Original data · Updated June 2026
The Car-Care Safety Report
We read the Safety Data Sheet for every car-care chemical we review, then counted the hazards. Across 667 car-care chemicals and 565 ingredients: 32% carry a DANGER warning, 44% carry a Prop 65 burden, and the most common ingredient of all is Water.
Notable findings
- Carburetor cleaner, deicer, and throttle-body cleaner are the most hazardous categories in CarCareTruth's data; the worst, Carburetor Cleaner, averages 2.7/10 on health. →
- Of the 667 car-care chemicals CarCareTruth has scored, the GHS signal word splits into near-thirds: 32% DANGER, 33% WARNING, 35% none. →
- Across the 1,622 products CarCareTruth reviews, 89% disclose no VOC figure at all; among those that do, the highest is 1,070 g/L. →
- The single most common ingredient in car care, by CarCareTruth's count, is Water, found in 189 products. →
- 61% of the 667 car-care chemicals CarCareTruth scores carry at least one serious health-hazard code (eye damage, organ toxicity, carcinogen, or aspiration risk). →
The headline numbers
32%
carry a DANGER signal word#
214 of 667 car-care chemicals are classed DANGER — the most severe GHS signal word — on their own SDS.
61%
carry a serious health hazard code#
409 products carry at least one H3xx code — eye damage, organ toxicity, carcinogen warning, or aspiration risk.
44%
carry a Prop 65 burden#
294 products either warn under California Prop 65 or contain a Prop 65-listed ingredient.
26%
of disclosed-VOC products are high-VOC#
Of the 178 chemicals that publish a VOC number, 46 are at or above 250 g/L.
16%
have no published SDS we could find#
107 products don't make a Safety Data Sheet easy to find — flagged transparently, not hidden.
6.0
average health score (out of 10)#
Our health score translates the SDS hazard codes and ingredient chemistry into a single 1–10 figure for the realistic home-use case.
189
products contain Water#
The most common ingredient across the whole catalog. We track 514 distinct ingredients in active use across 37 chemical classes.
1%
are EPA Safer Choice certified#
Only 7 products carry the EPA's independent safer-ingredient certification.
Signal-word split: near-perfect thirds
The GHS signal word on each car-care chemical's own SDS.
VOC levels — and how rarely they're disclosed
Only 178 of 1,622 products publish a VOC number at all. Among those that do (highest: 1,070 g/L):
The most hazardous categories
Car-care categories ranked by average health score (lowest first; categories with at least 5 chemicals).
| Category | Products | % DANGER | Avg health |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carburetor Cleaner | 12 | 100% | 2.7 |
| Deicer / Frost Spray | 9 | 100% | 2.8 |
| Throttle Body Cleaner | 5 | 80% | 3.0 |
| Paint Touch-Up | 8 | 38% | 3.0 |
| Undercoating | 6 | 100% | 3.6 |
| Graphene Coating | 8 | 50% | 3.7 |
| Multi-Purpose Lubricant | 14 | 93% | 3.7 |
| Penetrating Oil / Multi-Purpose Lubricant | 14 | 100% | 3.9 |
| Tire Cleaner | 9 | 44% | 4.2 |
| Silicone Lubricant | 9 | 100% | 4.2 |
| Glass Coating | 12 | 50% | 4.5 |
| Anti-Fog (Interior Glass) | 6 | 33% | 4.7 |
The most common ingredients in car care
By number of products they appear in. 240 of the 514 tracked ingredients appear in just one product — a long tail of niche chemistry.
| # | Ingredient | Flags | Products |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Water | — | 189 |
| 2 | Petroleum Distillates, Hydrotreated Light | VOC | 73 |
| 3 | Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) | — | 48 |
| 4 | Isopropyl Alcohol | VOC | 45 |
| 5 | 2-Butoxyethanol | VOCProp 65 | 38 |
| 6 | Carbon Dioxide | — | 36 |
| 7 | Fragrance | — | 34 |
| 8 | Propane | — | 31 |
| 9 | Acetone | — | 24 |
| 10 | Dimethyl Siloxane (PDMS) | — | 22 |
| 11 | Alcohols, C9-C11 Ethoxylated | — | 21 |
| 12 | Toluene | VOCProp 65 | 21 |
| 13 | DMDM Hydantoin | — | 20 |
| 14 | Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) | VOC | 19 |
| 15 | Aluminum Oxide (Alumina) | — | 19 |
Browse all 565 ingredients in the chemical reference.
The most common hazards
At the ingredient level
Across the 565 distinct ingredients in our library, 162 (29%) are volatile organic compounds, 31 (5%) are California Prop 65-listed, 7 (1%) are respiratory sensitizers (asthmagens), and 2 (0%) are PFAS-class chemicals. Browse them all in the ingredient index.
Methodology
Every figure is computed live from the 667 car-care chemicals reviewed on CarCareTruth as of June 2026. Signal words, GHS hazard codes, VOC levels, and Prop 65 status come from each manufacturer's published Safety Data Sheet; ingredient flags from published ingredient disclosures. Denominators: signal-word, Prop 65, and hazard-code percentages are over all 667 chemicals; VOC percentages are over only the 178 chemicals that disclose a VOC number. These are GHS classifications from the SDS — not our own safety recommendations. The full underlying records are public in the SDS database, and you can look up any single product in the SDS lookup tool.
Explore the data
For comparison and research only — always read the actual SDS and label before handling any chemical product.