It was quite a mystery throughout summer. Why are several owners of Palisade, a SUV manufactured by Hyundai, complaining about their car interiors, which are oppressively stinking? At last, after investigating the case, the Korean car company has now found out what is accountable for such smelly drawback. It is materials, alternative to leather, used to upholster the vehicle’s headrests.
A smelly drawback
Autoblog has reconstructed the events of the story. Lots and lots of Hyundai customers, upset by the same problem, shared their concern about bad smell by posting their comments on a sector forum. Right after a short time, the interiors of Palisade vehicles smell bad as they stink of “dirty socks” or “cabbage soup”, according to different definitions. Most importantly, none of the buyers who made a comment about the problem considered such smell in a positive manner. The Korean car manufacturer still has not explained the technical cause of the problem. They have just said it lies in the synthetic materials used to upholster the vehicle’s headrests. Reportedly, Hyundai is going to provide disappointed customers with a deodorization service (to be repeated should the smelly drawback arise again). Looking ahead to the future, the brand will revise the upholstery manufacturing process.
The leather industry remarks
Kerry Senior, chief manager of Leather UK (which stands for the British leather industry), suggested the simplest solution. Aiming, in the future, to prevent cars from “stinking of garlic”, he wrote on Linkedin, car companies had better make use of “genuine leather”. Likewise, Gustavo Gonzalez-Quijano, general secretary of Cotance (the European confederation of leather tanning national associations), commented on the same social network: “Synthetic materials, alternative to leather, first smell bad, then change their appearance and, ultimately, release micro-plastics which are bound to pollute our seas as much as our food chain. In contrast, making use of leather highlights one’s awareness of environmental issues”.
Read also:
- GST AutoLeather: leather appeal and misleading synthetic fabrics
- The NYT talks about green cars and shows they ignore what leather is
- Everybody is asking now: is fake fur and vegan leather really green and sustainable?
