By all accounts, the 2020 Hyundai Palisade and its corporate sibling, the 2020 Kia Telluride, are extremely competitive entries in the mainstream three-row crossover segment. They’re probably responsible for Ford substantially lowering prices on the 2021 Ford Explorer. Hyundai failed to anticipate demand for either crossover and is playing catch up at their factories, which is a pretty decent problem to have.
Although there is one situation they probably would rather not be saddled with right now: certain models of the Palisade seem to be quite smelly.
The issue gained newfound attention when Cars.com published an article outlining their attempts to quell the rank odors coming from the beige Nappa leather seats in their Palisade Limited. But owners have been complaining about the smell for several months now. Over at the Hyundai Palisade Forum, a thread started about four months ago garnered numerous responses from owners commiserating about their stinky Hyundais.
Apparently, the headrests are to blame. So far, the comparisons being thrown around compare the smell to garlic, onion rings, generic chemical smell, or just plain stank. But views differ. There doesn’t seem to be any definitive origin or solution to the problem either. From Cars.com:
Our leading theory is that it takes heat and sitting with the windows up for the smell to reach George Clinton-level funkiness, which we suspect might be slowly releasing from the seats (or head restraints, if you believe that theory). After all, we didn’t catch our first whiff until six months and 8,000 miles into ownership. Some staffers have found the smell as offensive as I do, poring over the car looking for a rotting potato or spilled solvent, while others recognized the smell but the intensity wasn’t offensive enough to keep them from driving it. To some, the smell stopped being noticeable after driving for 10-15 minutes, or wasn’t noticeable at all.
Hyundai seems to be aware of the issue and the Cars.com Palisade already had some potential remedies thrown into it. Interestingly enough, not all of the editors at the website found the smell offensive. It seems the nose-destroying odor surfaced when the Hyundai spent considerable time out in the sun with the windows down. That may have led to the group down different smelling-related paths.
If you are in the market for a Palisade, you probably want to sniff around the beige leather before signing off on the paperwork. Or just opt for the cloth interior. Otherwise, these still seems like pretty compelling crossovers. Especially for those of us with routinely stuffed up noses due to allergies. You can’t smell bad odors if you can’t smell anything at all!
Related Reading:
QOTD: Would You Pay $10,000 Over MSRP For a Kia Telluride or Hyundai Palisade?
Why in the world would anyone want to own such a monstrosity? I need to clean my eyes after glancing at the horrible picture. But then it’s only marginally more horrible than all recent so-called alleged “automobiles”.
Because it’s comfortable, reliable, a great value & most people buy vehicles for practical reasons. No one is buying a 3-row CUV just because they love the styling of it.
I get CUVs are not known for sleekness, but why anybody would pick this ugly duckling over the Telluride? It’s pretty much the same car, just with more attractive sheet metal. Only reason I can think of if Hyundai is discounting these over the Kia version.
Toyota can get away with beating their cars with the ugly stick because of their reputation for reliability. Hyundai while improving, is not quite there yet reputation wise.The reputation for quality takes years, even decades to build and lags behind actual product quality.
But there are plenty of other crossovers which are “comfortable, reliable, and a great value” that look far nicer and more attractive. No one is buying based on styling? Uh, I doubt that.
Styling is subjective, I don’t think the Palisade looks bad, nor do I think it looks particularly good. Like every big CUV. If anyone makes a purchase decision on a 3-row CUV based on styling, they’re a fool. If you find any competitor “attractive” I pity you.
E-Bay has a mock Rolls Royce style grille for the Palisade that cleans up the garish front-end rather nicely.
I actually prefer a Palisade with the aftermarket grille to the Telluride and there is no dealer mark-up or wait list on the Palisade either. Not sure about installation and possible interference with all of the “Adaptive” cruise sensors and other electronics that are installed in grilles now-a-days. As always, caveat emptor
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Radiator-Chrome-Grille-with-Emblem-Bracket-for-2019-2020-Hyundai-Palisade/184087948751?hash=item2adc7f2dcf:g:5xQAAOSwrvtd-weO
About that smell. When Ford started using “recycled material” in their interiors, I knew it was only a matter of time until one of these “mobility companies” went a step too far and brought the absolute cheapest and most pungent interior fill possible. Fish or other related smell be damned. Congratulations Hyundai Corporate Purchasing! You Win!
https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/22373/Ford-recycling-Focus
Who wore it better?
Back to the future? I thought we were long past the days when Hyundai cars stunk.
The smelly South Korean car interior is nothing new, but it was generally confined to the cheaper cars. Apparently, whatever materials and method they use results in some sort of objectionable chemical smell. While all new vehicle interiors eminate some sort of odor, it’s generally inoffensive. But, evidentaly, the South Koreans still haven’t quite mastered the process.
Some years back, one of my customers was a leather production plan that supplied the big three. The odor about the place was so bad I nearly lost my breakfast and had no appetite for the next day. I was told that the smell was part of the start of the tanning process and the final product was pleasantly fragrant (obviously) Sounds like they missed a part of the tanning process. Yuck.
Back in the ’90s, I used to have a serious allergy to house dust. Thankfully, a 6-month regime of allergy shots worked very effectively. And no issues since. I hope you can resolve it, as it can greatly improve one’s quality of life.
I found new late 80s Hondas had a distinct interior odour. I suspect it may have been their fabrics. After a couple test drives, and rides in coworker’s Accords and Preludes, I had to cross Hondas off my shopping list at the time. The odour was just too noticeable.
For years, the Automobile Protection Association, one of Canada’s leading automotive consumer advocacy groups, used to publish many pages in their annual Lemon-Aid guides on cars that allegedly had carcinogen interiors. They’d even breakdown which colours and materials were the most ‘toxic’. Thankfully, like most industries, the toxicity of materials and chemicals used in car manufacturing is greatly reduced.
Hyundais and KIAs are popular in the Hertz Canada fleets. If I rent a car for an extended period, and the interior materials smell, I will either place a box of baking soda, or odour eliminator tub, under the front seat. I’d likely do the same with a new car, while keeping it well-ventilated, the first few months.
Thank you for the informative article. I would definitely opt for the cloth interior than deal with this.
I remember my parents 2005 Kia Sedona smelling horribly until 2008 or so even with many days spent with all the doors open and windows down even in Winter if the weather was clear. Smelled like a spray paint can.
If it is indeed just the headreasts, and the problem isn’t immediately apparent upon purchase, I’d be very suspicious it’s hair-product related (I’m not kidding). Hairspray residue is known to mess leather up on furniture. I see no reason why automotive seats would be different (yes I’ve worked in salons, yes this has come up in the chair).
While the chemicals in hair products certainly could cause problems with the leather, I would think that the problem wouldn’t be as widespread as it seems to be. I wouldn’t expect every hair product to cause the problem, only those with the specific chemical(s) that causes the reaction. So it would only happen to people who used hair products containing that specific chemical.
My guess is cheap store bought hairspray (high alcohol content) or stuff with acetone like beach curl spray, and this particular supplier for the light colored leather is compromised somehow. Could be wrong, but it does explain why the headrests seem to be the culprit.
Are the headrests actually leather? Usually it’s very clear that the leather is limited to “seating surfaces”, i.e. two pieces of it and the rest including the bolsters and headrests often aren’t.
The linked article actually makes it pretty clear (the way I read it anyway) that they don’t think it’s the headrests but rather INSIDE the seat, i.e. the odor is coming out of the headrest mounting holes so perhaps (and this is my take) it’s the foam or something inside.
I just read the linked article and see what you mean, but nobody mentions using the ventilation on any of the seats? You’d think if it was coming from inside, that would make a pronounced difference, right? Strange.
Don’t know about the Hyundai but yes some cars have all vinyl headrests in their leather interiors. Though vinyl certainly does react to some chemicals too. I think Tom C is on the right track as it being something in the tanning process, since it seems to affect only vehicles with the Beige Napa Leather interior and not those with the Black Napa Leather.
I would expect that the foam is the same whether the seats are black or beige. That doesn’t mean it isn’t the foam because it could be that the chemicals from the process for the beige leather are causing a reaction with the foam and that particular chemical isn’t present in the tanning process for black.
I can certainly see the smell venting from the headrest holes making it seem like they are the source or the smell infiltrating them too.
The interior is mostly pretty nice, although the diamond pattern is copied from Bentley, and I don’t get it there either. The exterior is frightening. Isn’t one design director in overall charge? Did the marketing people insist on the ridiculous front end?
BMW front ends have also abandoned any vestige of their Bauhaus past and gone for whatever they are today. Is this from marketing, maybe specifically for the Chinese market, or what? Anyway it’s terrible.
I don’t get that upscale car trend diamond pattern thing either…….
It looks like the car is upholstered in old recycled air mattresses.
One word: kimchi.
Indeed… I don’t know how anybody can eat that stuff. 🤢
I prefer wasabi to kimchi
color me surprised that this beast is built in Ulsan. I thought for sure they’d be building it in North America.
All Kia Tellurides are built in America for now.
The Kia has been such a success that they may end up needing a second plant soon.
This is both very funny and a horror.
It’s funny because, amongst much else, Seinfeld and The Smell episode, with the trade-in evaluator simply saying after one sit in Jerrry’s almost-new BMW, “I can’t sell that!”
But I have quite a big honker, and to add to the misfortune, it works really, really well. And I simply COULD NOT keep motoring on in a car with a pong, and there’s no way a manufacturer would ever understand the seriousness of the complaint. I would have to just dump the thing as a trade in if they wanted argue, they’d win without any real fight. It’s not some preciousness, it’s just a nose stuck permanently on Level 11 out of 10.
If you were like me and not just somewhat offended by the waft but gagging and unable to drive the car because of it, you’d be so relieved to hear the company finally taking it seriously. To use a word.
And yes, despite my acute and refined sense, I’m no angel and I’ve sometimes done things in cars before that have nearly caused death for the other occupants, but at least I admitted and it went away real quick with four windows – and, in one case, several doors – open for a bit, but never anything approaching this permanent inbuilt unliveability.
My god how ugly could they have possibly made that front end? Obviously quite a bit.
Yet ANOTHER reason why I`ll never own an SUV. They stink!
Seeing these on the highway makes me feel like I am running away from those marching hammers in the Pink Floyd-The Wall movie.
They are pure cringe on wheels.
Wake me up when these horrible things go away.