if you smell an unpleasant smell its not just you and it isnt anything you have in the car. I bought a Limited Palisade with black interior in October 19. To put it in the words of the Hyundai technician “it smells like old worn socks”. The smell takes your breath away when you first open the door and i have a poor sense of smell. I met a woman with a Limited Palisade with light interior and when I mentioned this her eyes got big and threw her hands up in the air. She told me she purchased the first one the lot sold in July 2019 and had been thinking it was something she had in the car all along. She had been trying for 8 months at this point to get the smell out, but could not.
My wife opened a ticket with Hyundai’s corporate office after taking it to the dealership twice where they order bombed it and vacuumed it to no avail. The techs told my wife they could smell what she was talking about. When corporate(Coyle) called me to tell me they were closing the ticket because (Sam) the service director said it smelled like new car smell i had them hold open the ticket. I called Sam and told him i would see him tomorrow so he could fix his error after we determine he never smelled my wife’s car. Sam opened the door in front of me and pulled back out and acknowledged that was definitely NOT a new car smell. We went back in and I had Sam call Coyle to confirm this, but of course Coyle didnt pick up. Sam and I both left voicemails, Coyle didnt call me back. Sam said he was contacting his director who would advise what they would do about this and would call me back. Sam didnt call me back either. I got home from work today and my wife tells me corporate called her and told her they were not going to do anything to fix the old sock smell in our $50,000 Hyundai and that she could take it up with the BBB. I heard Hyundai didnt have great service before, but seriously?
I purchased my Palisade Limited Trim with black interior in August 2020. Instead of having a new car smell, the interior has an unpleasant odor, the source of which I am unable to determine. I have checked for leaks, mold, etc. to no avail. I had initially attributed the odor to the fact that the car had only recently arrived in country and had been wrapped in protective covering during transport. However, it has now been months and the odor persists. Due to the weather and driving conditions since purchasing the Palisade, I have not had opportunities to give it a good airing out. Is anyone else experienced this unpleasant odor issue?
Update: The unpleasant odor has finally gone away. The weather here in Virginia has been unseasonably warm throughout the winter months and I was able to drive with the windows down for a few days. A week later I noticed that the odor was no longer present. It is now two weeks later, and although I am no longer driving with the windows down, the odor has not returned.
I have just chalked it up to it being new and all the plastic and leather off gassing a little bit. I only usually smell it when I first get in the car and then the smell goes away shortly there after and it's not every time I get in it either.
