u2jrmw

I've had my car a little over a year, I bought it low-mileage used. In the last month or so I've started to notice an odor coming from the ventilated seats. I think it smells like a cigarette smoke, but it's a little off. Nothing else in the car has an similar odor, and even the seat surfaces itself don't smell at all. Only when I turn on the seat cooling do I smell it. It is driving me nuts. I don't smell it from the AC or from the passenger seat. My guess would be that the previous owner smoked and the dealership did a good job of removing the odor, but it didn't quite get it all from the seat ventilation.

I'm looking at options to try and fix this. So far an ozone machine seems the best bet, with some kind of fogger product being the next best option. I would take it to a detailer, but I am struggling to find a decent one in my town.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

irenesbob

I do not have ventilated seats but as a first step I would try to find the air inlet for the air that is pulled/forced through the seats and spray or place some kind of an air neutralizer, so that the stuff gets pulled through the seat. Beyond that I have no idea.

u2jrmw

Thanks,

I think the seats pull air from under the seats, kind of pulling from the driver footwell. Anyone confirm this?

u2jrmw

I apologize for the sort of double post, but I thought I would ask the question directly. Where is the intake for the ventilated seats? I once saw a diagram on here but could not find it.

Thanks

irenesbob

If it is the case that the air is pulled just generally from under the seat as opposed to an actual intake grill, maybe when they de-smoked the car the dealer missed shampooing the carpet that goes back under the seat and did not wipe off any non-carpet pieces that are there. I would push the seat as far back as it goes, raise it up to max height to get under it more easily and shampoo any carpet and use a Lysol (or similar) wipe on everything else. I do not now and never have smoked, so I get your concern.

u2jrmw

I checked under the seat just now. Smells all good down there. Smell seems to be in the ductwork etc. of the seat itself. I found the intake which is like a computer fan above the rear passenger feet. I got some odor neutralizer and sprayed it in the general direction with the fan running. I'll try again later with a blanket or something over the seat to see if I can get the stuff to stick around in the seat more. Don't really want to spray the leather directly.

irenesbob

Perhaps this form Fabreze laced somewhere near the under seat area:

Febreze CAR Vent Clips Smoke Odor Eliminator

Or. Air Wick stick Ups that many use for their under sink trash containers.

You might leave a shallow bowl of baking soda under the front seat overnight or if the car is not being driven for a few days. I would hesitate to drive with it there for obvious reasons lol

Good luck!

tenspeed

This might be the diagram that you're thinking of. There is no direct connection between the HVAC system and the ventilated seat. It wouldn't be too hard to redirect the air going to the rear seat footwell into the seat .

DirkM

The ventilated seats suck the air in through the surface (all the little holes in the bottom and rear) and blow it out though the vents in the seat back. It's not connected to the A/C at all.

last911

I have two cars with ventilated seats. A Porsche 911 and my A6. The seat ventilation does a great job on the 911, but the A6 not much air is felt at all. So I set out one afternoon to understand what was going on. First I placed a tissue on the seat cushion of either seat and activated the ventilation. The 911 sucked the tissue to the seat, while the A6 blew the tissue off the seat. The designs had opposite air flows.

When seated in in 911 on a hot day, the seat pulls the cool A/C air directed towards the driver and moves past and into the seat. The magic is that the moisture on your skin or clothing is wicked away and you feel cooler. When seated in the A6, air is drawn from the floor area beneath the seat and blown out towards the driver. As the air is not particularly cool or dry, evaporative cooling of the skin or clothing doesn't occur.

The A6 system "sucks at cooling" because it tries to blow warmer air. The 911 does a great job of cooling because it sucks cool air past your body.

If you don't support my test results, try it yourself.