You note the vibration issue, have you taken it in for that? They are supposed to have a fix.
I did. Had mod 1 & 2 done in December of 2015. It worked but unfortunately the vibration came back in August, 2018. Took it back to the dealership last wednesday and the tech ran a diagnostic. The results were, all the mods are in fine. Nothing we can do for the vibrations. So here I go again. Seems like this battle will never end.
My 2008 Crv has some vibration at idle too since i got it in 2012, but the car has been flawless otherwise and we will be surpassing 200,000 miles soon. My mechanic has inspected the vehicle and canât find anything wrong, and believes we should be able to hit 250,000 miles without an issue. Maybe more of a nuisance, but definitely not a reliability issue.
Omg! Am I glad I found this because I thought I was the only one. I know I am replying much later than everyone else but I just found this when I googled âmy clothes stink after driving my Honda CRVâ
I can totally relate! It is horrible. The smell is disgusting and I can smell it on me after driving and have to take a change of clothes with me wherever I go. Sometimes I even wear a jacket over my clothes to block it. The worst is in the summer when the car is already hot and the seats get hot. That funk sticks to the clothes even more. It smells like a burning rubber, right? Almost like a burning rubber, fuel funk? Absolutely disgusting, especially when mixed with your nicely smelling clothes. Iâve tried EVERYTHING- from Febreez, to colognes, to Apple cider vinegar, to newspaper in the seats, charcoal , baking soda over night, vacuuming scents, smelly trees on the mirrors, clips in the ac vents with good scents⊠NOTHING works. I hate driving because I know my clothes will reek afterwards and I know other people can smell it. I actually had another crv from 2007 and that one made my clothes reek too. Youâre probably thinking⊠why another crv if the first experience was bad? Second one wasnât my choice. My parents bought one too and I drive it sometimes. As great of a crossover automobile it is, the stinky clothes give it an F. I will never buy another Honda again. Maybe people have better luck with leather seats. Who knows
This is really a coincidence. I was just Googling CRV cabin smells and I came across this post. We have a 2017 CRV with leather/vinyl seats and recently the seats started leaving a terrible odor on our clothes. My wife has to change her clothes every time she drives it. Iâve tried both Febreeze and vinegar with no success. Iâm going to contact the dealer next week and see what they say. We bought the car new and this odor problem seems to have popped up in the last few months. Iâll let you know what I find out.
Hi John,
Someone finally responded!! I was feeling so alone. I have the cheezy cloth seats. The smell wasnât there when I first bought the car because I am guessing it was masked by the ânew car smellâ. Canât stand the smell. Soon as I get home I change clothes. The thought occurs to me frequently if it might have something to do with the fact I have never changed the cabin filter or the other white filter under the hood. To replace both filters plus the over hundred dollars per hour labor that Ourisman honda charges the entire cost is over two hundred dollars. Or if this is the stench given off by whatever chemical is in material that leaches out. Definitely let me know what you find out. Keep in touch. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this!
Kelly
Oh my. This is amazing. Thank you for responding. Just heard from someone named John who has a 2017 Honda CR-V with the vinyl leather seats and he is experiencing the same smell. Yes. You described the smell to a âtâ Its horrible. I feel like it is a losing battle. Have thought about getting car seat covers but the stink would no doubt come through so I decided not to waste my money. I shared with him that I have never replaced the cabin filter that is inside the glove box and the white air filter that is underneath the hood either. Ourisman Honda charges over one hundred dollars an hour for labor to install the filters plus the cost of them and it would cost over two hundred dollars so I told them nevermind. Please let me know if you find out anything. As you mentioned I, too have tried everything and nothing works.
Kelly
Rather than suffer like this why not replace the vehicle or for less replace the upholstery?
Katzkin offers leather upholstery kits for less than $2000 installed ($1595 in my area) for the CR-V. katzkin.com
Replacing the cabin air filter wonât help with the upholstery smell but engine air filter and cabin air filter replacement is part of the basic maintenance to be performed every 3 years/30,000 miles. Is it possible that your maintenance computer has not shown the maintenance codes for these items after 5 1/2 years? I have my doubts.
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Iâll just chime in. Weâve had about four Acuras which are a Honda product with the leather seats. We have never had a problem. Have you actually used an automotive upholstery shampoo though? Iâm wondering if it may be the foam underneath that is actually deteriorating. Might be worth having a good detailer shampoo the interior and/or an automotive upholstery shop try to determine if it is the fabric or the padding underneath. Itâs about a ten minute job though to replace the engine air and the cabin air filter. There are youtubes on it. Yes they are about $25 each but should be done about every 20,000 miles.
I thought Katzkin was an on line supplier. How do they do an install?
The Dodge dealer that I worked for in 2008 was subletting new trucks to Katzkin affiliated upholstery shops for cloth to leather conversions.
That explains it. I thought about that for my Pontiac but too late now. Besides Iâve gotten used to cloth again.
Further thought if it is a burning rubber smell and it is that bothersome, Iâd guess it would be worth having an upholstery shop remove the covering and find out exactly which is smelling, the foam or the fabric. According to my upholstery book, they often use thin plastic bags to aid pulling the seat cover over the foam. I wonder if having the foam padding covered (if it is the foam smelling) with plastic would take care of it. Yeah it would be a few hundred dollars, but gee this has been going on for several years. Letâs find out.
Wow. Thank you Bing. Very good point about the foam underneath. I have not tried an upholstery shampoo. If its the foam, then I wouldnât think it would remove the smell. But definitely something to think about.
Our 2017 CRV just turned 3 years old and only has about 18,000 miles on it. The cabin filter was replaced at 15,000 so I donât think thatâs the problem. The smell seems to come directly from the seats. Weâve had five Acuras, all purchased new, and never had this problem. Iâm pretty sure it has something to do with the seat materials and their reaction to heat. We live in Georgia and the smell seems to be more intense now, during the summer. Iâll get with the dealer today and see what they say.
I will never understand why people put up with problems like this . If it canât be solved by the second try what ever is making me miserable is gone.
I wish you luck, but I really doubt if they will offer any help.
Think about this:
The vehicle is no longer covered by the manufacturerâs Bumper-to-Bumper warranty, and it isnât the responsibility of the dealership to pay for reupholstering the vehicle.
You might have better luck with the manufacturer, however. Contact info can be found in your Ownerâs Manual.
Thanks John. Good point about the cabin filter.
Kelly
Volvo-V70,
Unfortunately I am not financially in any position to get a new vehicle.
Thank you all so much for replying! I was definitely not expecting it, and so fast! Let me just be the one to tell you that changing filters will not do anything regarding the smell 
itâs just indescribably frustrating. Believe me I have tried everything. Even tried seat covers; they didnât work either. I donât think itâs necessarily the seats, but the entire interior. The fabric by the moonroof, the floor mats, the trunk, etc. I spent a lot of money on seat covers and it did not help at all. I even leave a golf bag in the trunk of the car, and the bag stinks like the car. Itâs nauseating. I sold my other crv because of this and now my parents have one. For some reason they donât notice the smell. Theyâre either hard or smelling or just lying about not being able to smell that nasty fuel burning rubber funk! lol sometimes when they come home, I can smell their clothes, so I know Iâm not losing my mind. Iâm beginning to wonder how unsafe this smell is. Can we report it to Honda? I am actually in the process of purchasing a new car so I wonât have to deal with this newer CRV anymore. Shampooing the seats wonât help either. Tried it. Professional cleaning didnât help. A deep steam cleaning didnât help. Fabric refresher didnât help. I canât even begin to tell you how much I have spent trying to fix this problem. I couldâve purchased another car lol. From now on, I recommend leather seats. At least the smells coming from wherever theyâre coming from wonât absorb in the fabrics like they would a cloth seat. Guys I am all out of options. I am honestly scared for my parents health and mine when I borrow the car⊠and for those years I drove my old CRV. How do we know what weâre breathing in isnât unhealthy? You know what it reminds me of⊠when youâre getting your tires changed or rotated and you have to sit in the store and smell that rubber - GAG
If the odor is coming from the foam under the seat upholstery, it may not matter whether the upholstery is cloth or leather. The odor may be coming out from under the seats as the foam deteriorates. That would explain why seat covers donât make a difference.
I agree that an unpleasant odor not only makes a car unpleasant to ride in, but is also hard to get rid of. Back in 1953, a colleague of my dad went on leave and left us his 1940 Chrysler. The Chrysler had that old mohair upholstery. The car was filthy. My dad put me to work cleaning up the car. I worked for two days and it was better, but still unpleasant to ride in. The owner had had his dogs in the car which didnât help. The odor was particularly bad in damp weather. I was glad when the owner returned from his leave and retrieved his Chrysler.
Kelly, you live in a huge metropolitan area. There have to be several car detailers in Laurel, and Iâm sure there are a lot up and down Route 1. Get an estimate from one or two on eliminating the smell. I havenât used car detailers and canât give you any recommendations.
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