First thing that came to my mind too!Have you ever watched the movie Grumpy Old Men?
I had the same experience twice. It went away after driving with glass down. I still can't figure where that shit smell comes from. Happened only twice when I parked in the sun for a couple of hours. I know it's not from the car wash because I pass it through regularly and nothing.This summer there has been a bad smell and I have pinpointed it to the seat belt and all of that column. Not sure if it leaked or something got in and died? It’s been here for months now. Usually something that dies, the smell goes away? I pulled it apart and found it is really bad on the seatbelt. The dealer said it’s not a “dead” smell but they cannot figure it out. Smells like an old fishing tackle box with the old rubber worms. The service manager suggested it may be the materials, lubricants or adhesive breaking down causing the smell. Anyone else had this issue? If so how’d you fix it?
Had the something happen to me two years ago with a new car. I through everything at but the kitchen sink. nothing seems to work, told a friend of mine and he brought over a O-zone machine 20 minutes later no more seem. I ended up buying one from amazon for 100.00. only draw back is the car will smell like chorine for a few days. o-zone machine is not a toy i would watch a you tube video before using. good luckThis summer there has been a bad smell and I have pinpointed it to the seat belt and all of that column. Not sure if it leaked or something got in and died? It’s been here for months now. Usually something that dies, the smell goes away? I pulled it apart and found it is really bad on the seatbelt. The dealer said it’s not a “dead” smell but they cannot figure it out. Smells like an old fishing tackle box with the old rubber worms. The service manager suggested it may be the materials, lubricants or adhesive breaking down causing the smell. Anyone else had this issue? If so how’d you fix it?
The dealership is going to look at it next week. They don’t think it’s rotten meat but some plastics,rubbers,adhesives or something breaking down. It’s only in 1 spot from the top of the cloth top all the way down that column… the seatbelt happens to smell the worst but all pieces of the plastic I took off, wiring harness and everything has the same smell?! It has to be something from the car because as soon as summer got here it started stinking and the longer and hotter in TX it gets the more it smells. It didn’t smell in winter or spring? Hoping it’s a simple fix but I don’t think it’s food or from waterI have a similar issue I posted in a thread a few threads up. Not rotten but doesn’t smell right. Like some food got left inside somewhere. Never been wet. Is perfectly clean. 9 months old and like 2500 miles and has smelled since early on. It is worse in the heat with windows up but most smells would be I guess. I’ll check cabin filter but I’m at a loss personally.
This may be it because it reminds of of an old tacklebox with rubber worms. It’s worse when parked in the sun. The dealer said it does not smell like rotten meat but it does have a bad smell? The plastic smells like it, the seatbelt smells like it. Maybe sour milk/vomit sounds about right. I will research the rubber smellI’m guessing it’s the same stank “craftsman” screw drivers give off. Or any polymer handle tool in the summer heat. Kind of a mix between feet/butt and dead. Very unusual but unforgettable. And it’s just a polymers stink.