840 miles on our new 2015 Toyota Highlander XLE and the STINK comes out of the AC/Heater vents. Our first Toyota! Love the vehicle, hate the bloody STINK! I have read Toyota's reaction to STINK Problems. Not acceptable. My wife right now has 3 trays of ground coffee, one in the engine compartment and one on each on first and second row floors. How come all other manufacturers can build vehicles which do not STINK?
Update from Oct 25, 2015: Sure I was experiencing the Toyota evaporator smell I ordered a charcoal air filter ($23.00) to replace the original plain paper one. What a surprise to find that my car had sat on dealer lot for a long time!! The original filter was half eaten away. It was packed solid with small twigs, what looked like old fiberglass insulation, wads of gray hair and of course dried mouse feces. It took some time to clear all the matter away even after removing the packed air filter. The charcoal filter is now installed and when I started the Highlander - "NO SMELL!" My wife is in 7th heaven and I am out of the dog house!
My new 2015 Toyota Highlander purchased on May 17 and 3 months later around 8000 miles started having odor from AC. Found today it is mold causing this issues after bringing this issue for repair to my local dealership. What they did today did not work, tomorrow coming again for service.
Update from Oct 2, 2015: I have a good new for me today.
When I got my first appointment they did clean the AC and put the new filter and told me there was mold cousins this smell. After that cleaning the smell was not going away it was much better , but I still can smell it. The top maintenance manager At my local Toyota dealership handle my situation very professional and ask to bring my car again and he will inspect my car all the way. They found that bad smell was coming behind a driver seat. In the pocket my son put the ziplock with cheese and forgot about it. I guess it was around 2,5 month there in that pocket and smells really bad with mold.
Such a good relieve to know it is not my AC having this problem. They took care of my car and clean throughly.
I am very pleased with job they done and Manager reinsured me that my A/C IS GOOD AND CLEAN.
Big thank you for Jim Hawk Service Director who took care of my problem with care and understanding.
I am back to my car as a happy driver and owner of my Toyota. Hope it is never happens again. Always learn something.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
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840 miles on our new 2015 Toyota Highlander XLE and the STINK comes out of the AC/Heater vents. Our first Toyota! Love the vehicle, hate the bloody STINK! I have read Toyota's reaction to STINK Problems. Not acceptable. My wife right now has 3 trays of ground coffee, one in the engine compartment and one on each on first and second row floors. How come all other manufacturers can build vehicles which do not STINK?
Update from Oct 25, 2015: Sure I was experiencing the Toyota evaporator smell I ordered a charcoal air filter ($23.00) to replace the original plain paper one. What a surprise to find that my car had sat on dealer lot for a long time!! The original filter was half eaten away. It was packed solid with small twigs, what looked like old fiberglass insulation, wads of gray hair and of course dried mouse feces. It took some time to clear all the matter away even after removing the packed air filter. The charcoal filter is now installed and when I started the Highlander - "NO SMELL!" My wife is in 7th heaven and I am out of the dog house!
- Joe B., Jericho, VT, US