Originally Posted by babydriver (Post 1996974)

My 1 month old 2015 FR-S had the same problem. I took it back to the dealership that sold it to me and said essentially that they needed to take care of it and I didn't care how. Because I paid cash for the vehicle, maybe that helped. Anyway, the service manager was helpful in treating the problem and at least after I got it back, it smelled OK. Now here we are about three more weeks down the road and I noticed the odor again this morning. It only occurs on startup.

I was told that this is a problem endemic to most Toyotas and ALL Scions and is caused by the air conditioning condenser (under the dash) becoming mildewed and/or moldy. I guess I will have to go back again to get it fixed.

Originally Posted by babydriver (Post 1996974)

I was told that this is a problem endemic to most Toyotas and ALL Scions and is caused by the air conditioning condenser (under the dash) becoming mildewed and/or moldy. I guess I will have to go back again to get it fixed.

Originally Posted by Spectral Entity (Post 2000216)

Dealerships actually prefer folks to finance cars over paying cash. The better deal for paying cash is a memory of a bygone era.

On another note, my '06 Tucson did this, smelling like rotten water. The closest the shop could suggest was the catalytic converter was stopped up, but since the Tucson had 3, they never fixed it, kept the prob placated by deodorizing every couple months til I traded the thing.

Originally Posted by yoitsrob (Post 2001110)

MOLD.

Replace the cabin filter and you'll be good.

Originally Posted by babydriver (Post 2001482)

It makes me wonder how they stored it prior to sale for there to be mold after one month. Mine has been in the garage every night and I also garage it at work.

The car was transferred up to Charles Maund (Austin) from Red McCombs in San Antonio so I am pretty sure the problem started with that dealership. Nevertheless, it is now Maund Toyota's problem.