...Actually, the article mentions Pine Sol twice. The first time it describes how a home owner used Pine Sol and other measures and still had a repeat bear break in.
The evidence is that Pine Sol didn't work where bears had reason to believe there had been or could be food.
Let's not muddy the waters. It's more likely the bear simply returned to the place where it had found food before. Whether Pine Sol, diesel fuel or fire ants had been smeared on the points of entry is probably immaterial. It had found food there once, so it returned. And sure enough, it found it again - with chocolate to boot! It only takes my Newfie one instance to figure something out, and I think most bears are smarter than he is.
If you drive an older vehicle, it's nearly impossible to remove old food smells. So, whether old or new - clean it very well, leave nothing in the vehicle, nothing that visually resembles a food storage container, and for good measure - wipe points of entry, like door handles with something that may scramble a bear's olfactory senses whether it be Pine Sol or ammonia, and then enjoy your hike.
And, FWIW - I can't recall instances where a bear broke into a vehicle just for the hell of it. Unless I'm mistaken, there's always been a reason listed - either food was left in a vehicle, or a locker where food is stored, etc - some type of trigger that provoked the break-in.
