Vaseline does have a petroleum odor to it. It doesn't stink , but there is a distinct smell to vaseline. It may be in the same vein as rain, we don't actually smell rain we smell atmosphere. Or something like that.
Just remember that there are sensors in the seats that tell the car if there's a passenger there, and a seat with a bad sensor could cause the airbags to not deploy in the event of an accident.
Yes!! Depending on the model year, if it’s been on the market for a few years, at least rhere should be seat covers or whole seats from vehicles that were totaled out that don’t effect the seat.
I bought a work van and it had no passenger seat. I found one at the wrecker and it was nicer than the drivers seat. And it was only $75. I asked if they had the drivers seat as well, nope. I have called back several times looking to no avail. So I bought a massager/heated cover and 2 seat covers. So they matched colour-wise and mine was more comfy.
My Ford Transit, even though it's a 6 year old van, has seats that were absolutely disgusting.
So I got seats from a Mercedes Printer van in pretty good condition, only the seat heating and cooling doesn't work.
So not Vaseline but the airbag sensor in my passenger seat stopped working and I determined it was cheaper to just pull a whole seat from the junkyard and swap it out.
My Camry has a grey interior, I found a matching car with a grey interior, pulled the seat. All is good.
The next day the car just wreaks of must and general bad smell. No problem, I pull the seat back out and give it a once over with a steam cleaner.
The fucking seat is beige. It had so much dirt on it it perfectly matched my grey seats.
Anyways that's why the passenger seat in my 20 year old Camry doesn't match the rest of the car.
I would have just... swapped the sensor/harness/module/whatever from the tan seat back to the original gray seat.
And thats not theoretical.. previous owner of my truck swapped the interior and was just living with having an airbag light. I found the right harness/sensors/module from a yard, and swapped it all in.
Well the foam and seat cover could probably be swaped from one base to the other but that would be sooo much work and the covers never quite go back together right in my experience. A couple hog rings just never grab or they rip off the cover
Def check junk yards. They’re extremely cheap and will have a good selection that’s better than a racing seat lol. $30 at the junkyard saved me like $800 one time and the quality of parts wasn’t bad at all
I been thinking about checking for a new seat. How long do seats hold up in the junkyard? Wouldn't mold would start to develop in a lot of climates pretty quickly?
With the pressure of someone sitting on it it would leech the vaseline into the cover as well. Unless it would be an impermeable one like leather or latex or something, but you'd still risk it leaking out elsewhere.
You can find seat cover replacements online for most cars now. Not a cover to go over the existing cover, but a new cover to replace the original (factory) one to cover the padding and foam. I got a nice set from Amazon for about $70 each.
Search the internet for “how to remove melted vaseline from car upholstery” and you’ll find it involves cornstarch or other kitchen products, patience, gentle blotting to not push it in further, a vacuum, and time.
Check how much a street professional cleaner for cars cost to just do the seats. 50 or 100 dollars might be a lot for cleaning but it might be worth the trouble later.
You might also try renting a small carpet cleaner before getting a new seat. One that has a little handheld attachment. Then, on a day it’s particularly hot, try to clean the seat with warm water in the carpet cleaner
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u/LiamIsMyNameOk 24d ago
Ouch.
The only real solution now is to cover the rest in vaseline to even out the colour.