Burning Smell After Harsh Acceleration?

Same here, did a lil bit of spirited driving last week, with hard acceleration, speeding up to 100mph and hard braking and stuffs and there's a burning smell, smells like burning wires / hot brake pads. But I kinda think it's normal since the car is fairly new and never thrashed that hard before. The smell went away immediately.

 

You are fine - I have had 5 new cars in the last 12 years and they all do this. The burning smell is just the components breaking in - its not uncommon to smell that for the first few thousand miles. I even smell it on my new motorcycles.

 

You said that you passed someone by before you could feel this smell. Do you think it could be some fumes from the car you just passed by? Especially if it was a car/truck with a diesel engine. It seems (i don't know for sure since I didn't put my hands on it yet) that this car doesn't have a charcoal cabin air filter. Whenever I have diesel truck in front of me, I can smell all these diesel fumes. It sucks, since on my carmy with charcoal filter, I don't have such of a problem.

 

Just keep an eye on it....for now, maybe take it in to the dealership for a look.
I am sure it's nothing honestly I have not had this experience with my C.

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

I'm starting to notice some burning odor coming through the vents at 19,000k miles on harsh accelerations. Guess it's time for a visit to the dealership.

 

Ashley, welcome to the dark side of the gas pedal. All that raw power finally let loose got everything all hot and bothered. Nothing to take alarm about.

Your C merely got worked up into a lather. That is all. Give it a sugar cube next time, and a brisk rub down. A pat on it's rear bumper wouldn't be out of line.

 

I'll sometimes notice a burning smell when pulling into a mountain top parking lot. Basically anytime you run high revs over a protracted period, you're really going to heat up the exhaust fully, and if there's any undercoating overspray on it, that's when it's going to cook a bit.

 

There was a similar thread about this:

slight burning smell on hills? | PriusChat

 

I've had a burning smell going up long hills on practically every car I owned in the past, including my 2013 Prius. Like others have mentioned, I am guessing it is from the exhaust getting really hot and burning off coatings or dirt.

 

Ashley, Do a couple of these in front of your house and burn off all that icky paint stuff. Your neighbors will thank you...

 

You have nothing to worry about..because you have something to worry about...if that makes any sense.

Your boyfriend is probably right, it's probably just smells with a new car being broken in...I'm 99% sure that is the case.

But it's also a situation where if I'm wrong? The problem will get progressively worse and eventually you'll reach a stage where speculation or guessing whether you have a problem will not be necessary. And even then, since you have a new car, you'd be under warranty and it wouldn't be a catastrophic problem.

BUT....given the information, and situation you are describing, I think you have nothing to worry about, unless you want to....

So my recommendation is don't worry..be happy...and the ONLY thing I would do at this point is take the opportunity to learn how to check your oil. You need to know how to do this and do it on a regular basis anyway.

If your oil level is fine...then there is really at this point no reason to be concerned.

 

In this situation, I sometimes think a car is like a human. The more you work it, the smellier it gets

 

It's never too late for fiery burnouts...

 

Congratulations.
As much as I hang around here, you'd think I'd learn to always check the date on the original post.

Oh well, glad to hear the car is running fine, and wish you and your husband to be, all the best.

 

Congrats to you both.