IndianaJ.J.

: Hi all, I recently had my HHR in the body shop because some thoughtless person left me a nice door ding one day. It broke the paint so it had to be repaired and painted. My HHR is a 2011 and I really liked the smell of the leather iinrterior. It was truly a pleasure to climb ln and get that blast of freshness every day. Now however, there is a very strong smell of paint and or solvent from paint inside the vehicle. It's enough to give me a headache. When I picked the car up from the body shop the other night, I barely smelled anything. But after having the vehicle in my garage over the weekend with all windows up and doors closed, the smell is almost unbearable. I have opened all of the windows in hopes that it will help air out the inside. Does anyone else have any idea what can be done to eliminate the smell? I did a search on the subject but came up empty. In defense of the folks who repaired my HHR, they did a fantastic repair and also did a thorough cleaning inside and out. Any help you folks can give will be greatly appreciated.

J.J.

Greybeard999

Change out the cabin air filter, it's behind the glove box.

Grizzly old man

Perhaps this?

http://www.little-trees.com/

sleeper

Paint smell should diminish in a short time.. I would let it air-out as much as possible..

Paint fumes are bad to breathe.

843de

It takes roughly 30 days for the paint to truly cure so you'll get a paint smell that will slowly diminish over time, air out the garage as much as possible, is there a window you can leave partially open?

Also when you get your HHR out in the morning, lower all the windows and crank the fan up to full blast to move fresh air into the vehicle.

hyperv6

Vent the windows when it is inside.

Only time will change the smell. It should be gone soon the more you drive it or leave the windows open.

IndianaJ.J.

Thanks to all of you with good ideas for this condition. You folks are great. I'll try some of your ideas. Changing the cabin filter might just speed up the process of deminishing the smell sooner. Thanks again.

J.J.