2015 Polo - Toxic New Car Smell After 16 Months

[dynasty711]

Hi All,

Greeting from Perth. Having got such annoying smell for my May 2015 built Polo since new. I understand all new cars have some degree of methanal problem, but usually will go away in a few months. Have searched the whole forum, seems not many people are complaining this.

I drive the Polo solo most of the time, personally I'm not very sensitive to any smell, but every time my wife gets into the car, she complains, and I can tell that "new car smell" is still there after 16 months. Have tried different ways to get ride of that, like, orange peel, essential oil, air fresher, left windows open under sun (just started recently, not much last summer), and now I'm using my third methanal absorber, the first two changed colour sooner than instruction suggested, which means still high level of methanal in the cabin. However, I don't have any testing device to support that.

Just wondering if anyone has had similar problem, and if you have any suggestion how to eliminate the smell? And whether it's worth to talk to my dealer? The Polo has done only 11,000km and under warranty.

Any suggestion are appreciated, thank you.

[Guest001]

You havent had a air freshener in the car and it has melted in the sun have you Had that happen once Never did get rid of the smell completely. We bought out Polo because it didnt smell. looked at a Hyundai and it stunk so wife wouldnt buy it.

[dynasty711]

Hi Hillbilly,

Thanks for the reply. If I understood your point correctly, current smell wasn't caused by any melted air flesher. The one I had used is black ice favour little trees brand from SCA for a few weeks, that artificial fragrance covered new car smell for the time being but didn't solve the problem.

My concern is my Polo could be one of those smells, want to gather as much as info before talking to dealer. Thanks.

[staz88]

I like that new car smell.
I kept the windows up all the time to retain the smell as long as possible.

[dynasty711]

I don't mind such new car smell that much myself. Issue is planning to drive the Polo more often as my sp23 is showing its age. Since my wife hates the smell, have to solve this first.

Now the car is left under sun with all windows open wide. Any suggestion how to speed the process up or if you have had similar problem? Thank you.

[amazeer]

I like that new car smell.
I kept the windows up all the time to retain the smell as long as possible.

same

[Umai Naa!!]

Could it be, that your cabin filter has bacteria on it?

[HenryJr]

I don't mind such new car smell that much myself. Issue is planning to drive the Polo more often as my sp23 is showing its age. Since my wife hates the smell, have to solve this first.

Now the car is left under sun with all windows open wide. Any suggestion how to speed the process up or if you have had similar problem? Thank you.

Perhaps time for a new wife?

[dynasty711]

Could be, but it's not that mouldy type smell, I don't feel it's caused by bacteria

[Sydneykid]

It is possible that it's only one or 2 items creating the smell in the car not everything. My best suggestion would be to engage the nose and sniff around and see if you can locate the offending item. If you can isolate it to a couple of items (say rear seat squabs) then you could deodorise those items. Grandma's recipe is to dust baking soda over the offending area and let it sit for 30 minutes, then vacuum it off. You may have to repeat the process a few times. There are commercially available deodorisers (Woolite is what dry cleaners use), check your local supermarket, but baking soda is cheap and it does work. Of course I would always test any deodoriser on a low visibility area first to make sure that it doesn't affect the colour.

Cheers
Gary

[dynasty711]

Thank you guys for your input, sorry for my late reply.

Gary (Thanks !) gave me a clue to identify where's the smelly source, guess what, it turned out to be the Shevron Dash Mat (DM1196) I added. That also explained why other Polo owners haven't encountered similar problem like mine.

The dash mat was bought from Auto One last December (was on special, but no stock for Polo, so it's a special order) now I will try what they can do.