My son's spark has the same problem. seems to be something with the air conditioner. took to dealer, they don't seem to know why it's happening yet. they have another one on the lot so they ran it for a while and it has the same problem. they have to do more research. did you ever find out what the problem was when you took it back to the dealer? His carpet looks exactly like yours with the dried salt stains. Please let us know what you found out. thanks