Facts

• If there is a particularly large amount of dog or cat hair on your car's carpet, begin cleaning it by vacuuming. Use the vacuum at a car wash cleaning area, or the attachments on a household vacuum. Unfortunately, this will not entirely remove the pet hair in your car, but it will put a dent in the job.
  
  Sprinkling carpet freshener or baking soda on the car's carpet and upholstery prior to vacuuming will help deodorize the scent that pet hair can leave behind.
  
  

Vacuuming

• To vacuum pet hair from your car properly, start by removing any objects that may be on the car floor, such as personal items and garbage that is too large for the vacuum to pick up.
  
  Using a hand-held vacuum or brush attachment, move the vacuum brush in a frontward direction across the floor, moving back and forth, changing directions intermittently. Carefully move the vacuum brush across the section of carpeting, picking up as much pet hair as possible.
  
  Start out in the front of your car, moving to each section of carpet until it has been entirely cleaned. Repeat if necessary.
  
  

Cleaning With Cloth

• If your auto's carpet has a static charge and the pet hair is clinging to it, according to Don Aslett, author of "Do I Dust Or Vacuum First?: Answers to the 100 Toughest, Most Frequently Asked Questions about Housecleaning," "A cloth lightly dampened by water will loosen hair on small areas like chair cushions so that it can be wiped or vacuumed."
  
  Using a cotton cloth rag (or sponge), dampen it with warm water and gently rub it across hair-covered carpet. If the cloth picks up hair, rinse the hair off the cloth and repeat. This process is especially good for picking up hard-to-remove pet hair deposits.
  
  

Masking Tape

• Another option for removing clingy dog or cat hair from a car's carpet and upholstery is masking tape. The sticky side of the tape can be used as a magnet to pick up and remove hairs.
  
  According to Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht and Brenda Brown, authors of "The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Life," in order to accomplish this you should "wrap your hand with a long strip of masking tape, sticky-side out, to form a glove; discard and repeat."
  
  

Freshening Carpet

• If your automobile has a nasty odor from the deposited pet hair, freshening the carpet might be necessary. To remove the odor, lightly sprinkle carpet freshener or baking soda across the carpet of your vehicle. Use a moderate amount, but be careful not to use more than you can vacuum up. Allow the freshener to sit on the carpet for 30 minutes, then vacuum it up.
  
  Some available carpet fresheners are specifically designed to combat pet odors, and to loosen pet hair so that it can vacuumed up more easily.