Steering wheels 'dirtier than toilets'

A hamster tests a steering wheel for cleanliness

- Search: Car cleaners

Car steering wheels carry more than twice as many germs as the average toilet seat, according to research.

A study found the average steering wheel had 41,600 germs nestling on its surface, compared with toilet seats that have on average 17,400.

The unhygienic state of our cars was put down to drivers' leaving traces of food or dirt behind and not bothering to clean up.

Five per cent of motorists admitted they had never cleaned their car and just 13 per cent cleaned them regularly.

A typical response was that people's cars were rarely cleaned, an answer given by 45 per cent of those surveyed.

Daniel Kyle, a car care buyer for Tesco, which commissioned the survey of more than 1,000 drivers, said Brits needed to clean their cars more often because the steering wheel was an ideal breeding place for germs.

He said: "People spend a lot of time in the car cabin and are in constant contact with the wheel, so naturally germs are passed on.

"If food or dirt is transmitted on to the wheel and not regularly cleaned, then the germs multiply and pretty quickly you can be left with an area more unsanitary than a toilet."