer by layer along with dust, which builds an ideal environment to grow fungi and attract other pests. For colony formation, molds need only a moist condition, a temperature between 60-80°F, and enough nutrients.

Let’s say your kid spilled over coke, and you forgot to clean. If it can stay for about 24 hours, the wetness, sugar, and other food particles in the drink can easily feed a mold colony. This can happen with your regular car seats, too.

How To Prevent Fungi Growth In The Baby Car Seat?

Prevent fungi from growing in your car seat

The very basic way to prevent fungus, dust, and other insects at any place is to clean that area from time to time and never leave it wet. Because a wet surface attracts and holds all kinds of residues, such as dust and food particles.

Regular clean-up, proper air ventilation, and sunlight from time to time can easily prevent molds and other fungus from growing. Sometimes, you park the car for a long time in the garage, which also creates a chance to grow fungus inside.

If your car’s interior gets in touch with high-humidity weather, an open box of charcoal or baking soda can absorb the humidity and remove bad odors. A freshener can also remove the odor, though.

Wrapping Up

Over time, car seats can get dirty, which is normal. But leaving them in the same condition for a long time is not an ideal condition, which leads to fungi formation. Use any of the 3 methods (vinegar, salt, or biological cleaning enzymes) once and keep cleaning your car seats and the interior regularly.

This is a mandate, or else fungus can form again. A little attention to your baby while eating, a vacuum cleaner, a soft cloth, and a sunny day with plenty of air ventilation are enough to keep these unwanted guests away.

You can do it easily while servicing the car, so these are my methods about how to get mold out of car seats. I will update you with some more effective ways from time to time.