Question from Inna
Hi Debra,
A few months ago, my husband bought a used 2005 Subaru Forester with leather seats. He loves the car and I sometimes end up riding in it with him, but the smell is hard for me to tolerate. Although you would think it would have outgassed by now, there is still a strong smell in the leather seats – or it might be chemicals used in the leather treatment or conditioning or other components in the “leather” seats, not sure. Is there a way to get rid of the smell without damaging the leather? Doesn’t seem like opening the sun roof would help much given it’s had 10 years to off-gas, plus it will soon be too cold for that here. I’m not normally super-sensitive to leather, using leather purses and leather shoes without any reaction at all. Though I’ve never had leather furniture or leather car seats before.
Thanks.
Debra’s Answer
I’ve had leather seats before in cars and my experience is that the leather does outgas over time. I bought a 2001 car with leather seats in 2005 and by the time I bought it there was no odor at all.
If you have a persistent odor, the leather was probably cleaned with a product that added additional chemicals.
You might contact EnviroKlenz and ask them specifically which of their products to use for this. I asked them once about removing chemicals from leather when I was considering buying a very comfortable leather office chair, but I ended up not buying the chair, so I haven’t tried this. But they told me then it could be done.
