Why Do My Car Vents Smell Like Mildew

For example it could happen because of leaves dust and debris that builds up inside the air vents.

Why do my car vents smell like mildew.

Smells of mildew in your car may be caused by the growth of bacteria. In most cases this happens for a few different reasons. The air from your blower motor forces air across this surface and out through the vents in your dash floor and defroster. If there is an odd moldy smell that kicks in as soon as you turn your air conditioning on you don t have to close your nose and bear it.

This is especially a problem for those with asthma who may be sensitive to mildew spores. Most likely it s the smell of mold and or mildew. That s bad news because your ac is most likely distributing mold and or mildew spores throughout your home. Mildew can also often grow inside air conditioning vents.

As the car becomes older bacteria mold fungi and micro organisms can start to grow. What in the world could it be. Cigarette smoke is probably the hardest of the smells to remove from your cars ac vents. This moisture occurs naturally and is part of the car but if left for too long it can create mold.

This results in the dirty sock like odor you smell when you first start your car and turn on your air conditioner. You can remove the tobacco stench by shampooing the carpets the upholstery and the headliner using an enzyme based cleaning product. Use long handled products to make it easier to reach deep into your vents. Frequent causes for musty smells include mold and or mildew in the vent system carpet or headliner.

The smoke from cigarettes gets into everything within your cars interior. Either way it s supposed to make you comfortable and that s not possible if there s an unpleasant musty smell coming out of your vents. You can kill the mildew with a homemade solution. Even a cabin air filter clogged with rotting leaves or leaking trunk can become odiferous.

In fact the smell happens as a result of mold building up inside the vents. That smell is mildew and it indicates that there has been. This is actually a very common automotive problem and it s generally caused by running your air conditioning system only on recirculate and not blowing the fan for a minute or two after turning off the air conditioning and shutting off the engine. Every time your ac comes on the air leaving your vents stinks with a musty odor.

You should replace the air filter to eliminate the odor.