[manishkapadia]

This is truly weird and unheard of. My guess is that this will have to be fixed with trial and error method more than anything else. It would be impractical to drive / use the car without air conditioner, but if you can do that then nothing like it. The usual suspect seems to be the Aircon system.
Check the cabin Air filter. Is it seriously Orange. If its AC related then that may show the Orange tinge before other parts of car.

Try getting the condenser oil in the AC changed. By change I don't mean top up . Complete drain out and replace. Keep Hyundai motors in loop about this. Don't buy their argument that there is something in the atmosphere that's causing this. I am sure your friend does not live in Chernobyl.

[sidzz]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

IIRC, my Grand i10 had blue colored coolant.

My Grand i10 has green color coolant.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Does Grand i10 have an incabin A/C filter ? What is color of it ? If the car has an in-cabin air filter, it should also have this orange content on it IMHO.

Yes there is a cabin filter. It is white in color.
The owner of the car in question must check the cabin filter and its color to gain more information on this situation.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by Antonov32

We got a certificate of fitness from Hyundai saying the foot mats were causing some fumes to form.

... I guess going down the legal route would be the best decision.

Get those mats from them. Will be useful in proving things.

[Jaggu]

Also try to find out what kind of pigmentation was happening on the surfaces, maybe a chemical analysis would reveal better the real reason for this. If you are able to identify this, then one can further drill down to the reasons. You can use the USB or the cable wire as sample.

From the looks of it:

1- it is happening from inside.
2- most likely something in the form of air or vapor.

Connecting SS-Traveler hint at coolant, and later to the inside informant referring to changing something in AC. This could have been the AC evaporator unit which also houses the coolant exchange for heater function. But then there should be some coolant loss also.

Another reason can be something in the internal unit which is degrading and letting out fumes, most likely something associated with AC duct.

[Grand Drive]

Try to check the heater core with the Hyundai ASC.

I am quoting from this link:

If you notice a colorful fluid (usually green or orange) leaking on the floor from under the dash, that could be a sign of your heater core leaking. Heater core leakage is not that common these days, but some do fail. The cost of replacing one is very expensive on most vehicles—generally you have to remove the dash to get to it.

[Sutripta]

I would be more worried about the colour of the inside of my lungs.

It is like someone has run a fumigator inside the car.

If you rub it hard, does the colour come off? Or can some solvent take it off? In which case it can be collected and analysed. Though who would pay for trace analysis, I don't know.

Regards
Sutripta

[wild child]

Hi Bhpians

That orange effect on the car's internals reminds me of glass walls of the smoking room in an airport.

By any chance, does the owner smoke with in the car with the glass rolled up or does he light any aggarbathi ?

Could be the effect of smoke.

Just my thought.

[abhi29]

Originally Posted by Antonov32

Moreover, the dealership staff threatened my friend so I guess going down the legal route would be the best decision.

Threatened !!! As if the customers are happily creating problems by themselves and troubling the 'poor dealers'. If you don't mind, please name the dealership in question for others to be aware.

While I agree with the analysis of others that it has got be something about AC, I can't help but wonder if the perfume is the culprit.

Like we see those fake deodorant/ perfume bottles in roadside shops, isn't it possible that some fake sub-standard product made its way into the car which does not evaporate the way it should, the vapour sticks to the surfaces and slowly changes colour over weeks of exposure.

This is totally irrelevant if your friend has changed brands over the years, if not, switching to another brand may be tried. And as suggested, keeping a white piece of cloth next to more than one AC vents may help in determining if any particular vent has issues.

[spanner777]

Surely a weird problem that your friend is facing.
I see a few possibilities here :
1. if he uses a car air freshener, that could be one of the reason. I have seen A/C vents getting discolored due to air freshener fluid.
2. if A/C plumbing has got a leak and maybe its taking air from close to the battery, battery emits a little bit of chemical fume.
3. It could be that he left the car in the sun with something inside that vaporizes.

But in any case this poses a serious health hazard to the occupants of the car. Driving with A/C on not recommended until this is sorted.

[mangespat]

I would suggest putting a white damp cloth or a paper inside the glove box. The glove box has a cooling vent. that will be the best place to confirm if the contaminant is from the AC or something external.

If you want to confirm if the cause of the orange tinge is fumes and not the AC, you can park the car in the sun some day with again a new white cloth.

On a lighter note - Buy a big couple of meters of White cloth from a cloth merchant as this would take some trial and error.

[scorpian]

Surely the strangest thing i have read out here.
Please ask your friend to wear a mask till he finds out whats causing the tinge,i would be very worried about what i am breathing looking at how strong the thing causing a colour change can be.

Stuff some cloth in the AC vents and run it to see what happens,i think you will get the idea of what's going on,provided hyundai hasn't already changed stuff in the AC.
Please do update what you find, we all would be very interested to find out what has caused this.

[scarecrow]

Another theory - Does your friend live in an area close to a (Metal mining) mine or passes through such areas? Just thinking out aloud as if the AC vent is open and passes through such areas, it might be filtering in some dust, though the filter should be able to absorb most of it.

As mentioned by someone in a few posts back, it will be good to get a lab test done on the deposits in the car.

Regards
Ronald

[shady_lawyer]

Are you sure this is not a car that is trying to turn into Trump??. What I suspect is that this is some kind of anti-corrosion material that is getting blown off from inside the AC System pipes. Alternatively and assuming that the coolant is orange colored then somehow the car has coolant mixing with the intake of the ac system. Edit. Check the ac compressor oil level it also could be a case of oil become very fine and being sprayed through. And one absolutely silly question. Is the car being cleaned using those orange color cloths you get at the signal?

[GTO]

Big shoutout to Vinod Agarwal for sharing! Thank you.

This type of problem (white turns into pale yellow/ orange) comes in vehicles which are regular visitors or parked in the chemical zone of our city's industrial area. We have many customers from there and their cars outer body colour (Pearl White) turns yellowish. We have to do light rubbing polish to remove the yellowness. The reason is some chemicals present in the atmosphere of the area.

I noticed, the tail gate has the maximum colour change. I think, as the owner is a Doctor, he may have some type of hand wash and disinfection liquid bottles in the car and may be these are reasons of colour change of the interior.

I also use disinfection solution to wash my hands in my workshop. Once, a few drops of such solution fell on a white plastic toy and it changed the colour of the toy.

Regarding A/C : an A/C unit in a car is just to recirculate the air in the cabin with flow from the cooling unit which is sealed.

Also thanks to Arun Viswanathan for sharing this!

From the colour, this looks like rust. Rust when mixed with water gives orange colour. The rust is mixing with A/C air and reaching the cabin. A thorough inspection will need to be carried out to identify where the rust is coming from.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by spanner777

2. if A/C plumbing has got a leak and maybe its taking air from close to the battery, battery emits a little bit of chemical fume.

As far as I know, lead-acid batteries give off hydrogen: this is dangerously explosive, but would not stain anything. The acid is sulphuric. Very corrosive, but it is colourless and (having worked with the stuff) I don't recall it staining anything: just making holes!

The colour in the photographs reminds me of petrol. That would also be dangerous, but the smell could not go unnoticed.