I’ve been the owner of quite a few smelly cars in my time. I won’t give you the complete history, but let’s just say that every topic covered in this article is written from personal experience.

I’ve dealt with odors from some of the most common causes of stinky vehicles, which tend to include:

  • Cigarette smoke, especially if you or the previous owner was a regular smoker
  • Bodily fluids, including, but not limited to, vomit, deer blood, mucus, dog feces, calf scours, and urine.  Vomit is probably the most common, but if you live in a heavy farm or hunting area, it could be from other mammals or animals.
  • Musty or moldy and wet smells, primarily from leaks around doors and leaving windows or a sunroof open in rain storms.
  • Food.  I’ve forgotten groceries under seats for weeks, which can stink in its own right (especially dairy!), something you will experience from time to time if you are a messy person or have kids who like to eat in the car.
  • Dead animals.  This is usually from a mouse or other small rodent finding a home inside your car and not being able to get out.  It isn’t always the interior of your car that attracts the animal, either.  A mouse, for example, and get in your ventilation system in the engine compartment and die there.

 

It all stinks, but it all can be cleaned up. Air fresheners are nice, but they only cover up the stink. To really get rid of a car smell, you need to get at the source, and that source is usually in the fabric itself.

Best Ways to Get Rid of Car Smells

Cigarette smoke really stinks.

As a former smoker who polluted many a car with carcinogenic crap, I know that cigarette smoke isn’t only stinky, it’s also quite sticky in that it forms a resin on surfaces. That resin is called tar, and though it’s not the same stuff that’s used to pave roads, it does share a couple of similarities.

The good news is that there are some ways to get rid of a smoke smell.

The first step to removing this smell is to stop smoking in the car. Next, open all of the doors and windows on a nice, warm, windy day. Then go over every surface with a 50/50 water and vinegar solution. That should be able to cut through the resin. If you have trouble, add a couple of drops of dish soap to the mix. Allow to dry completely before closing the doors.

Mildew and wet carpet smells are gross.

Another common car smell is caused by the fact that our cars drive through all kinds of weather. Car designers do a pretty good job, initially, with keeping the rain out of our cars. But a small bit of damage to a seal or one open window forgotten in a rain storm could mean that you have potential for mold growth. The best way to deal with this situation is to remove floor mats, soak up excess water, extract it from carpets and interior fabrics with a wet/dry vacuum, and set up a fan to keep air moving with all of the doors open. If the mildew has already done its damage, then you are going to have to do some shampooing. You could use a commercial product or the homemade recipe listed below.

Keep in mind that sunlight does wonders on mold or mildew.  If you can, find a sunny day to leave your doors, windows, and sunroof wide open.  If the hot sun can hit your stinky spots, it can really help.  The very UV Rays that will give you sunburn will also disinfect nasty surfaces.

Food smells aren’t difficult to remove.

The wiser among us probably have rules against eating in their cars. First of all, if you’re driving, it’s dangerous and might be illegal. But secondly, it’s almost inevitable that you are going to drip or spill something. If you have cars like mine (not worth the rubber on their tires), this is the least of your worries, but if you are hoping to trade that car in at some point, you are really screwing yourself. Very often food smells go beyond drips and spills. More often it is related to an abundance of fast food wrappers, some of which might contain half-eaten sandwiches, a passed-over french fry, long-languishing lettuce, the gnawed on bones of a not-so-recently-fried chicken. Look under your seats. You need to throw that stuff away! Good grief.

Be extra vigilant about dairy-based foods.  Spilled milk or yogurt can really do a number from an odor standpoint, because of its enzymes that are potent and fragrant for days or weeks after going bad.  Plus, milk can seep in between seats are under floor mats.  The best way to get rid of a dried dairy smell in your car, once you have cleaned up the mess, is to use charcoal bags that can gradually absorb the unpleasant odor (here on Amazon).

Bodily liquids and other odors.

Accidents happen, especially if you are the owner of a leaky Labrador, an intoxicated roommate, or a human child. Bodily liquids like urine, vomit, mucus, blood, and feces are potent pollutants that will sour the interior of any automobile. Besides their potential for infection and unavoidable ick-factor, they are also notoriously difficult to clean. You need to remove any solids and soak that stuff up right away. Absorbent powder is helpful in this kind of situation, but you could use paper towels, kitty litter, and/or baking soda if they are handy. If the liquid has dried, then you will need to scrape up the dried matter, rehydrate with water and vinegar, and extract with a wet/dry vacuum. Also check out enzymatic cleaners listed below.

It only takes once, and you will learn. If your friend who is a little drunk starts to get queasy, pull over immediately and have them (safely) exit the vehicle.  Uber drivers are notorious for refusing to take rides from people who appear to be on the verge of vomiting.

New car smells are actually sort of poisonous.

I’ve never personally experienced the scent of a new car and I probably never will smell a new car that I actually own, but I know it is not something to be idolized in the form of a scented tree. Those so called “new car smells” are called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), and they are the same smells common in refinished rooms and new houses. Carpet glue, chemicals from making vinyl, drying paints, and hardening plastics all do something called off-gassing. You really don’t want to breathe that stuff; it’s one of the things that causes sick building syndrome, and it is potentially carcinogenic. If you think you are having a problem, only time will solve it, but if I were you, I would lodge a complaint with the company.

Enzymatic Cleaners

If you start to notice a faint scent of gasoline in your car and you haven’t been spilling it on yourself, you should really bring your car into the mechanic as soon as you can. You probably have a leak somewhere in your fuel system. Obviously a gas leak has the potential to be dangerous in that it could cause your car to explode and kill you and everyone you love in a fiery ball of death. But it’s also polluting, albeit on a small scale, and a waste of gasoline—which never seems to get cheaper. Petroleum fumes can also give you headaches and cause dizziness. So, too, can the fumes that leak from an old or damaged exhaust pipe. Exhaust fumes contain CO, or carbon monoxide, which can even kill you in high enough concentrations. Just bring it in and get it fixed!

Petroleum and Exhaust Fumes

If you start to notice a faint scent of gasoline in your car and you haven’t been spilling it on yourself, you should really bring your car into the mechanic as soon as you can. You probably have a leak somewhere in your fuel system. Obviously a gas leak has the potential to be dangerous in that it could cause your car to explode and kill you and everyone you love in a fiery ball of death. But it’s also polluting, albeit on a small scale, and a waste of gasoline—which never seems to get cheaper. Petroleum fumes can also give you headaches and cause dizziness. So, too, can the fumes that leak from an old or damaged exhaust pipe. Exhaust fumes contain CO, or carbon monoxide, which can even kill you in high enough concentrations. Just bring it in and get it fixed!

Baking soda.

Not just for baking anymore. Though long known to be an effective refrigerator odor remover, it is also useful in a dozen other household applications. Sprinkle it around in the interior of your car, especially the floor mats and carpet under the seats. Allow to sit for 30 minutes and vacuum it up.

Vinegar.

If you want to cut through the resinous layer of tar caused by years of smoking in your car, you’ll need some kind of solvent. A common one that won’t damage other things in your car is white vinegar. A fifty percent dilution with water should make a good wash solution. Allow to air dry completely after cleaning.

Homemade carpet cleaner.

There are a couple of household products that can remove carpet odors. Ammonia (which you can find on Amazon) mixed with water (1:8) can remove some organic stains and odors. Vinegar, peroxide, and water (1:1:2) makes a good carpet cleaner as well. Just make sure you test it in a small area first to make sure it doesn’t discolor your seats or damage your interior.

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