Can I Trick a Breathalyzer?

One of the more common questions I get regarding breathalyzers is “Can I do anything to trick the breathalyzer?”

Although it is true that breathalyzers are, by themselves, inaccurate, many people are mistake when they believe that they can trick a breathalyzer into producing a lower reading. In fact, many of the “tricks” that people believe will lower the breathalyzer will have no effect on the reading or may actually increase the reading.

Here are some of the more common methods used by people in trying trick the breathalyzer and their effects on the breath results.

This trick is based on the mistaken belief that gas from the stomach contains less alcohol in it than air from the lungs. However, according to a 1992 study from the University of Wisconsin, belching into the breathalyzer had no effect on the blood alcohol content reading.

Both breath sprays and mouthwashes contain alcohol. Although the breathalyzer is intended to test the air which comes from deep in the lungs, it can also collect air from the mouth as well. Thus, using a breath spray or a mouthwash could increase the blood alcohol reading than what it would otherwise have been.

The belief is that the metals of a penny will react with the alcohol causing a breathalyzer reading to be so high that there is no conclusion other than that the breathalyzer was malfunctioning. The air that is exhaled into the breathalyzer comes from deep within the lungs. This air is called alveolar air. The copper located in the mouth would not affect the alcohol content found in the alveolar air. This was confirmed by Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters. In a 2003 episode, the hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman tested this trick and busted it. The pennies had no effect on the breathalyzer.

Yes, you read that correctly. David Zurfluh, an 18-year-old from Stettler, Alberta, Canada ripped the crotch out of his underwear and stuffed it into his mouth in the hopes that he could reduce the reading on the breathalyzer. Zurfluh has not been the only one. Others have made the same mistake of believing that fabric in the mouth from articles of clothing will absorb the alcohol in the mouth, thus reducing the blood alcohol content reading. As I previously said, the air that is exhaled in the breathalyzer comes from deep in the lungs and fabric in the mouth will not will not affect the reading.

Many people believe that they can sober up by drinking coffee. When someone who has been drinking alcohol then drinks caffeine, they are only attempting to make themselves more alert or energized. Being alert has no effect on a person’s blood alcohol content which is what the breathalyzer tests for.

According to the study, “How Breathing techniques Can Influence the Results of Breath-Alcohol Analysis,” holding your breath for 30 seconds before blowing into a breathalyzer can increase the blood alcohol content reading by 15.7 percent.

The least well known trick is the only one which has been shown to reduce the blood alcohol content reading of breathalyzers. According to the same study above, hyperventilating for 20 seconds prior to taking a breath test reduced the blood alcohol content reading of the breathalyzer by 10.6 percent. Simply put, the hyperventilating DUI suspect is replacing the alcohol gas located in the lungs with fresh air.

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