Cabin filter OEM FORD or OEM Volkswagen

The biggest advantage with the activated type is that it picks up odours so you smell less of the fumes from outside

If you don't care about those just get the OE

What car do you have? I used to drive a Ford C-Max and getting to the cabin air filter was insanely hard.

I found the cabin air filter that came from the factory to be pretty basic and low quality. When I replaced it with a better one I instantly stopped smelling the wiper fluid/other cars exhausts.

There’s a 3rd party cabin filter with a carbon layer on Amazon that is significantly better than the ford cabin filter. I haven’t noticed anything since installing it.

The why shupack answered, the fix if you care could be to try a third party cabin air filter. If there are any out there with a larger amount of carbon in them (carbon absorbs odor) that'd help. Replacing the cabin air filter behind the glove box is fairly easy to do and several YouTube videos on it. Cheaper than having the dealer do it, and 3rd party filters claim to be better. We did notice less smoke smell from the wildfires last summer when I swapped out from OEM to whatever filter I put in.

Ford Fusion is almost this with labor. You have to take a ton of trim and bolts off. Even take out the glove box.

Change your cabin air filter for the bad smell. Could be clogged as well causing less air flow.

It's not just the price/range keeping me away from this... I saw the video on changing a cabin air filter on this thing.

If that's how the air filter was engineered, I have my doubts about the rest of the vehicle.

And don\u2019t get me started on that terrible cabin air filter placement\u2026

I personally warned someone considering this car not to get it for their family based on this video alone https://www.jalopnik.com/1925823/volkswagen-id-buzz-complicated-cabin-air-filter-replacement-tiktok/