volvo v50 smells like SOMETHING chemical please help!

[yukookoo]

It's 2 years old, but it has smelled this way for aout 1.5 years. I've taken it to various car places, they see a woman walk in and say her car smells weird and dont take me seriously.

MANY people smell it, not just me.

Its especially horrible in the back where dd's carseat is.

It smells like exhaust or something coming out of the car, it smells more under the care towards the front. It comes in from the windows but will also smell if the windows are closed same wether the air cond, is on or not.

I usually just drive iwth all the windows wide open to get SOME fresh air in but it still smells this way too

Smells way worse i think when it gets hot. the car and also the weather.

I've tried things like putting a box of baking soda in the car too, didnt help much.

its not mold or something inside the car Im sure its coming out of the car somehow.


Im really disappointed cause I love the car and i was excited to buy it because its supposed to not offgas as much as other cars and it didnt really have a bad new car smell.

Now I hate driving it. It makes me sick, soar throat, red eyes etc.

ANyone know a way to get it taken care of? Or have experience iwth this?

[mysticmomma]

can your dh take it in?

[nukuspot]

nak

I am so sorry you are dealing with this...i have BTDT times 2! (Both Subaru---I wanted a Volvo both times so badly because I heard they were the least offgassing of all cars but we couldn't afford one.) I sold my favorite car because it made me so sick from the toxic smell (after a detailing place sprayed it with chemicals on the INSIDE after an accident and repair job). Got a new car which made me sick from new car smell. I brought it to place after place and got the SAME reaction...Woman with a sensitive nose dismissal.

Actually I have chemical sensitivity but I usually just explained it that I was "very allergic" so maybe they thought I had asthma or something, it made it easier to talk to auto guys that way.

So finally what I did was air out the new car for 6 MONTHS (I couldn't drive it so DH did or it just sat in the garage with all the windows open) and got it professionally cleaned with a steam vac twice (I brought all my own natural cleaning supplies for the detailer to use, he was happy to help the woman with "allergies".) And then I found this:

http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com/roomaid.html

It is an air purifier for a vehicle! I think it works...I still smell the chemicals but they don't make me sick anymore, and it seems to be getting better each day.

[chevy974]

I talked to my dh about this he works for lexus and this interested him he wants to look it up can you give me more info on year of the car. I will get back to you he is looking it up now at work and asking some of the other guys.

[yukookoo]

wow chevy974!! THanks thats awesome

its a 2007volvo v 50 bought it right off the boat literally they were hard to find/get because it was right when the 2007 model came out or maybe right after I think it was in march or april of 07. We got the car through a broker/ agent, dont remember what they are called exactly but they specialize in finding the car you want for the best price and getting the best loan terms etc.
So they found this car coming on the boat, one of the only 2 in the us and got it for us. 0 mileage etc.

Didnt really have that new car smell and was very clean adn great until about the first service, right before the first service the smell started, Each time i get it serviced the smell will go away for some time, a week, a month etc.

It gets way worse when its hot out i think, but some rainy wet days it also gets bad. Its not the same all the time, sometimes it doesnt smell as bad sometimes its horrible and its especially in the back seat where dd's car seat is.

The smell is kind of like exhaust but not as obvious. like something dirty with metalic sort of. We have had all the filters changed including the cabin filter which was a few hundred dollars and was supposed to be FOR SURE the problem, nothing changed, I even allowed them to run some horrible chemical through the air conditioning/heating vents, didnt help at all....

Evryone smells it, its not just me, that is everyone except for car people...