Prius Gen III (and Gen II)... Smell...

There must be something wrong with the cars as mine has never smelt of anything other than new car. And before you ask I have a super sensitive sense of smell. I also believe the 12v is of the sealed variety.

Oh, and none of the thousands of passengers I've taken have ever reported any weird smells.

Anyone with scientific experience want to offer their comments?


p.s. Just thought of a question - what mileages are you buying these vehicles at and who was the previous owner? Just wondering if the cabin filter has been replaced or is clogged full of crud causing weird whiffs.

 

Go in the back of the car and look in the trunk at the battery compartment, +12, and check to see if the vent tube is attached. It's a little plastic tube that comes out of the side of the battery and vents the chemical oder a battery produces to the outside world. If it is missing, all it is a 90º plastic drip tube elbow and 1/8" tubing that routes through the floor!

 

If it's both cars and all the Prius you've sat in, you could simply be hypersensitive to such smell from past experiences. Many do not know what batteries or chemistry labs smell like.

 

look at your first photo, left side of the battery, the red cover is the Positive terminal, then you see the little strap on top of the battery just above the tag, on that tag you can read the word danger pointing to the left, there is a little black stub coming out of the battery, that is the vent tube 90 elbow , it points down and attached to it is either a black, or clear piece of 1/8" plastic tubing. It should be poking through the floor, also make sure the tube is not plugged!

 

There are no fasteners to undo. You need to take the fold out floor cover out, then the big plastic boot tray and then the cover for the battery compartment will come off easily and you can then check whether your vent is loose.

Simples.

 

Cool. Glad you managed to get in the battery compartment. Maybe get them to check for blockages? Maybe they'll run some air through the pipe?

Did you ever check the cabin filter? It can make a stench if it hasn't been changed correctly. Also, you sure the smell isn't dirty a/c? Have you tried running some a/c antimould stuff?

What mileage is the car at and what's the service situation? Was it Toyota serviced?

 

When do you notice this smell? Is it when you get in the car, or when you start it and it warms up, or when?

I have noticed an electrical smell when I use the heater heavily. I believe this is from a coil of wire used to enhance the heaters ability. We have the same smell in our 2011 Corolla for the same reason.

 

As Grumpy Cabbie mentioned, the greatest source of smells is probably the cabin air filter in the glove compartment in my car. You can try to google that topic, and you will find there are sprays and things to clean out the vents. Presumably microbes can get going and they can do all sorts of trace chemistry and of course the nose can pick up some things at very low levels. You can also try masking perfumes and baking soda etc to pick up odors. I like to keep the windows open to air out. Sometime my wife puts stuff like apple cores in the litter bag and I assume this is what feeds the microbes inside air filter. Of course a new air filter I was assuming this is first step. Not to mention the mouse problem, they get into the air filters.