Cabin filter

I took the Mazda 6 to the dealership today to get the oil changed, tires rotated and to have the a/c refrigerant recharged. They took the car to the shop and I settled into a nice leather chair in the waiting room to read ESPN magazine. Just as I was getting into a good baseball article, the service manager walks up with this nasty looking filter. He said, "Your refrigerant is probably ok but the cabin filter needs to be replaced. It's choking off the air flow." I told him I didn't even know the car had a cabin, much less a cabin filter. He chuckled and said, "Believe it or not, we didn't know Mazda 6's had these filters either until about two years after they came out." OK. So what's a darned cabin filter and where is it located? "Behind the glove box. Easy to get to if you know where it is to check it." When will you know what mine looks like? "Now." THAT'S OUT OF MY CAR??? Again, he chuckled and said, "Yep. This is the worse one I've ever seen. I'll have to put it up on the wall of shame" as he points to the wall behind me. Yup, mine is the gold medal winner for nasty-ass filters full of dirt, weed shrapnel, bug parts and some other crapola that is way unidentifiable. And I thought the interior smelled funny cuz Debbie and I are having fart contests on the way home... Anyway, $50 worth of filter and the a/c blows hard enough to remove a toupee. Didn't need to do anything else to the a/c either. Oil changed. Tires rotated. Good to go. I don't know which automobiles have cabin filters, but you might want to have your car checked for it. It definitely can get clogged with stuff. By the way, Debbie always wins those contests... hee hee.