The Hyundai Palisade continues to be a smashing sales success for the South Korean automaker even during a global pandemic. This past July, a total of 8,404 Palisades were delivered to customers out of a total of 57,677 Hyundai vehicles sold that month. Just to compare, 4,464 Palisades were sold in pre-pandemic July 2019. More than 44,000 Palisades have been sold so far this year. As Hyundai rightly celebrates this success, there's apparently an issue that Palisade owners have been complaining about: the interiors stinks.

Some have described the smell as a mix of unwashed, sweaty socks and rotten vegetables. Today, there's good news and bad news regarding this subject.

The Drive reached out to Hyundai for a statement on the matter and, fortunately, the company is aware of the smell.

However, it doesn't know exactly what's causing it. "We are aware of the concern and are currently in the midst of the investigation, which includes identifying and validating a fix," a spokesperson confirmed. "Once a repair method is confirmed effective a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) will be released to provide direction to our dealer body on how to resolve the concern."

So, what are the possible culprits? There are some Palisade owners who think they've traced the source to the premium Nappa leather seats. This could be the answer because crossovers equipped with cloth seats don't, uh, stink inside. Another potential source could be the headrests and/or the seatbacks.

Wherever the smell is coming from, Hyundai seems to be acting fast to resolve this unfortunate and somewhat embarrassing problem. Hyundai may feel some additional pressure to find a fix because the ultra-luxurious Palisade Calligraphy is due to go on sale for 2021. Since it's based on the Limited trim, it also features upgraded Nappa seats. The Palisade Limited already carries a base price of just $45,000 and the Calligraphy will tack on a few thousand to that amount, though an exact amount should be announced soon.

Just imagine paying around $50 grand for a luxury crossover that smells like sweaty socks inside. A very unpleasant experience, indeed.