Does Your AC Smell?

So here's an unusual complaint. Does anyone else have a problem with the AC system in the car smelling unpleasant? My car is brand new essentially. I haven't even owned it 6 months yet. I rarely go through the drive-thru, I never eat in my car, I keep my windows cracked open when at home, and I'm not a bad smelling person. The car it's self smells fine. However, whenever I turn on the AC, it gives off this sort of, tangy, unpleasant odor. I really cannot describe. Has anyone else thought that the AC gives off a kind of unpleasant odor when they use it? Is it just the smell of the plastics and the natural odor of the vehicle? Or is there a legitimate concern, like mildew or something?

I can say that I never noticed any type of smell what-so-ever from my AC. It does happen that HVAC systems to develop odors because of mold if the drain plug clogs up. AC removes moisture from the air and it collects on the heat exchanger and should drain out the bottom of the car somewhere. There is also a "smell" of a musty nature for when the AC compressor stops when the heat exchanger get cold enough but the air keeps blowing. Sometimes the HVAC system will mix hot air and cold air to get the tempurature right just to keep the musty smell from occuring.

If it is that prevelent, I'd take the car back to the dealer for an evaluation. It probably isn't specific to a Focus Electric so it may be something they know how to fix.

Mine has a slight odor... but clears up after running the A/C for a few minutes. Not really much different than I've experienced in other cars.

I've had my 2013 FFE about 9 months. I think it didn't smell anything right at the beginning... there was also a pleasant "new" smell whenever I ran the A/C and also a subtle "burning" smell when I ran the heat. I don't smell that heat smell anymore (probably just burning off some coatings on the heating element, etc.).

WattsUp said:

Mine has a slight odor... but clears up after running the A/C for a few minutes. Not really much different than I've experienced in other cars.

Click to expand...

The odor is somewhat dependent upon where you live. If you live in a humid area, you will probably notice the odor more often. I have noticed it a few times, and it does go away.

Some of this may be because the unit is very efficient. I had a Lincoln SUV where the "Vent" setting was utterly worthless if the temperature outside was above 60, you actually had to run the A/C almost all the time. As a result, there was rarely any odor because there was very little humidity in the unit.

This has been a big complaint among Fusion owners and Ford has finally issued a TSB to address it. Perhaps there is a similar TSB for the Focus.

hybridbear said:

This has been a big complaint among Fusion owners and Ford has finally issued a TSB to address it. Perhaps there is a similar TSB for the Focus.

Click to expand...

Any idea what the TSB entails? Do you have a link?

WattsUp said:

hybridbear said:

This has been a big complaint among Fusion owners and Ford has finally issued a TSB to address it. Perhaps there is a similar TSB for the Focus.

Click to expand...

Any idea what the TSB entails? Do you have a link?

Click to expand...

I should have posted it earlier.
post with TSB
entire 16 page thread about the issue

Yes! Is is super noticeable and weird! ...but not technically bad. I ignore it...mostly.

YAY! I am SOOO glad to see I'm not alone on the matter. And it's equally frustrating not being able to describe it the smell. The best description I've heard is simply, "Organic." It is a very organic smell. I've been parking my car in the garage with the windows down for month, hoping it just needed to air out or something. I've even invested in different kinds of air fresheners, hoping the circulation would eventually just improve once new smells were introduced and aired out. I even just let the fan run on high with all the doors open while I vacuum to try and encourage it to air out. Nothing seemed to help.

I looked at the forum stating that it was a known issue with the Fusion and some Lincoln vehicles. Is this a recall at all for the FFE as well? Can I take my car into the dealer and tell them the issue and it be covered? Or do I have to cover the costs to resolve this issue?

I would love to fix this, but I'm sort of nervous at the thought of how big of a fix this is to fix something as minor as odor.

My last car had an unpleasant organic smell from HVAC when summer kicked in. Ended up discovering big wads of decomposing leaf/maple seed matter near the hood hinges where there was an air intake. The smell was not unlike backed up roof gutters, though much less intense thank goodness.
FFE appears to have similarly placed air intakes and has a similar tendency to build up leaf matter in those corners. i've been debulking the buildup preemptively and so far havent noticed a smell. Anyway if you havent already checked under the hood, it might help.

dmen said:

My last car had an unpleasant organic smell from HVAC when summer kicked in. Ended up discovering big wads of decomposing leaf/maple seed matter near the hood hinges where there was an air intake. The smell was not unlike backed up roof gutters, though much less intense thank goodness.
FFE appears to have similarly placed air intakes and has a similar tendency to build up leaf matter in those corners. i've been debulking the buildup preemptively and so far havent noticed a smell. Anyway if you havent already checked under the hood, it might help.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I will check this! I did notice a LOT of leaves collecting there during the fall, so that could be right! I had problems with the odor during winter as well so that would make a lot of sense. At my work, I park under a tree that I think may drop sap, because I used to have a problem of finding ants crawling all over the outside of my car. Oddly, that problem has stopped, I don't know what caused it. I'm assuming the car in general has a lot of nooks and crannies on it for debris to collect. For example, the back of my car get's absolutely filthy with black dirt, while the rest of my car is hardly dusty. Lots of dirt just collects on the back for some reason. Frustrating, I hate when design flaws like that occur. But I hope it's an easy fix then, because I don't want my entire dash to have to be removed.