Burning plastic smell outside car after driving

[Rocinante777]

Our 2023 Model S has recently started giving off a fairly strong burning plastic smell after driving. The smell seems to be coming from outside the car. We notice mainly after parking in the garage. After it sits a while, the smell seems to dissipate. There's no visible smoke.

We recently had the liftgage repainted by Tesla after scraping it. I would wonder if the new paint is gassing off, but I don't know why it would be worse after driving. They said they did not remove the liftgate, so it seems like they had limited opportunities to get paint somewhere where it doesn't belong.

Is this familiar to anyone?

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I have been around a lot of cars that have been repainted, and repainted some panels of my own, and I would say it's impossible for paint to give off a burning plastic smell. That's a horrible and very distinct smell, and often sign of something very bad.

Since it's while driving, I would check around the wheel wells to see if one of the wheel well liners has come loose and is rubbing against the tire while you are driving. If one of those is loose, it will look ok while the car is sitting, but then blow with the wind into the tire. Might also check around the brakes to make sure nothing plastic got stuck around the rotors.

 

[ThomasD]

Is anything rubbing on a tire when you drive.

 

[Rocinante777]

We've had a weird development. My wife took my car (ICE) out last night, to avoid driving the ModS until we figured out the issue. It came home with a similar smell. So now we are scouring the neighborhood to see if there is some sort of chemical or fuel spill that we are driving through.

 

[Rocinante777]

... And we found it. This is funny. Turns out there were a few mothballs scattered at the entrance to our alley. More than one had been crushed, and we've had some wet weather to spread the smell around. We didn't recognize the smell out of context.

I think some people believe that moth balls will keep wildlife out of their garbage. Apparently that failed in this instance

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I think some people believe that moth balls will keep wildlife out of their garbage. Apparently that failed in this instance

How do you know from this instance that the moth balls aren't working to keep wildlife out of their garbage?

 

[Rocinante777]

How do you know from this instance that the moth balls aren't working to keep wildlife out of their garbage?

Because they were no longer in the garbage There was some other loose trash around which makes me think a critter ripped open a bag and the garbage collectors picked up most but not all of it. We have a lot of raccoons, who would absolutely tear into a bag and toss the nasty mothballs aside to get to the good stuff.

The suburb requires us to put out trash in plastic bags which give no protection against wildlife. No cans allowed. They regularly arrive quite early, so a number of people are pretty much forced to leave it out overnight.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

The suburb requires us to put out trash in plastic bags which give no protection against wildlife. No cans allowed. They regularly arrive quite early, so a number of people are pretty much forced to leave it out overnight.

That's pretty nuts to have food garbage out on the curb in just plastic with all the wildlife. Probably attracts extra wildlife to your neighborhood.