How to remove smoke smell from a car (cigarette smell too)
To remove smoke smell from a car, clean out the residue, not the air: empty the ashtray and trash, vacuum everything, wipe every hard surface and the seats with diluted vinegar and water, wash or extract the mats, carpet and upholstery, and drive with outside air or the windows open. Tobacco residue soaks into the headliner, seats, carpet and vents, so a light smell can usually be cleared but years of smoking may never fully come out.
- Best method
- Remove the source, wipe and extract every surface, ventilate with outside air
- Time
- A half day of cleaning, then repeat sessions over a week or two
- Difficulty
- Hard
You will need
- Vacuum with crevice tool (HEPA if possible)
- White vinegar and water in a spray bottle
- Microfiber cloths
- Upholstery and carpet extractor, or a detailer
- Baking soda or activated charcoal
- Liquid laundry detergent, for removable covers
Step by step
- 1
Take out the source
Empty and wash the ashtray, remove butts, ash, lighters, trash and anything stored in door pockets and the trunk. Take out the floor mats.
Why: Ash and butts keep releasing odor for as long as they're in the car.
- 2
Vacuum every surface
Vacuum seats, seams, carpet, the trunk and under the seats with a crevice tool, using a HEPA-filter vacuum if you have one.
Why: Ash and dust carry smoke residue, and frequent HEPA vacuuming is recommended for tobacco contamination.
- 3
Wipe hard surfaces and seats
Wipe the dashboard, console, steering wheel, door panels, windows and seat surfaces with water and a little white vinegar, then wipe again with a damp cloth. Test on a hidden spot of upholstery or leather first.
Why: Tobacco film coats every surface in a small cabin. Wiping it off removes the source rather than masking it.
- 4
Wash or extract the soft parts
Wash removable seat covers and fabric mats in warm water with liquid detergent, repeating until the smell is gone, and air-dry them. Extract fixed carpet and cloth seats with an upholstery extractor or have a detailer do it, then dry the car with doors open.
Why: Residue sinks into foam and carpet padding where wiping can't reach. Extraction pulls more of it out.
- 5
Air it out with outside air
Drive with the windows open or the ventilation set to outside air, not recirculate. Park with windows cracked when it's safe to.
Why: Fresh air carries off the odor the residue releases. Recirculating keeps it in the cabin.
- 6
Leave an adsorbent inside
Set an open container of baking soda or activated charcoal in the car for several days between cleanings.
Why: It takes up odor molecules from the air while you repeat the cleaning. It doesn't clean surfaces, so it's a supplement.
Why cigarette smell sticks to a car
A car is a small, closed space full of absorbent materials: upholstery, a fabric headliner, carpet over foam padding and floor mats. Tobacco smoke residue, called thirdhand smoke, settles into all of them and into the ventilation system. Nicotine sticks strongly to surfaces and releases odor for months or years.
Heat makes it worse. A sun-heated interior releases more of the compounds trapped in its materials, which is why a smoker's car smells strongest on a hot day. More on the chemistry is on the smoke smell page.
Can you get smoke smell out of a car completely?
It depends on how much smoking happened. A car with a few cigarettes' worth of smell, or someone else's smoke carried in on their clothes, can usually be cleaned until the smell is gone. A car smoked in heavily for years is different: the Thirdhand Smoke Resource Center says embedded thirdhand smoke is virtually impossible to remove from a car, even with aggressive cleaning.
That's worth knowing before buying a used car. Ask whether it was smoked in, and trust a stale smell on a test drive, especially on a warm day. See cleaning a car interior for general care.
By situation
A used car that was smoked in
Do the full clean, then repeat it over a couple of weeks while driving with outside air. If the smell keeps returning in the heat, residue is embedded in the headliner, foam or vents and may not come out fully.
Someone smoked in the car once
Ventilate, vacuum, wipe surfaces with diluted vinegar and leave baking soda in overnight. A single exposure usually clears within days.
Smell comes from the vents
Residue collects in the ventilation system. Run the fan on outside air with windows open. Check the owner's manual for a cabin air filter and replace it; this is typical car-care advice rather than something the smoke sources address.
Leather seats
Wipe with a damp cloth and a little diluted vinegar after a hidden-spot test, then follow the car maker's leather care instructions.
Protecting children
Children are the most exposed to thirdhand smoke because they touch surfaces and put things in their mouths. Keep the car smoke-free, and clean seats and car seats thoroughly.
What not to do
- Don't rely on car air fresheners. They add more chemicals to the cabin air and only mask the smell while the residue stays.
- Don't run an ozone generator in the car while anyone is inside. EPA warns ozone harms the lungs and doesn't remove odors at safe levels. It also doesn't remove tobacco residue embedded in materials.
- Don't soak the seats or carpet. Water left in foam and padding takes a long time to dry and can lead to a musty smell on top of the smoke.
- Don't drive on recirculate. It keeps the off-gassing odor inside the cabin instead of bringing in fresh air.
Other methods that work
Professional detailing
A detailer with hot-water extraction equipment can clean seats, carpet and the headliner more deeply than household tools.
Caution: Ask whether they use ozone. If so, nobody should be in the car, and it won't remove residue embedded in materials.
Replacing parts
Badly contaminated floor mats, seat covers or carpet can be replaced. The headliner and foam are harder.
Stain still there?
The smell is back on the first hot day
Heat drives residue out of the materials. Repeat the wipe-down and extraction, ventilate before driving, and park in shade.
The car smells musty as well as smoky after cleaning
The carpet or seats stayed wet too long. Dry them fully with doors open and fans running.
Safety
- Thirdhand smoke can be breathed in, touched and swallowed. Wear gloves while cleaning a heavily smoked car.
- Spot-test vinegar on upholstery and leather in a hidden area first.
Never mix cleaning products; see chemicals you must never combine.
Questions
Can you remove smoke smell from a car?
Usually, if the smoking was light or recent. After years of heavy smoking, residue embedded in the headliner, foam and vents may never fully come out.
What is the best way to get cigarette smell out of a car?
Remove ash and butts, vacuum, wipe every surface with diluted vinegar, extract the seats and carpet, and drive with outside air. Repeat over a week or two.
Does baking soda get smoke smell out of a car?
An open container of baking soda or charcoal absorbs some odor from the air. It helps between cleanings but doesn't remove the residue.
Why does my car smell like smoke when it's hot?
Heat makes the materials release more of the trapped residue. That's a sign it's still in the upholstery, headliner or vents.
Smoke elsewhere
Other smells in a car
Sources
- How can I protect my child from thirdhand smoke in cars?, Thirdhand Smoke Resource Center, San Diego State University
- Can I remove thirdhand smoke from my home?, Thirdhand Smoke Resource Center, San Diego State University
- What Is Thirdhand Smoke?, Yale Medicine
- How to Get the Smoke Smell out of a House After a Fire, Oklahoma State University Extension
- Evaluation of Typical Volatile Organic Compounds Levels in New Vehicles under Static and Driving Conditions (Guo et al., Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022;19(12):7048), IJERPH (MDPI), via PubMed Central
- Ozone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Last updated . Methods are drawn from the sources above; how we research and check our guides.