The smell of leather seats makes me sick

[RooflessVW]

I love my leather interior and the way it smells. Perforated, ventilated, and heated leather seats is definitely the way to go.

What kind of car does your brother have? I had a Kia K900 for a few days. Smelled awful inside. I don't know how they got "new car smell" so wrong, especially with all that leather inside.

Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Haven't really noticed a smell.

The only car that had a smell was my 2004 VW with leather seats. But it was the horse hair inside the seats that smelled. Not a bad smell, just strange. Smelled exactly like Crayons.

Lmao, we had a 2001 Jetta. Smelled like crayons on a hot summer day. Although we never had leather seats.

The infamous MK4 "crayon smell" is caused by the rustproofing that they used. Some '90s BMWs have the same smell.

 

[Trav]

See an allergy doctor you might be allergic to something used in the tanning process or coatings.

 

[SumpChump]

Hondas in the mid 90's had a pencil shavings/pencil lead smell. Made me sick.

 

[supton]

I had a MkIV Jetta and I don't recall smelling crayons. Maybe I got used to it.

It did have leather, and I don't recall a smell either. Maybe I burned out my olfactory sense--I practically have to be standing on a skunk to be bothered by it. Maxlife ATF and gear lube have a smell but it doesn't send me running to the hills, like some complain about.

But when the wife puts vinegar onto brussel sprouts, I have to leave the room. Go figure. Can't stand the smell of vinegar. Not a fan of lemons either.

Was in a new(er) car recently, and was reminded of what they smell like... I know it's outgassing and bad for you, but it still has this feel-good quality.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Originally Posted By: CT8
I like cloth seats because they breath.


Exactly. I like a leather *interior* but want leather on the non-seating surfaces and parts of the seat that don't contact the passenger.

The OP could be allergic to something in the leather itself (probably not, but you never know) or more likely, in the treatment used on the leather. There are a lot of very bad leather products out there, but people use them because they are cheap, and think that cracks or rips are "normal". They're not, but if you use anything designed for vinyl, for example, you are destroying the leather.

 

[volk06]

Cool story.

 

[surfstar]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
My family always has cars with leather seats and the smell just makes me sick. Why is this?


Closeted vegan-hippie.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Now that I think o it it's really only my brothers car, the other guys aren't really that bad. Maybe he has some kind of synthetic fake leather in his car?


On many Mercedes cars they have MB-tex which is really a vinyl that looks like leather. It's like an extra $1000+ for real leather. It's always funny when people complain about it because they expect real leather in a car that expensive.


Yep,a friend of mine had some expensive Mercedes thing and it had the cheapest most awful vinyl seats I'd ever seen.

 

[SatinSilver]

One of the few new vehicles that comes with real leather is the Ford King Ranch. Even the wood inserts are real as well. Heated steering wheel, 5 liter V8 engine, etc. Advertised for $55k here.

 

[doitmyself]

What's your address???

 

[turtlevette]

I've done some research on leather smell. It's a desirable thing for most people. The modern tanning process leaves almost no smell they say. I've been unable to verify that. Some leather has smell others don't. But Cadillac thought it was so important to the new car experience they commissioned a company to duplicate the smell and purposely sent new leather with it. It's called nuance leather.

 

[Mr Nice]

Leather is only for very high-end cars, not econoboxes.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Leather is only for very high-end cars, not econoboxes.

Says who?

You can get leather on many economy cars such as Elantra or Corolla these days. While in some ways it defeats the whole purpose of an econobox, in other ways it's kind of cool to be able to get a basic car with a nicer interior, if that's important to the owner.

 

[wtd]

I don't care for leather seats in a vehicle but it doesn't make me sick.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Anyone remember the Wilsons Leather Stores? I loved the way those places smelled!!


Me too... OP must be sensitive to the chemicals...

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Now that I think o it it's really only my brothers car, the other guys aren't really that bad. Maybe he has some kind of synthetic fake leather in his car?


On many Mercedes cars they have MB-tex which is really a vinyl that looks like leather. It's like an extra $1000+ for real leather. It's always funny when people complain about it because they expect real leather in a car that expensive.


Yep,a friend of mine had some expensive Mercedes thing and it had the cheapest most awful vinyl seats I'd ever seen.

I would pay a premium to NOT get leather.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Leather is only for very high-end cars, not econoboxes.


I probably shouldn't have bought my Jetta, but it had leather, I often sat in it for more than an hour at a time, and I ran it past 300k. It was a nice setup that almost had the economy part down pat ('cept for pesky repairs).

 

[aquariuscsm]

What I don't understand is leather in pick up trucks. Aren't trucks made to haul around heavy construction equipment,tools,machinery,etc? Expensive leather interior is the absolute last thing I'd want to haul stuff like that around on,it'd destroy it.

 

[aquariuscsm]

http://www.stephen-herman.com/SAE2001.pdf

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
What I don't understand is leather in pick up trucks. Aren't trucks made to haul around heavy construction equipment,tools,machinery,etc? Expensive leather interior is the absolute last thing I'd want to haul stuff like that around on,it'd destroy it.


The 11 year old seats in my car held up just fine. They were easier to slide across than cloth.

If you have a claw hammer in a belt loop I'd think you'd destroy any material short of wood or solid plastic. Short of that, I'd think items that are pointy (or otherwise just not smooth boxes) would have better luck sliding across leather, as opposed to cloth, where it might sink in and grab.

It seems odd to have leather in a "work" vehicle but to each their own. Not every pickup owner gets into their vehicle while carrying all their tools or while wearing nasty workboots--and they could be working tradesmen too, not just weekend cowboys. Take off the toolbelt, coveralls, boots at the end of the day, and I bet a nice heated/cooled leather reclining seat might feel real good.