Smelly AC not covered under Warranty on new cars?

[Ampre Sand]

If you are handy, perhaps follow the DIY guide on Tesla's customer support site to pull the cabin filters yourself and inspect them. My filters smelled like acetic acid, and running the A/C without the filters in place (temporarily), made it clear the smell was originating in the OEM filters. The filters are stamped Made in Germany. My neighbor said they had the same problem with their Porsches, and this is in Phoenix as well. In my case I concluded it is a bad batch of filters perhaps even with a common supply chain between manufacturers.

The smell was very distinctly that of uncured silicone caulk, and the filters directly smelled of that. Tesla gave me a new set under warranty, and it hasn't happened again. Just a data point.

 

[vickh]

If you are handy, perhaps follow the DIY guide on Tesla's customer support site to pull the cabin filters yourself and inspect them. My filters smelled like acetic acid, and running the A/C without the filters in place (temporarily), made it clear the smell was originating in the OEM filters. The filters are stamped Made in Germany. My neighbor said they had the same problem with their Porsches, and this is in Phoenix as well. In my case I concluded it is a bad batch of filters perhaps even with a common supply chain between manufacturers.

The smell was very distinctly that of uncured silicone caulk, and the filters directly smelled of that. Tesla gave me a new set under warranty, and it hasn't happened again. Just a data point.

yes mine smelt like yogurt in AZ.

 

[Jejunjm]

yes mine smelt like yogurt in AZ.

Interesting! Vinegar or spoiled yogurt maybe. If it was the silicone wouldn't one expect the smell at day 0? I didn't get the odor until 1k miles/6 weeks

 

[Ampre Sand]

Mine started having intermittent emissions of this uncured silicone smell just a few weeks into ownership. Car was delivered at the end of December and built just a couple weeks prior. It got increasingly more potent and would come and go. We wondered if there was some glob of silicone that had skinned over and not cured, but was intermittently breaking open on hot days and smelling. The things that go through your head...

When I pulled the filters out, they looked clean with no water stains, but you could smell the very distinct smell on them.

Closed up the access door and ran the A/C without the filters to confirm there was no residual smell in the system. The smell was entirely contained in the filters. Interestingly, not only did they smell of uncured silicone sealant, but the filter media was sticky on one side. I started wondering if our infamous high-ozone days started breaking something down on the filter media.

The OEM replacements have now had more time and miles on them through some very damp weather as we drove the car home to the Seattle area via SLC and Boise just a month ago. No further problem, so far.

Keep in mind my particular situation may be unrelated to the sour A/C smells other folks are experiencing. This was definitely a chemical / adhesive smell, as if some sealant hadn't cured properly. To my nose, musty A/C is a different smell entirely.

 

[Jejunjm]

Filter replaced under warranty with disinfectant. Car smells like a very clean bathroom now. Sniffed the old filter - smelled strongly of vinegar

 

[vickh]

Interesting! Vinegar or spoiled yogurt maybe. If it was the silicone wouldn't one expect the smell at day 0? I didn't get the odor until 1k miles/6 weeks

Filter replaced under warranty with disinfectant. Car smells like a very clean bathroom now. Sniffed the old filter - smelled strongly of vinegar

OEM replacements have the same problem after a year for me .I will put on COP per this thread and see if it helps any

 

[TBrownTX]

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.

I’ve had this problem with at least two other cars, one being my last car, a Cadillac ATS. No smells on the Tesla (as of yet).

Tim

 

[khaliq]

After another 6-8 months I had the problem occur again. Ended up just shelling out at Tesla for a deep clean and new filters. I couldn’t live with it. At this point it seems like I need a new cabin filter every 8 months.

 

[uparikh]

I am having the same foul smell issue and have scheduled a service to fix the issue. they are saying that if the technician finds that the AC unit was not abused (ie. leaving the AC on when parked and burning the AC unit etc.) it will be covered under the warranty. I don't think we ever did that. I am hoping it will cover under the warranty.

 

[GhostPants72]

Filter replaced under warranty with disinfectant. Car smells like a very clean bathroom now. Sniffed the old filter - smelled strongly of vinegar

"Filter replaced under warranty with disinfectant." What does this mean? You got the filters replaced under warranty and they disinfected it? Sorry, I am not following.

 

[Candleflame]

Dont use the oem filters. Theres some australian ones made of carbon/plastic which apart from being superior have also no soaking parts.

 

[Jejunjm]

Dont use the oem filters. Theres some australian ones made of carbon/plastic which apart from being superior have also no soaking parts.

Link?

"Filter replaced under warranty with disinfectant." What does this mean? You got the filters replaced under warranty and they disinfected it? Sorry, I am not following.

Sorry. I just meant they replaced it once and used the standard ac cleaner (and refered to that as a disinfectant).