cybergates
Member
You're correct. The car is not perfect, and this is a design flaw, plain and simple. Tesla will not admit it and do not have a fix for it other than repeated cleanings.
All I can do is post what I'm doing to minimize the impact, because I like more about that car than I dislike, and therefore want to keep it.
I agree - I believe this is a flaw, possibly something to do with the engineering of the air handling system - it's worse in my 2019 Model 3. Perhaps they corrected it with later versions. Certainly they've tried software fixes to leave the fan on but doesn't seem to help. We seem to find that if the air system is left on while the car is parked (say you are watching a movie, or handling phone calls or other work in the car) - the smell comes back faster. The other model 3 my sister has and my commuting S is never left on idling and no smell has returned.
My routine now is to ask for a filter change every 3-6 months tops - have them do the "cleaning" to remove the "smell" - they know what you're talking about and can do it with mobile. My 2016 model S has had this problem only once in 4 years and a similar cleaning made it went away and not come back.
I've done the air filter changing myself once too, but it's cumbersome to remove that screw in the footwell area to access it and well I figure I will let them do it. I might do this next one myself as I found when they use 2 cans of the Kool-It that seems to keep it at bay for a while. I haven't tried the dessicant mentioned above. Tried charcoal filters and didn't help - left air smelling like charcoal in the car