I went to get my car today and I couldn't get it!

Though Toyota tries really hard, I think you got a dose of New Car Smell. It's all the plasticizers from the plastics and the leather tanning and treatment and the glues and the carpet. Heat and lack of ventilation make it more pronounced. The good news is that it goes away over time. I'm pretty sure it was nothing to do with the engine.

Good luck with your new car. Keep the windows open when driving for the first few weeks, and when the car has been closed in a parking lot, sitting in the sun, open the doors and hatch to let the hot air, and stink, out before getting in.

 

this is a newer car with newer chemical formulations. there has been a couple articles that discussed the fumes given off by new cars and it aint good. keeping the car well ventilated is a very good suggestion.

 

On the way home with my new 2005 I though that it must be burning oil.
Terrible smell, stopped and looked under it to see if there was an oil leak
onto the muffler, because it was burning my eyes.

Turns out it was the undercoating. They had applied some to the exhause
pipe or muffler evidently because the oder diminished as I drove the 30
miles home. Also, there is the muffler heat shield, maybe something there
smells when new.

Anyway, no smell the second day of ownership.

Rod

 

Also, this forum needs a spell checker. I never notice my
typing mistakes until after I upload them, even when I try to preview
them first. And, my typing skill is terrible while laying on my bed
using my computer.
Rod

 

I got my Prius yesterday, and felt the same way as you did. But I did not get rash or anything like that, just the new car smells was not pleasant. After one day driving, I think it is better now. It is still there, but much better. Hopefully after one week or so, it will totally gone.
Hope it helps.

 

I'll drrenk to that!

 

TonyPSchaefer of Chicagoland is our spellchecker, but he's busy a lot and doesn't catch everything.

 

Did you buy undercoating, paint sealant, fabric protection, or some other useless dealer-applied chemical crap? That may be the problem.

If not: if you can stand to do it, check to see whether the smell is worst at the battery vent on the far right side of the passenger seat. That would indicate a possible electrical problem which the dealer ought to be able to find and fix.

 

I'll bet it's just the 'new car smell'. Our new 06 stinks so badly that my wife immediately commented on it when she opened the garage door. It actually gives her a headache if she is around it for very long. The windows are all open, so hopefully it will air out soon. This is not the 'pleasant' new car smell of yore.

 

Get one of those nice smelly things that perfumes the joint..... and you can also take it out for a few spins at 70mph with the windows down.


usually fumes are worse when its hot..... So if the iwndows have been up on a sunny day, it will be worse.

I drove a new prius yesterday and it was rainy and cold, and I could still smell funky chemical smell.. but it wan't obnoxious. If not for your thread I may not have noticed it. But the smell wasn't "pleasant" like most new car smells are... I could tell it was powerful chemicals. Maybe you can mask it with a pleasant smell for a while.

 

fumes from new cars are pretty well known. the Prius compounds the problem by being a new car a fairly air tight. i had a film on the windshield from it.

 

Some dead shrimp under the seat works pretty well!