New-car-smell fans beware, what you’re really enjoying is the off gassing of toxic chemicals from the plastic parts and carpeting in your new vehicle. Concentrations of some chemicals in cars may be hazardous to your health, a report from The Ecology Center says. The Center is Project Healthycar’s parent organization, and houses a range of environmental efforts out of Ann Arbor Michigan. Healthycar seeks to educate consumers about dangerous chemicals in cars to inform better vehicular choices and to sway policy.

Healthycar’s 2006/7 Guide to New Vehicles focused on three major chemicals: bromine, lead and chlorine. There does not seem to be any brand consistency linked to high chemical concentrations; Suzuki, for example, holds spots in both the lowest and highest chemical concentrations categories. Interestingly, brands that are typically associated with green innovation, like Toyota, hold some of the worst scores.

The top three chemical offenders can be irritating in small doses, and downright toxic (and potentially cancer-causing) in larger amounts. Lead has been closely linked to birth defects and is regulated in many industries, but not in car parts or car seats. Healthycar points to the fact that toxicity in cars isn’t just harmful to consumers, but also to production workers, and the chemicals complicate the auto recycling process.

Healthycar’s 2008-9 Guide to New Vehicles will be released July 22; check the Healthycar website for updates.