# Help! Mold in Car!

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-mold-in-car/1396>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [July 7, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-mold-in-car/1396 "2007-07-07T18:12:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Daisyray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Daisyray](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Daisyray)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-mold-in-car/1396/1 "2007-07-07T18:12:56Z")

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Here in Texas we’ve been having an unusually heavy rain season. We’ve had a car parked in our garage that we’re babysitting for some friends. Today we took it out to drive for the first time in several weeks and we discovered mold growing on the inside of the car, on the seatbelts, floormats, and cupholder – not a great deal of quantity but enough to get us worried. What should we do?

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**Author:** ![lprocter](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/lprocter/32/40_2.png) [@lprocter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lprocter)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-mold-in-car/1396/2 "2007-07-07T18:44:13Z")

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You could use bleach and water to get rid of and kill the mold, but don’t use it on the seatbelts, as I’ve heard bleach can cause the seatbelts to deteriorate. Soap and water could work too.

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**Author:** ![Roadrunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Roadrunner](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Roadrunner)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-mold-in-car/1396/3 "2007-07-08T00:10:50Z")

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The inside of the vehicle has to be dried out or the mold will return or simply keep on building.

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**Author:** ![keith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/keith/32/5518_2.png) [@keith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/keith)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-mold-in-car/1396/4 "2007-07-08T14:59:55Z")

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Wash or spray everything with water and Boric Acid (Roach powder). Unlike bleach, Boric Acid will not only kill the mold, it will prevent it from returning as long as it doesn’t leach out, so do not rinse afterward. It will keep ants out of the car too.

BTW, you can use ethylene glycol also, but it leaves a greasy feel afterward. It would also be a problem if you had children or pets that might start licking the surfaces for the sweet taste. Antifreeze works good on wood that is starting to rot or mold though.

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**Author:** ![Beadsandbeads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Beadsandbeads](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beadsandbeads)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-mold-in-car/1396/5 "2007-07-10T01:14:54Z")

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There is nothing that you can do but replace all the stuff that is moldy, move to an arid place (Arizon, New Mexico,…) and let the stuff get baked out, or sell to someone in a similar location.