I bought my 2004 Camry last April. I've put about 24k miles on it and aside from the catalytic converter tripping the service engine soon light its been a good car. I've read a lot about toxic fumes in new cars but my car is not new. And I've read the hotter it is outside the more toxic the fumes may be in the car but since its cooled off I've noticed it more in my car. Whether its been parked overnight or 5 minutes with the windows up, there is a terrible chemical like smell that immediately irritates my sinuses and throat. It is not a gas or oil smell but smells something of the materials that the interior is made of. I open the drivers door and sit in the drivers seat and the smell and air I breathe is very irritating. Even if I try to keep my head out of the car and roll all the windows down I have to hold my breath. Seems like at highway speeds with the defroster on and pulling in air from outside its not that bad. And I didn't notice it too bad over the summer when I ran the air conditioner. But since its cooled off and I'm not running the ac it seems worse. Any ideas? I don't think I'm crazy.

 

I would check for any exhaust leaks for starters. Your exhaust pipes can get very hot and maybe something is melting or cooking on the underside of the car and fuming up into in the car? Can you smell it outside of the car or only inside?

 

Thanks for your response. The smell is only inside the car and the car doesn't have to heat up. The smell is prevalent whether the car has been sitting for 5 days or 5 minutes with the windows rolled up. I wouldn't really call it a melting smell. More like a textile factory gone bad. Like the materials of the interior fuming. Fabric fibers or something the dash is made of. Sorta like you are breathing fiberglass or some other type of microscopic fibers.

 

Check the cabin floor area above where the exhaust system would be running under the chassis. An overheated converter might melt he sound dampening material and carpet.

If the car is used perhaps something ended up inside the cabin causing the smell.

If possible determine the area of the smell such as rear of cabin, carpet. The rear seats come out easy enough, the front are held in by 4 bolts each. It is possible to strip the cabin easy enough to look under the carpet.

Try various cabin air flow settings taking note the floor outlet also vents under the seats.

 

Possible. The smell is like that of carpet of sound deadening or anything of the interior. As I said the converter did trip the service engine soon light earlier this summer which may explain why I didn't notice the smell earlier on. Once the SERVICE ENGINE SOON light came on I stopped by AutoZone and confirmed the catalyst code. So it is possible the converter is overheating. A mechanic informed me these cars have two catalytic converters and told me the converter on the exhaust manifold was the culprit with the catalyst code. 24k miles since April of this year.

 

The engine can have two converters, one on the manifold and the other under the chassis. Look at the exhaust pipe under the car for the converter. Converter looks like a round can with rounded ends welded into the exhaust pipe and having a bolt connection flange at the rear to bolt onto the rear section of pipe. Check for signs of excess temperature above the converter.

 

Agree with toyomoho on where to look and possibilities.