I got my 2023 Model Y two weeks ago. First thing in the morning when I get into my Model Y after not driving it for awhile, it smells like chemicals/coolant/paint. This happens both when its charging and when its not. I took it to a Service Center and they said everything is fine even though the smell was obvious. They changed the air filters and cleaned at the HVAC but the smell is still there. You can even smell the odor in the garage faintly when the car is parked overnight. Any ideas? I wouldn't have bought the car if I was going to deal with this. Its infuriating.
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New Model Y interior smells like chemicals/coolant/paint when parked for awhile
- Thread starter mhamzaee
- Start date
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
You know, some people pay extra at the car wash for that “new car smell” 
Thats called "off gassing" and its what "new car smell" is. What @ucmndd said is absolutely correct, some people pay to put that smell in their cars.
it will dissipate over time. if you can park in your garage with your windows down that will help air out the car. some people rent ozone machines or something to help with car smells but I dont have a lot of knowledge about that.
There isnt anything "wrong" with the car, and there isnt anything for Tesla to "fix" here, its just what happens with new plastics, carpet etc. It happens to all of them, everywhere, and some people are more susceptible to the glues / products a particular manufacturer uses than others.
You just got (un)lucky that you are more impacted by those. Nothing you can do but air the car out, or look into other smell dissipating threads, and wait (or sell the car and either buy a used one where the off gassing has already happened, or go with another brand you havent had an issue with before).
There is absolutely zero for Tesla to "fix" here though, especially a service center.
Thanks, but the difference here is my new car was a demo with about 800 miles on it, so its been sitting out at a dealership for awhile. I would assume if would have gassed off by now since its not fresh out of the factory
If it was sitting with windows rolled up, in the sun, probably not. The smell would probably be more baked in there, actually. I have had BMWs in the past take almost a year for that smell to go away (I was fairly susceptible to that smell so I noticed it a LOT but it didnt make me sick, I just didnt like it).
Shrug... Unless you have a leak somewhere, there isnt anything you can do other than looking into threads about getting smells out of your car. Coffee beans (whole coffee beans) can help to control smells, if you like the smell of coffee that is. You could put some coffee beans in a container and put them in the footwell when the car is sitting in the garage (with the windows down).
You could look into an ozone generator but as I said I dont have much information on that.
Strange. The only fluid would be the coolant. Is the windshield washer resi full or do you use it often? That gives off a alcohol smell that can get inside when spraying the glass.
We had no smells, just the usual new car smell and it was pretty mild.
*just read it is a demo car. It's likely they used a vendor to detail it- used some carpet cleaning/detergents to detail it.
That might be the strong smell.
Sniff around maybe you can source where it's coming from. Carpets, or seats, maybe the rear cargo carpets...etc.
Its not the windshield fluid - I haven't even used it since I just got the car two weeks ago. I also don't think its inside the car bc once I start driving it goes away so believe its coming from the battery / front hood area
Thanks at the service center they did a courtesy check of all my fluids and said it all checked out
Change the air filters. The carbon in the filters can take on a sweet paint-like chemical smell as they age.
Hi, Didi you ever figured it out. That is happening to our model 3-not a new car(few years old). Smells sort of mouth wash. If you ever got the answer greatly appreciate if you share.
I've been getting this for a long time on my Y, over 5000 mi now. The smell is not the funky odor that is common, it's more of a chemical or metallic smell. Also get layer of build up on inside of windshield from off gassing or something, I think it's messing up the forward cameras too since I can't get under there to clean it. My solution for now is to precondition before getting in and at least get some fresh air flowing, that seems to help a lot. When I gets warmer I'm hoping the heat will make it better too. It's really kinda bad though, never had a car off gas this much. Was thinking about taking it on a long road trip with camping but I'm thinking it's a bad idea to spend a lot of time and especially not sleep in it.
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