Thanks for the advice everyone, I just have to add I had it towed to a body shop because thats what state farm suggested to do. If interior parts need replacing I want it at Toyota, and I know it sounds crazy, but if they cannot get the smell out I want it gone.
We got a rental Camry which was nice, but it smelled like a tobacco factory. I had it one day and couldn’t stand it, even my co worker said it was bad. He is sensitive to smells too. So now I got a Chrysler 200. It smells good which is what I am worried about.
I am so sensitive to smells its actually a curse. I can smell the slightest bit of alcohol or smoke on somebody, some smells make sick. I Had sinus surgery for a deviated septum and I was hoping it would kill my sense of smell a little but it didn’t.
@WheresRick; I can sympathize. I have a very sensitive nose too, when my patients tell my nurse they quit smoking, I can smell the leftover from the next room. I walk in and ask when their last smoke was and they go pale.
I can also tell what’s for dinner while parking the car in the garage. Wife has tried to use the hood fan or the windows to surprise me, but it doesn’t work.
Oh boy, a lease. Try to turn that car in and you’re going to have a huge damage assessment to pay. I usually drive with my windows up now since I got hit in the face with some snow slush.
@WheresRick Glad to hear you are being looked after by the insurance company. With your sensitivity to smells, NEVER take a ride on the New York, or any subway for that matter during rush hour. People with smelly armpits hanging on the ceiling straps, will make you gag.
Smells I find totally nauseating are stale popcorn in a movie theatre, stale coffee smells in a Starbuck’s (I really like coffee, but not Starbucks), a fish store with poor ventilation and a few others. I’m not hyper-sensitive, but if a restaurant does not smell good, I won’t eat there.
I thought I was the only one that found kitchen smells nauseating. Tear gas will really mask the skunk smell though and has the added effect of opening up the sinuses.
@WheresRick–the canine world has your solution. Ride and drive your Prius with your head out the window. Dogs are sensitive to smells, so this may be why they like to travel in cars this way.
My nose is suprisingly sensitive(if I pay attention to it)( writers -blood doesnt smell like copper-it smells like blood or iron) A few years back a young skunk stomped on my feet and let me have it point blank and I can tell you its different point blank.These aromatic sulfur compounds will fade eventually,I was able to wash the scent right off and it faded in the vehicle after a few weeks(but my Tony Stewart pajamies took forever to clear up)I find cooking Beef repulsive,cole vegtables and especially aromatic hydrocarbons and strong" air freshners"-Kevin
Actually my brother dispatched the unfortunate critter in a “have a heart” cage trap(I think it was just a young one that didnt know the ropes,but you have a point it could have been rabid(you have always got to be carerful around animals that are too bold. Have relocated a few skunks and racoons in afore mentioned trap without incident-Kevin
Skunks are generally nocturnal critters. If you see one in the daylight, there is a good chance it has something wrong with it. Rabies is certainly one good possibility. Animal control should be called if you are in a town. If not, shoot it.
UPDATE-
Ok, front bumper was repainted due to damage, undercar splash shield was replaced. The car was power underneath and the smell is gone on the outside.
For the inside the car had an ozone machine put in it for a day and detailed. It smelled funny as soon as it came back, but we gave it some time and let it sit out everyday with the windows open and let it air out more. Well a month later it still has an odd odor after car is closed up especially sitting in the sun.
The best I can describe the smell is musk and vinegar. it smells sour.
The state farm adjuster came back out and he was able to verify the smell so now the car is at a dealer and they are going to decide what needs to be done. It may need the entire interior replaced.
I think the car needs to be totaled out, there is no way im buying it at the end of the lease now. Its tainted. Anyway I will keep updating. This has been the most aggravating thing I have been through with a car, state farm has been good so far, and if this would have happened to a smokers car it would no longer be an issue.
"I think the car needs to be totaled out, there is no way im buying it at the end of the lease now. Its tainted."
That assessment seems a bit harsh. The soft parts of the interior, the hard to clean and deodorize parts with foam and cloth, can be replaced and all the hard surfaces scrubbed clean and odor removed far cheaper than replacing a 2013 brand new car. I understand how you can be disappointed with the current results, but if they replace the seats, carpet, door panels, and other soft surfaces, the smell should leave with them and you should be back at ‘new car smell’.
@keith no the cabin air filter wasn’t replaced but I took it out and it made no difference, the smell is coming from the fabric, keep in mind the windows were open and she smelled like she got sprayed by a skunk as well.
The smell kind of grows on you after a while. Multiple boxes of baking soda might help, but I get a little nostalgic, pugnant as it may be when I smell skunk, thinking of near misses, dogs with a direct hit, the trials and trivulations, the smell will go away eventually, but memories last forever.
Like I think I said before though, on a leased car, you will be responsible for any additional damages and repairs that need to be done when you turn it in. They just don’t say “oh well, we’ll just scrap it”, but instead will charge you for anything over and above normal wear and tear.
The smell that I am smelling now is Ozone, it still smells like ozone when the heat is on high, the skunk smell is gone.
I am not sure that the Ozone smell can be helped, I have been told it will just take time.
I almost think that it would have been better if they had not put an ozone machine in car, now the wiring and stuff will degrade sooner. Oh well, 2 years to go and she goes back to the leasing company.
I now drive the car everywhere, and still love the type of car, I just hate the actual car and the stinking ozone smell. I drive it in the salt and don’t wash it and don’t care, sort of like most normal people. It will get washed in march. Its almost a relief to drive a car you could care less about, like a rental, which as a lease it sort of is.
When I bought the car I tried preserving it, now I jump in with my filthy work clothes and boots and don’t care, I will have it detailed before I turn it in on lease. Its actually sort of nice not worrying, I also drive the piss out of it even when the engine is stone cold. I also no longer slow down for railroad tracks or dodge road imperfections, The first oil change is 10 k miles, I was originally going to change it sooner but now its getting maintenance based on the factory intervals.
Its weird and totally different to how I treat my other vehicles but its kind of nice, but its still aggravating as this was my favorite car. Maybe the 2016s will be even better.
About skunks. I seem to be seeing more road kill on the highways in recent years and this year skunks in particular are very common. It’s not unusual to see 2 deceased skunks within a few yards of each other. Are they becoming accustomed to the urbanization?
There was a MythBusters episode on removing skunk smell. There is a cleaning solution specially designed to remove the odor. Plus there are home remedies.
Well the car was a lease and it did indeed go back in may of 2016. Sometime after the last update A state farm “smell expert” came out and couldn’t smell anything, of course by this time it was freezing outside and I really couldn’t smell it either, but I also had a cold the day he came out so my smell was compromised.
Anyway I simply gave up. The car never again had that new car smell, and always had a odd odor afterwards especially on damp days. On a cold damp morning when I turned the heat on it was really noticeable. I found the odor to be mildly offensive, it may have been the ozone smell I still I don’t know.
After the Skunk incident some yokel in the home depot parking lot dented the front fender with a pipe or something which I had to have repaired. Of course the lowlife took off after damaging my car… So now the hood, rf fender and rf door had paintwork.(I believe it was done on purpose due to the fact it was a durn furrin car and a much hated Prius on top of that, that’s how ignorant some of these yokels are around here)
Shortly after that my wife was driving on the interstate and there was a big metal angle iron type piece of road debris which she had no choice but to hit and it ripped off part of the rear bumper cover and put a gash in the lr of the body under the bumper cover. So we had all that fixed.
It was starting to get comical at this point. Not a week after we got it back from the body shop from the angle iron incident we were cruising down us41 and I ran over a white plastic item that looked like a part of some kind of turkey thermometer or something to administer horse tranquilizers, I don’t know what it was. It put a hole in the tire and it started quickly loosing air. Well for the first time in my life I had to change a tire on my vehicle on the side of the road. The tire was able to be patched with no guarantee, but it held just fine.
So at this point I have never had so much bad luck with a vehicle ever especially considering we only had 20k miles on it by that point, I started to believe the car was cursed or something, I mean I have had vehicles I have put over 150k miles on with not a single issue, and we have not had any problems with any of our other vehicles before or since. That is the only vehicle I ever owned that had to go to a body shop.
I liked the car, but it was definitely going back at the end of the lease after all that malarkey. I turned it in with no issues and I am rid of it. I pray the new owner has better luck with it than we did.