Smelly Car - Attleboro,MA

M.,
You have received a lot of great suggestions and I am sure some of them will work for you. I just wanted to toss one more into the mix. We have dogs and one pees on everything so we always have a bottle of "Nature's Miracle" around. You can find it at pet stores and maybe even Target. My son had pretty significant reflux and spit up all the time. We were always cleaning up stuff. We used the Natures Miracle and never had any smells. Febreeze helps too but for us it worked best after the area was thoroughly clean. We now use the Meleluca products that someone else mentioned. I haven't had to clean up any vomit lately but I bet the Sol U Mel would work well too. Chances are Natures Miracle is much easier to find. It can be used to clean up any body fluid (dog or person) well. Good luck!

Have you tried just baking soda? Just sprinkle it all over, let it sit for a while, then vacuum it up. It's always worked for us!

I wish I could help, our cat peed in our car a year ago and I've bought tons of product and nothing has worked. If you find something that does work let me know and best of luck!

I had the same thing happen, so I feel for your SIL.

I used a wet/dry vac. I hooked it up to an outdoor plug outside my house and went to town on the car. Stanley Steemer also makes a safe fabric cleaning product that I used (not sure what the name is). I still plan to buy a new car seat b/c I am always paranoid about her sitting in a car seat that she threw up in - EEEWWWWW gross (actually I think I am just rationalizing buying a new car seat b/c I dont care fo rthe one I have anymore).

This might sound weird but white vinegar removes smells. Get a spray bottle and add white vinegar mixed with water and spray the carpets and the seats and then use a wet/dry vac and just leave the windows down and let it air out. My son threw up once in my car and it was in the summer so the smell was awful. It took about two days for me to not smell anything.

My son threw up in my car (strawberry flavored milk - ewwwww!) when he was around 3. I was on my way to drop him off with my mom who babysat him while I worked nights. The car was absolutely awful! My mom told me to wipe down the seat well and then spray a ton of Febreeze into the fabric. 8 hours later when I got out of work - NO ODOR! Not even a tiny bit! I was very impressed! I feared I would have to smell that sour milk smell forever! Give it a try!

I swear by Biokleen's Bac-out stain and odor eliminator. It works on literally any organic based stain or odor and works in about a minute! It's also all natural, not petroleum based like most cleaners on the market today.
http://www.bi-o-kleen.com/general.htm

I totally feel your sister in law's pain! One of my girls used to get sick in the car at least weekly for several months-almost every time we went somewhere! She finally learned to get sick in a bowl and then the issue just stopped- guess she outgrew it! I was lucky to have found Melaleuca- an awesome store to shop from that makes safer alternatives to name brand items. They make a product called SolUMel that was a lifesaver during this time of carsickness. I was able to use it in the car as a deodorizer, on the car seat, on her clothes and in the laundry and the smell always came out. It was also great to know that I wasn't dousing her seat and the closed car environment with strong chemicals that would harm us. I'd be happy to share more with you and your sister (and the person who mentioned the cat pee- this would help with that, too)- you can private message me anytime.

Bring the car in to be detailed BUT whatever you do don't tell the detailing place it needs to be cleaned due to puke! They may not do it, trust me. My friend and boyfriend (now husband) both threw up in my car 2 different times but about 3 weeks apart and in the same spot (also down inside the window)!
I made the mistake of telling the detail guy it was puke and they refused to do it. I cleaned it well so you could not see anything just smelled a little still and it was July!!!
They should be able to clean it better than you can with wet vacumming and soap. I took my car else where and did not tell them and it came back smelling great! Good luck.

I second Amy P's response for using Biokleen's Bac-out stain and odor eliminator. Works great smaells good and is environmentally friendly. We use it in our house all the time. Good luck!

take the car seat apart and wash it in the washing machine, as far as the interior of the car....use a ton of freebreeze on it. Freebreeze will usually take the smell out.

Not sure what you've tried, but club soda shaken up and sprayed on the area, scrubbed a little and then vaccuum up the foamy residue it leaves does help. Baking soda or baking soda based carpet, upholstery freshener may also help. You could also call and ask a local car detailer what they recommend. I'm sure it's happened to someone else at some time.! Good luck.

I rented a steam cleaner and upholstery attachment from the grocery store and it seemed to really help. I followed it up with Febreeze, just to be sure and it seemed to work well.
Also, if it is humid, try to put a fan on the car so that you don't end up with a mildew smell instead.
Good luck.

My 15 mo old daughter vomits multiple times per day, so often this happens in the car. (Huge, empty the entire stomache projectile vomit that ends up everywhere).

The only thing I've found to work is found in the auto section of walmart. It is called "Tuff Stuff" It is in a bright yellow can and it is a multipurpose foam cleaner. I tend to use a lot of it, but since it costs less than $3 for a large can, I don't mind too much.

Another thing she should do is air out the car after she cleans it, and if she wants to deep clean it, she could scrub it down with plenty of extra water, use a shopvac (or any vacuum that suck up water) and vacuum out the excess water/cleaner. Then air out the car.

She'll need to take apart the car seat and clean in the crevaces also.

She might be able to find an air nuetralizer to help too. Just don't use an air freshener ~ often you get a mix of the nice smell with the gross smell when its that hot.

Hope that helps!

Hi - sorry to hear of your experience - we had the same over the winter and it was trapped in the vertical seatbelt thingy. Once all the visible signs of puke were cleaned, I ran clear vinegar over everything that had been thrown-up on. Then I left two boxes of baking soda in the car for a few weeks - and dumped half a box down the seatbelt thing. Before I knew it the smell was gone!!!

I was in a situation over six months ago when my daughter got sick all over me and the car/car seat when I was getting her out. It was horrible. We were traveling and were over 200 miles from home.

I had nothing on me to clean the car. I took the car the next day to the local car wash and they did a full upholstery cleaning -- while my mom stayed in the hotel with my daughter (it was so bad I couldn't put my daughter in the car seat until it was cleaned). Yes, it cost money, but it was great. When they were done my car did not smell and the car/car seat were clean.

The only thing that still had a smell were the car seat straps. When we got home my husband took the car seat out and used carpet/upholstery cleaner on the straps and it worked. They needed a good hands on detailed approach.

M.,
Hi. Has she tried rug cleaner yet? The spray on stuff as well as the powder that gets vacumed up..Both help with car seats a lot and should do the same with a car. good luck.

My son did this when he was little in my husbands brand new car.Down into every crack and crevice even under the rug! Not good! We got it professionally cleaned at the dealership then borrowed an ozone machine. That pretty much did it. Many new air purifier machines have an ozone feature so see if any friends have one to borrow. Or find an expensive purifier company that lets you borrow them for a few days to try them out. Use it in the car then give it back! (not exactly ethical but serious stink calls for serious measures!)

Good luck!
L.

The product that I always use for smells is Sol-u-mel. It works great because it used tea tree oil as 1 of the ingredients which is a natural anti-bacterial & odor eliminator/neutralizer. I use this product for so many reasons & it just keeps working! You can find it online through a company called Melaleuca (the name for tea tree oil). I've shopped with this company for almost 2 years now & love it! If you need any help, feel free to contact me on how you can shop with them too!

I'd say you'll have to take it to get it detailed. Have a professional do it....