# Stinking car **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [February 18, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/stinking-car/10849 "2008-02-18T19:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Doug2061](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug2061](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Doug2061)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/stinking-car/10849/1 "2008-02-18T19:47:52Z")
My daughter has a 96 chevy cavalier that has a terrible odor,and we have tried everything to get rid of it. It seems to come from the passenger side airbag area.Any ideas about what is causing it and how to get rid of it? ---
**Author:** ![Roadrunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Roadrunner](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Roadrunner)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/stinking-car/10849/2 "2008-02-18T20:09:03Z")
Could be a dead mouse in the air duct. Not an easy job to clean out and sprays/deodorizers don’t work. Sometimes you can drag out whatever is in the duct by removing enough dash to access the hose and use something a little flexible with a hook on the end. Exercise caution when trying this method as you may grab the blend door by accident and damage it. The only other way is to remove everything. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Russell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Bill\_Russell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Bill_Russell)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/stinking-car/10849/3 "2008-02-18T20:37:25Z")
here is 2 car talk columns on that topic > **[How can I remove the smell of the mouse house that was located in my car's...](https://www.cartalk.com/content/my-honda-civic-stinks-last-summer-we-found-mice)** > > My Honda Civic stinks Last summer we found mice in our Honda They were living in the blower housing We knew this because when we turned the fan on it sounded like the car was going to reach a resonant... [http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1997/September/09.html](http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1997/September/09.html) ---
**Author:** ![Doug2061](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug2061](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Doug2061)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/stinking-car/10849/4 "2008-02-18T23:30:43Z")
Thanks for the comments,but it is definitly not a dead animal of any kind although that is very close to the way it smells. It has been way too long for an animal carcass to continue to smell. When she bought the car we thought it was a cleaning problem,but nothing has worked so mostly she just tries to minimize it with air fresheners. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Russell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Bill\_Russell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Bill_Russell)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/stinking-car/10849/5 "2008-02-18T23:54:57Z")
read the two cartalk eds above… ---
**Author:** ![winarth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@winarth](https://community.cartalk.com/u/winarth)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/stinking-car/10849/6 "2008-02-19T03:39:04Z")
You say a “terrible odor”, which, I guess is unacceptable. You may have to have the dash components dismanteled to get rid of this odor. Since this vehicle has only a small value you may take the route of a relative of mine who sold his car after hitting a skunk. He could not get rid of the odor.