Smelly AC not covered under Warranty on new cars?

[Zoglog]

My model 3 is below 4k miles and 1 year, the AC system is showing some smellyneess in heat when it's first turned on. Sounds like this is a known problem with he HVAC software where it didn't properly deal with moisture.

So I bring it in and they tell me I have to pay nearly $400 to get it fixed. This seems absurd for a problem that Tesla patched but ruined the HVAC system. I have never had this problem in literally any car.

I guess it's one more thing to add on to the carbon fiber spoilers that don't fit. Any advice on how I can escalate this up? It's funny because the service advisor also thought it was absurd people are having to pay for this issue. Seems like a health risk if it's possibly mold.

If it was just the cabin air filters I'd wait for a 3rd party replacement and do it myself. But it sounds like they have to clean out the HVAC system

 

[BeachMike]

This is ridiculous. I brought mine in (SC Orlando) because of the AC smell. They cleaned it for free and listed it as a one-time good will act. The smell comes from a moisture buildup after the AC use. This was fixed with a software update. Now, after running the AC, once you park the car the fan will stay on for a bit and dry out the AC unit.

 

[Zoglog]

Wondering if there's any recourse or if there's someone I can contact to get it covered.

 

[Rottenapplr]

Ya same experience. Not covered. Car had 4K miles and smelly ac, which is ridiculous.

 

[BeachMike]

AC odor removal and cleaning

 

[Zoglog]

AC odor removal and cleaning

Been following that thread. That'll be my last resort but it seems silly that we're still having to pay/ do the work for an issue their software introduced.

 

[afadeev]

My model 3 is below 4k miles and 1 year, the AC system is showing some smellyneess in heat when it's first turned on. Sounds like this is a known problem with he HVAC software where it didn't properly deal with moisture.

This is a known side-effect for all of us living outside of desert areas - cabin filters get clogged with cr&p, mold develops, smells propagate.
Simple solutions include replacing cabin filter, and spraying Lysol into HVAC air intakes.

This has NOTHING to do with software, and applies all car OEMs in equal measures.

So I bring it in and they tell me I have to pay nearly $400 to get it fixed. This seems absurd for a problem that Tesla patched but ruined the HVAC system. I have never had this problem in literally any car.

If you had owned a luxury car with cabin air filters, you would have had this problem and known how to deal with it.
If you owned econo-boxes, you don't.

I guess it's one more thing to add on to the carbon fiber spoilers that don't fit. Any advice on how I can escalate this up? It's funny because the service advisor also thought it was absurd people are having to pay for this issue. Seems like a health risk if it's possibly mold.

No, not really.
But you can turn this into a health risk by blowing your own fuse, or deal with the issue.


a

 

[Zoglog]

This is a known side-effect for all of us living outside of desert areas - cabin filters get clogged with cr&p, mold develops, smells propagate.
Simple solutions include replacing cabin filter, and spraying Lysol into HVAC air intakes.

This has NOTHING to do with software, and applies all car OEMs in equal measures.




If you had owned a luxury car with cabin air filters, you would have had this problem and known how to deal with it.
If you owned econo-boxes, you don't.




No, not really.
But you can turn this into a health risk by blowing your own fuse, or deal with the issue.


a

except I live in a desert area................
I've literally never had this happen to any other vehicle but it has happened to BOTH my model 3's under a year and under 4k miles.

They tried to charge my wife for my other model 3 but F'ed up and did the work without telling me they were charging so they had to waive the fee.

Also your luxury car vs econo boxes doesn't make any sense as I've owned both. Not sure why you feel so adamant on defending a clear flaw

 

[TexanEV]

Same problem with my car...about 6k miles on it when I noticed it. I’m taking it into service center next week...anyone get them to do it for free or are most people paying the $400?

 

[Zoglog]

Same problem with my car...about 6k miles on it when I noticed it. I’m taking it into service center next week...anyone get them to do it for free or are most people paying the $400?

I'm not paying. It's silly to have to pay for what is a Mfr flaw for something decently essential. Any other mfr would have stepped up to cover the issue now that it's been software patched, but the damage has been done.

However Tesla has removed so many layers of actual customer support that most people are being held hostage to either deal with the smell or pay up. I've found no real way to escalate it up

They are literally hiding behind a policy that is intended for consumable products to shield them from covering it. The fact that this is happening on cars within the first year and low miles is a pretty clear sign.

 

[khaliq]

This is a known side-effect for all of us living outside of desert areas - cabin filters get clogged with cr&p, mold develops, smells propagate.
Simple solutions include replacing cabin filter, and spraying Lysol into HVAC air intakes.

This has NOTHING to do with software, and applies all car OEMs in equal measures.




If you had owned a luxury car with cabin air filters, you would have had this problem and known how to deal with it.
If you owned econo-boxes, you don't.




No, not really.
But you can turn this into a health risk by blowing your own fuse, or deal with the issue.


a

I’m going to have to disagree with everything you’ve said here. Due to my nature of work, I’ve owned hundreds of cars in my lifetime. Many of them luxury German cars. I’ve never experience this particular issue in any new car, and I’ve lived in the same city my entire life. If it’s an environmental factor, than I should have at least ran into this issue once with another car.
I’ve had smelly A/C’s due to melting dashes in Mercedes and BMW vehicles, but not a foul, unsanitary odor resulting from poor ventilation or humidity.

Seems more like poor design allowing moisture to build up in the vents, which leads to bacterial growth.

 

[BeachMike]

I went back to look at the receipt from 08/08/2019. Orlando did it under Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty. I wonder why some SCs acknowledge it as an issue covered by warranty and some don't....?

 

[TexanEV]

I went back to look at the receipt from 08/08/2019. Orlando did it under Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty. I wonder why some SCs acknowledge it as an issue covered by warranty and some don't....?

What did you tell them when u took it in?

 

[Zoglog]

What did you tell them when u took it in?

would like to know as well.

 

[BeachMike]

I called the SC in Orlando. I told them that the AC stinks when it first comes on and after running it for a few mins the smell goes away. That's all. They said that they would clean the system for free, one time, as an act of good will. I wanted to change the cabin filter as well (about 80 bucks) but they had none in stock. A few days later they contacted me out of the blue asking to schedule a mobile tech visit. The guy came out to my place and changed the filter. Great service. Nothing to complain
FYI, we got the car in September 2018 and 16,000 miles on it. Florida summers are hot and humid. The AC is always on. Smell did not come back since.

 

[qdeathstar]

i agree with the notion that this problem is more unique to tesla’s.... i’ve owned a lot of cars and never had an issue with smelly AC... haven’t had it on the M3 yet either, fingers crossed.

 

[mac9899]

I called the SC in Orlando. I told them that the AC stinks when it first comes on and after running it for a few mins the smell goes away. That's all. They said that they would clean the system for free, one time, as an act of good will. I wanted to change the cabin filter as well (about 80 bucks) but they had none in stock. A few days later they contacted me out of the blue asking to schedule a mobile tech visit. The guy came out to my place and changed the filter. Great service. Nothing to complain
FYI, we got the car in September 2018 and 16,000 miles on it. Florida summers are hot and humid. The AC is always on. Smell did not come back since.

Same, Florida SC cleaned system, they did charge me the filters but at $34 for them, I installed them myself, already had the software update for a while now and it does it’s job running the fan for a bit. That SC is always open to hear the clients and their techs look in their systems for notes, service bulletin, etc before giving a full answer. Maybe due that they also do get more tech savvy owners so they probably tend to be cautious when declining something.

My guess is since FL is more prone for it to happen and was a common thing, it got less pushback from SC. But an internal service bulletin would help standardize the response. No clue if there’s one.

 

[birjman]

I called the SC in Orlando. I told them that the AC stinks when it first comes on and after running it for a few mins the smell goes away. That's all. They said that they would clean the system for free, one time, as an act of good will. I wanted to change the cabin filter as well (about 80 bucks) but they had none in stock. A few days later they contacted me out of the blue asking to schedule a mobile tech visit. The guy came out to my place and changed the filter. Great service. Nothing to complain
FYI, we got the car in September 2018 and 16,000 miles on it. Florida summers are hot and humid. The AC is always on. Smell did not come back since.

I've had this done at the Orlando SC twice since the spring, the smell came back within weeks both times. The first time the filters were free, the second time I had to pay. The second time they also told me I should run A/C without re-circulation exclusively and always turn on the A/C 5 minutes before I get in the car. This is laughable to me as it puts a large dent in your energy efficiency -- roughly 10-15% from my experimentation. So either my car smells like vinegar or my max range is way below what the vehicle is rated for....seems fine to me!

I've since attempted to call and order filters to do everything myself but they've been out of stock for a while (more than 2 months). This is the big tip off that a lot of people are having this issue. Obvious design flaw.

I've never had this issue with another vehicle in FL for what it's worth.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Maybe simple solution is to remove the cabin filters during the humid times.

In my Lexus, had a similiar problem. I sprayed the filters from time to time with Lysol.

 

[XLR82XS]

Maybe simple solution is to remove the cabin filters during the humid times.

In my Lexus, had a similiar problem. I sprayed the filters from time to time with Lysol.

Can be difficult to do that in south Florida where the humidity levels are higher especially in June-September.