Back in November 2007, my 2001 Honda Civic was hit by an oncoming car. I had my car towed to the nearest body shop and they repaired the driver’s side fender, tire well, front headlight and windshield fluid container. When I finally got my car back it drove fine, but I would notice a smell coming out of the hood that smelled like burning plastic or rubber. I took it back to the shop and they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. They chalked it up to a plastic grocery bag that must have gotten caught under my car. But it’s two months later now and I still can smell the same scent after my car has been driven. Do you have any idea what this could be, and if so, is it dangerous? I don’t want to take it back to the shop and risk them telling me the same thing since it’s hard to take time off of work to get this taken care of.
The engine could be leaking oil onto the hot exhaust. The oil cooks and smells like burning rubber (to many people).
A smell like that can last a long time. Every time I had a burning plastic smell it was from an overheated wire. Maybe something did hit the exhaust or a short?