Prius is home sweet home for mice.

this is a problem due to poor design. and mice. from what i've come to learn, they impregnate the cabin filters with mouse attractant, to try to sell more filters.

 

As I have suggested before, the first line of defense is a strong offense. Kill the mice with rat bait.

 

In the past I had em in both my cars air filters in my garage a Prius and VW Routan (Dodge Caravan).

From that I conclude nothing except mice are bad news. Recently they say squirrels cause the most electric power failures in the USA. Seems like to the designers out there we need to say: Here's your No. 1 unexpected issue: rodents.

 

comcast had to replace my cable with rodent proof grade. it's so expensive, they only use it when the regular grade fails the rodent text.

 

Are your rodents sending you texts too? I hate when they do that.

 

I had mice in my Prius AC filter once in 12 years. It did cause me significant allergy issues on long trips, but no wiring problems (yet). I had the ductwork cleaned out and replaced the filter with a higher quality, carbon impregnated one (available on-line at a reasonable price) and have had no re-occurrence to date, but my Prius is garaged so it is not as rodent exposed as one parked outside in the wild.

There have been many discussions on PC about "mouse proofing" a Prius by adding screening at several possible rodent entry points. Anyone having rodent problems should attempt this low-cost fix rather than just complaining to Toyota as they are unlikely to help you in this instance.

JeffD

 

I agree see my earlier posts...I think rodents are a potentially serious issue that are possibly not designed well enough against in general. Sorry for the levity. There was an element of anti-Prius that caught my attention.

Causes one to wonder, how many USA car fires, listed as caused due to electrical or fuel, are really rodents chewing thru the tubes and wires? On my Weber grill, the squirrels love to chew thru the rubber tube from the propane tank. My sense is when I accidentally leave the valve open, somehow they smell the gas and try to get it. I have a new Weber grill and now the gas is inside the door so harder to access. Probably should be a braided metal tube not rubber,

 

I frequent several car forums focusing on the cars of other manufacturers. I see the same mice/rodents complaints there. Critters seeking a warm protected place to nest. And they chew stuff up to carry to create the nest.

If you see mice around, know you have the potential for a mice problem and deal with the critters.

In 50 years of parking the same cars mentioned in the complaints both outside and inside, I've never seen the problem. Perhaps because I have snakes (and falcons, and eagles). The snakes could themselves cause a problem but then I wouldn't be blaming the car maker. I've had squirrels and birds somehow get into the house through the furnace flue pipe/chimney. I climbed up on the roof and created an invasion proof cap and the problem went away.

Price the wiring harness replacement/installation for a Porsche 911 if you think you have a problem.

 

I suspect that rodents have always been an issue, but with the tighter engine compartment packaging and full under-skirts come cozier spaces to nest, and with the smaller gauge wiring of modern autos, even a few nibbles here and there can mean bigger problems.

 

That's very interesting....I do not recall anyone bringing up soy wiring before.

 

Well like the article says, because USA is a litigious society, USA management style is generally non-pro-active (to put it mildly).

We here have heard many nuisance complaints of mice in the air filters, but not too much serious damage to wiring has been reported here, such that we would be alarmed. But of course we here are not a huge % of USA Prius owners, in fact we active here are probably way less than 0.1% of Prius owners. We have no proprietary data on failure rates (eg; of batteries etc) and causes, like Toyota may have.

Maybe your post will cause some of our mechanical experts to inspect for rodent bites in wiring. To my knowledge this has not been a listed maintenance item in our compehensive DIY to-do lists of things to look out for.

 

Simple solution "mothballs" inside the engine strategically placed in areas where the balls will not roll around and will be stable

 

my fathers girlfriends caddy had the wiring harness destroyed by mice. i haven't heard gm recalling any cars.
but maybe she has been the only one. i don't frequent gm forums.

peppermint.

 

How about adopting some CATS?