New Car Smell: Only Great in Theory

March 7, 2016 2:01 PM

I just got a new car! Hooray! The new car smell was exciting at first, but now it's giving me a headache. What can I do to get rid of it?

I love my new car, but the new car smell is a little too intense for me. This is my first brand new car since my last car was used, and just smelled newly cleaned when I got it. What's the best practice for neutralizing the new car smell?

A bit of cursory googling gave me some results for products I'd rather not use without more trusted reviews, and the suggestion to "bake out" the smell. My issue is that I park my car in an underground garage both at home and at work, so I don't have an easy way to just let it sit out in the sunshine for hours at a stretch, and it seems like if I run the heater on high while in the parking garage, I'll trade one smell for another (eau d'underground garage).

I'm pretty sensitive to strong scents in a small enclosed space like a car, so air fresheners or spraying another smell around aren't optimal, unless you have a recommendation for something that really will just neutralize the new car smell without adding a new smell on top of it. I've been running the AC with the outside air circulation thing on whenever I'm driving, which helps a little. I can drive with open windows if that will help, but the weather the last few days hasn't been conducive to that. If baking the smell out really is the best option, what's the best way to go about it?

Thanks all!

posted by yasaman to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

My favorite deodorizer is boiling a bit of vinegar in water.

I do this in the house all the time, and I have done this in a car with a camp-stove on top of a large piece of plywood set in the back of a wagon. In a sedan, I imagine it takes a little extra care, and I would not do it unattended, but sweet jesus does it work well.
posted by furnace.heart at 2:05 PM on March 7, 2016

This sounds like a great excuse to go see movies on weekend afternoons and then maybe futz around in a mall for a bit afterwards of get something unhealthy but delicious from the food court.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:10 PM on March 7, 2016

It's actually outgassing, and there is some data indicating it is toxic. I recently rented a car that reeked of this, and it gave me a huge headache too. Here's some tips on getting rid of it without baking the car. Another option I've seen is to put lots of containers of open baking soda in your car when parked.
posted by bearwife at 3:11 PM on March 7, 2016

Try buying several Armor All fridge and freezer baking soda boxes and setting them in the car overnight. It is non toxic, not expensive and easily repeatable until the situation is tolerable.
posted by Michele in California at 5:24 PM on March 7, 2016

It's outgassing all the plastics/vinyl. My guess is that you bought a car fresh off the assembly line rather than one that sat on the dealer lot for a few months. You can wait months or you can speed it up with heat. Park it in the sunniest spot you can find and crack the windows. That's not perfect because some things breakdown into other toxic things...Chemistry.

Things that deodorize aren't going to fix outgassing. Here is a report on the chemicals in cars from the 2012 model year (pdf). I wouldn't call that report impartial, but it's interesting.
posted by 26.2 at 5:41 PM on March 7, 2016

I have done this in a car with a camp-stove

Please don't use a camp stove in a car or other closed place where carbon monoxide can build up.
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:52 PM on March 7, 2016

Drive the car with all the windows down. A lot. If you park it in a secure place, like an attached garage, leave the windows down. Sunroof? Leave it open, too. You basically need to air it out as much as possible.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:14 PM on March 7, 2016

You might want to try some deodorizing products that will absorb the smell. The Clean Person, Jolie Kerr, who I really trust, wrote an article on cleaning car interiors. She recommends the Bad Air Sponge (I have used this at home in a closet next to my husband's laundry basket) and the Innofresh Auto Odor Eliminator.
posted by radioamy at 7:41 PM on March 7, 2016

I used an E. L. Foust auto air purifier when I bought a car that was giving me such a severe headache that I couldn't otherwise drive it.

They contain three pounds of an activated carbon/potassium permanganate (for formaldehyde) mix, will reduce a wide range of contaminants to trace levels within a few minutes and keep them there, and are effective for 6-9 months before the carbon/KMnO₇ needs changing under normal conditions.

The motor's brushes do make a slight whine, and they appear to have about doubled in price since I bought mine ~15 years ago, but in my experience they work amazingly well.
posted by jamjam at 8:14 PM on March 7, 2016

Thanks everyone! I left the windows cracked open when I got home, and just since last night, the new car smell seems to have faded some. I'll try leaving the windows all the way open the next time I visit my parents, since they have an attached garage.

I'd try the baking soda thing, but the interior of the car is all black, and I know I'd manage to perpetrate some powdery disaster.
posted by yasaman at 11:15 AM on March 8, 2016

I'd try the baking soda thing, but

This is why you need to get the Arm and Hammer fridge and freezer boxes. They look like this when "open."

/pedant

Best of luck.
posted by Michele in California at 12:04 PM on March 8, 2016