[johnny mars]

I bought a pound of fresh shrimp packed with crushed ice and put it on my rear seat and then forgot it for two days. When I got in my car the air reeked of shrimp. I opened the back door and grabbed the plastic bag but the juice had leaded through into the seat cushion. Now what do I do? Is it easy to remove the rear seat cushion? How to and any recommendations for cleaning? Thanks.

 

[Steverino]

If only the Volt had a cargo area so you don't have to store liquids, etc. on the car seats...

Yes, the seat bottom is removable. You could try taking the seat cover off, removing the foam cushion and then soak and wash the foam. I suspect it will be a chore. Or you could look at auto salvage & ebay for a new seat bottom. Or you could take the car to a car upholsterer and get a quote on removing and cleaning the rear seat bottom.

 

[jcanoe]

If only the Volt had a cargo area so you don't have to store liquids, etc. on the car seats...

Yes, the seat bottom is removable. You could try taking the seat cover off, removing the foam cushion and then soak and wash the foam. I suspect it will be a chore. Or you could look at auto salvage & ebay for a new seat bottom. Or you could take the car to a car upholsterer and get a quote on removing and cleaning the rear seat bottom.

Without an aftermarket waterproof cargo floor liner such as those sold by HuskyLiners or WeatherTech the seepage into the space under cargo area would have been worse. All of the liquid would have passed through the porous factory cargo floor cover and pooled in the 12V battery compartment, tire inflator kit and rear fuse panel areas.

 

[Steverino]

Without an aftermarket waterproof cargo floor liner such as those sold by HuskyLiners or WeatherTech the seepage into the space under cargo area would have been worse. All of the liquid would have passed through the porous factory cargo floor cover and pooled in the 12V battery compartment, tire inflator kit and rear fuse panel areas.

I have a heavy duty rubber cargo liner. Why would you not have one? I think everyone that hauls liquids like milk, beer, wines, soda, iced shrimp that might spill should have something under it to contain a spill. Let common sense be your friend.

 

[FI Spyder]

I have a heavy duty rubber cargo liner. Why would you not have one? I think everyone that hauls liquids like milk, beer, wines, soda, iced shrimp that might spill should have something under it to contain a spill. Let common sense be your friend.

That's why I ordered the original set off eBay! And that fuzzy fabric stuff they use cargo area for past 30 years is impossible to vacuum stuff out of.

 

[jcanoe]

I have a heavy duty rubber cargo liner. Why would you not have one? I think everyone that hauls liquids like milk, beer, wines, soda, iced shrimp that might spill should have something under it to contain a spill. Let common sense be your friend.

There was a recent post on the Reddit Volt forum from someone who wanted to know if it would be ok to haul a load of manure in the back of their Volt. They said they would place a tarp in the cargo area.

 

[Sly Bob]

There was a recent post on the Reddit Volt forum from someone who wanted to know if it would be ok to haul a load of manure in the back of their Volt. They said they would place a tarp in the cargo area.

Here's the thread in Reddit for giggles.
https://www.reddit.com/r/volt/comments/ah2vv4/anyone_hauled_loose_dirt_in_the_trunk/

 

[Mister Dave]

How to and any recommendations for cleaning? Thanks.

In lieu of taking it to a detailer.....

https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Car-Upholstery

 

[FI Spyder]

Good link but nary a word about shrimp juice though. On the bright side you probably have no problem taking the cat to the vet.

 

[KenC]

Vinyl? Leather? I'd take the seat cover off and throw it into a large commercial front-load washer, then let it air dry. How much is a new one? Can you call some salvage yards? 2 day old seafood left in the car, you're lucky it wasn't Summer!

 

[spaycace]

Here's another link ... very similar situation to what you've explained.
http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/how-to-remove-odors-from-car-seats/

Good luck!

 

[Stockholm Volt]

You probably do not want to read this, but years ago a friend of mine drove to grandma's house on Thanksgiving with the turkey in the trunk of her Thunderbird, still in the cooking pan with all the yummy juices sloshing around. Needless to say, she had to make a short stop in traffic and the juices covered the whole inside of the trunk.

She tried numerous tricks, but ended up selling the car. The smell never disappeared!

 

[FI Spyder]

MMmmmm, Thanksgiving turkey dinner, 365 days a year. What's not to like?

 

[flyingsherpa]

There are four clips for the seat bottom, one in each corner. Just yank upwards on each corner and you'll get it out. See if the juice spread beyond the under-seat pan to the surrounding upholstery. I'd probably replace anything rather than try to clean, but maybe you'll get lucky.

I've heard of people getting some pretty bad smells out of cars before, even when someone died in there. I can't recall specifics (other than ozone, which you need to be careful with), but there are things you can try so just google a bit.

 

[mrsupport]

I bought a pound of fresh shrimp packed with crushed ice and put it on my rear seat and then forgot it for two days. When I got in my car the air reeked of shrimp. I opened the back door and grabbed the plastic bag but the juice had leaded through into the seat cushion. Now what do I do? Is it easy to remove the rear seat cushion? How to and any recommendations for cleaning? Thanks.

An effective way to completely remove odors is to use an ozone generator. Amazon has some under $100. Put the unit in a closed car with the window cracked open enough to clear the cord. For extremely strong odors you may have to let the generator run overnight or longer. it will remove all odors in the car ( including air vents). Avoid breathing the ozone as it is not healthy. Ozone generators are also used to remove smoke odors from building fires. I used a small one to freshen the 2015 Volt we purchase last January.

 

[Cloudnine]

Well, at least until he arrives at the vet. Might be hard to get him out of the Volt.
Along with all the neighborhood cats.

 

[johnny mars]

still stinking

The foul juice also dripped down into the carpet below the seat. So here's what I've done so far: First, I dumped a box of baking soda for cat box odors, which had an extremely strong masking fragrance, onto the seat and carpet, let it sit overnight, then vacuumed it out. I pulled the seat out and soaked it overnight in a tub of water, vinegar, OxyClean and detergent. I rinsed it with a hose and squeezed the water out best I could, then let it air dry for a few days. Next I tried hitting the carpet with a vinegar spray and wiping up the excess. Then I dumped another box of baking soda with no fragrance and left it overnight, then vacuumed. In the meantime I left my leaf blower run onto the carpet area for hours coupled with leaving all the doors and windows open during the day. Next, I tried a ozone machine and sealed the car overnight over three days, with 10, 20, and 30 minute run times. I didn't want to overdo the ozone machine because that can also leave an odor. So after a week of cleaning and drying and airing, there was still a combination of fragrance and shrimp odor. I just tried a can of Woolite carpet cleaner with odor eating "technology," let it dry, and will vacuum it up once again tomorrow. I think I'm making progress! If it still smells I'll try the ozone machine for 60 minutes and bake overnight. If it still smells I'm going to try to rent a carpet steam cleaner and dry vac. I really don't want to remove the carpet and cushion if I can help it. I got a ballpark estimate of $600 for a car detail company to pull out the carpet and get rid of the odor! As the Margaritaville song said, "It's my own damn fault."

 

[Steverino]

Thanks for the update, Johnny!

 

[flyingsherpa]

Be careful with ozone, it attacks plastic and rubber and can do funny things... I used one in my apartment and it somehow reacted with materials there and breathing these after-effects messed up my health in a way that is still with me 3 years later (I have a post on these forums describing it all, perhaps it was a freak thing, but I get messages a few times a year from other people who've had weird issues like that too).

IIRC, you can buy OEM replacement carpets for less than what that detailing company would charge. Also maybe look into enzyme-based cleaners, they can work miracles with certain types of issues.

 

[emg77]

I have a heavy duty rubber cargo liner. Why would you not have one? I think everyone that hauls liquids like milk, beer, wines, soda, iced shrimp that might spill should have something under it to contain a spill. Let common sense be your friend.

In my last car, I had a liner like that in the trunk. It was the only thing that saved me when a Sams Club size bottle of liquid hand soap opened in the trunk. What a mess.

Also, in a related story, when I was growing up, we moved about 12 hours. My parents had a chest freezer that was filled with stuff at the time, so they moved it in the back of our van and plugged it in overnight when we would stop. They had loaded the contents in cardboard boxes in the freezer. When we arrived at our new location, we didn't have our house for about 2 weeks, so we were staying in a hotel, and we dropped the freezer and contents off at a friends house. The freezer was unloaded prior to removing the freezer from the van, and one of the boxes of ground hamburger was accidentally left in the back of the van with other boxes of stuff. We then parked the van for 2 weeks (in the summer) because we were using our other car to get around until we got the house. The van just smelled like death. We had to use a lot of carpet cleaning on that rancid meat juice, but the smell would still come back faintly every summer when it got hot.

My advice... find a junkyard volt with the same seats and try to replace everything that had the juice on it if you can.