Okay, I normally just sponge clean my backseats but this time I took them out and sprayed them down with the water hose. One seat dried just fine, but the other made my whole car stink. I removed the stinky one and unzipped it underneath to see where the smell was coming from & it is the cushi0n inside the seat. I'm not sure if it didn't dry well or what. I now just have the seat sitting in the garage until I can figure out how to get rid of the smell. Any ideas? I was just thinking about getting soap and water and cleaning the cushion and seat really well again and letting it sit outside all day to make sure it gets nice and dry...help me!!!

Okay, I normally just sponge clean my backseats but this time I took them out and sprayed them down with the water hose. One seat dried just fine, but the other made my whole car stink. I removed the stinky one and unzipped it underneath to see where the smell was coming from & it is the cushi0n inside the seat. I'm not sure if it didn't dry well or what. I now just have the seat sitting in the garage until I can figure out how to get rid of the smell. Any ideas? I was just thinking about getting soap and water and cleaning the cushion and seat really well again and letting it sit outside all day to make sure it gets nice and dry...help me!!!

Since cushion foam is pretty sterile, I can think of two likely scenarios...

A) Bad water. You misjudged the degree of moisture remaining in the foam and it went stagnant. A good cleaning with an antibacterial detergent (not oil based - very bad for foam) should help. Simple Green(tm) worked pretty good years ago when my old Boston Whaler's cushions got too rank to sit on.

B) Contamination. An even worse variation of (a). Like gasoline on a fire, the water you used to clean the seat caused something already present to decay big-time. Frankly, it could've been anything (spilled food, animal waste, et.)

As someone who spent days trying (and failing) to get fish stink out of his favorite boat cushion, sometimes you've got to bite the bullet and replace the foam.

Just be careful what you use. As I said above, you'd be amazed how harmful some common household cleaning agents can be when they get in contact with plastics.

Lots of luck...:)

Thanks Carlos! I will try the good cleaning first and if that doesn't work I guess I will end up having to replace the foam. Do you know anyplace where that foam can be purchased?

Try Fabreeze before replacing.............you may be surprised
use the formula for CARS


Also could you please fill out your profile and post some pictures - we like to welcome members properly

Sure I'll fill out my profile right now!
I did spray the car febreze on it and it did dilute the smell a bit, but didn't totally take it away. I think I may give it a good cleaning like Carlos mentioned and then let it dry real good in the sun and then spray it again with the car febreze. Thanks!

Sure I'll fill out my profile right now!
I did spray the car febreze on it and it did dilute the smell a bit, but didn't totally take it away. I think I may give it a good cleaning like Carlos mentioned and then let it dry real good in the sun and then spray it again with the car febreze. Thanks!

Have you ever forgot to take the load out of the washer and put it in the dryer until the next day? The laundry will smell soured. You have to wash it again and the dry it when it's done. You can do the same thing to the foam. Take it to a laundromat that has a large tumble washer. Use the soap sparingly and normal or gentle wash. Take it out and let it air dry for a couple of days or so. It can be tumble dried but on "Air only" NO HEAT setting. Be absolutely certain that it is DRY before you reinstall it.

Have you ever forgot to take the load out of the washer and put it in the dryer until the next day? The laundry will smell soured. You have to wash it again and the dry it when it's done. You can do the same thing to the foam. Take it to a laundromat that has a large tumble washer. Use the soap sparingly and normal or gentle wash. Take it out and let it air dry for a couple of days or so. It can be tumble dried but on "Air only" NO HEAT setting. Be absolutely certain that it is DRY before you reinstall it.


A little bleach added will kill anything !

A little bleach added will kill anything !

A lot of bleach will kill everything :lol::lol:

Put outside in the bright sun. UV will kill whatever is making it stink real quick.