Rodent Damage: Something to think about..

I manage an auto repair shop and have seen at least 10 vehicles with rodent damage. None of the affected vehicles was a Toyota, the worst case was a customer with a Honda Civic that was out of the country for 6 months. The damage was so severe that his insurance company wrote off his car.

The most expensive was a nice Cadillac Escalade. Just wanted to add this information for everyone.

 

Even though I take precautions by keeping rat poison blocks secured under the hood, I have again this year sustained damage to foam rubber under the intake cover and certain smaller rubber hoses. when the weather turns cool. Last winter, again before the poison killed them, the rats chewed up 2 electrical connectors,(the same ones). The foam rubber damage is extensive and so there is some substance in this material that attracts them as well as certain hoses and certain connectors. My sons Mustang sits outside all the time and has never been attacked by rats.

 

I added a no vote... but I keep mine in a garage and have a contract with terminex where they come out on a quarterly basis which seems to help with everything from spiders to ants to rodents.

 

good idea on the poll, i hope everyone votes, curious to see percentages. we have field mice coming out of our ears, but fortunately, they haven't bothered the 3 prius or hycam so far. (knock wood)

 

I voted, but I'm not sure where you are trying to go with the poll. As a market researcher, I'll tell you that your design is not a very valid for demonstrating the Prius being any more or less likely for rodent damage. You may get some sense if the problem may be common or not, but Priuschat is not a truly representative sample of the population as whole and suffers from selection bias. A better design would be to understand the incidence of rodent damage to cars in general and then among them which makes, models, and years are affected. Even then, you would probably need to understand and control for several other variables (e.g. garaged, location, etc).

Without a more robust research design, I'm afraid that Toyota will put little to no effort in looking into this case. My guess is that Toyota has protected itself against acts of nature.

 

A Prius is no more delicious than any other vehicle. We live in a rural area, and have for over 40 years. Rodent damage to vehicles is a fact of life. The main thing to worry about is their food supply, but they will chew on a lot of things that aren't necessarily food, and will nest in various parts of the vehicle if they get the chance.
Ensure that any possible nesting areas are as far away as possible from where your cars are parked.
As was mentioned earlier, put bait blocks under the hood.
If possible, put bait and / or traps near the car.
Get cats and keep them hungry.
Even so, you will never be rid of rodents.

 

I live on the edge of rural meaning I back up to DNR land in my backyard. I agree that the battle against mice and other little furry things is ongoing no matter the car I drive. I let my guard down one August and found a mouse had started to make a nest in my cabin filter stealing bits of Kleenex I had in the back seat (how dare it!). I was fortunate and only needed to replace the cabin filter. I now park my Prius nose in the garage with the front end surrounded by a few mouse traps and bait boxes. I no longer live on a farm so all of my cats are now pampered indoor kitties. Just as an FYI I also had a rodent infiltrate my 1983 Ford Escort years ago when when I lived in rural Iowa. Again mouse heaven and they all want to come inside around harvest time and that's when we clashed.

 

Thank you for the opportunity to add perspective to this subject by saying; Our family has lived in the same house since 1972. We have owned many cars and trucks since then. Only Toyotas we own, built since 2007 have been a problem with rat damage even though my sons 1993 BMW and 1990 Ford Mustang, which both have been parked outside our house for over 10 yrs, have been untouched by the rats. Our local Toyota dealer service dept. has many times told me this is a serious problem for their customers including me and to take all precautions possible to guard against rat damage which often is very expensive to repair if not caught immediately and that it is a common problem in this area and that the rats seem to be attracted to certain parts more than others.

 

The rodents dont care if its a Toyota. The fact that they haven't damaged other vehicles is likely a matter of accessibility or convenience. We know that rodents don't eat vehicle parts. So what they want is nesting material and to sharpen their incisors, which continually grow, unlike human teeth. That is the reason for the rodents chewing on everything accessible in the vehicle. They have found a safe easy entrance and no environmental obstacles to the vehicle. So it gets two thumbs up from the rodent population as a safe place to make a nest.

Now it is up to the owner to make the vehicle less attractive to the rodents. Many people have offered good suggestions that should work individually, or collectively.

 

Garage the car may help. My wife had a Nissan Murano and field mice nested near the engine for the heat I guess. The dealer took care of it and we garaged the car afterwards. It all occued when my neighbor planted a Orange Tree. They came for the food stayed for the lodging.

 

we have had the same problem with our VW TDI with mice nesting in the the engine compartment and under recommendation from our neighbor who has a Toyota Prius we installed a mouse blocker. This electronic device we had installed under the hood makes a noise and has been keeping the mice away. My neighbor had theirs installed over a year ago and it has been working for their Toyota through all 4 seasons and came highly recommended. We think the manufacturer should offer these as an accessory for people with problems like ours and that is why I thought it necessary to post here. I hope this helps. www.mouseblocker.com

 

I (a) have a creek and woods in my backyard and (b) have several vehicles that sit for long periods, some kept indoors, some outside.

In my experience, the cars mice like best are Maximas and Prizms (Corollas).

We've only had a couple in the house (basement), and the cat made quick work of them.

 

This sounds like the work of Dirty Mike. Video wil explain.

 

My parents and I have never had rat damage on any of the cars we've owned, which OTOH includes 2 Chevys, 1 Dodge (1 more, mostly before my time), 1 Oldsmobile, 4 Toyotas, 3 Nissans. Some of these vehicles are parked outside and never garaged, while some have remained outside for years (depended on where the owner was living at).

My dad's 02 Rav4 (bought late 01 or early 02) has never been garaged and is always parked on the street.

I posted A Rat Ate My Chevy Volt | PriusChat awhile ago. Happened to the cars.com guys.

 

I have the mouse problem in my Prius. We live in the wood. We have had 3 chevy trucks, VW, Acura and Range Rover and this is the first car that has the rodent problem. I called the Toyota office here in the US, and their answer was that they had not heard of it. So I contacted Toyota's HQ in Japan. They contacted the US subs and the Executive office called - well you know what the Executive office does. Nothing but to pretend that they care. I had look through many Japanese prius fan sites and posted a question, and it seems they do not have any problems in Japan. Someone recommended MouseBlocker. Has anyone used it?

 

If you had a mouse problem in a rover or chevy, do you think they would care?

Actually what do you want Toyota to do?

A guy in a ford truck ran a red light and hit my Tacoma and totaled it. I never even thought of picking up the phone and calling Toyota. Why would I/you?

Just curious.

I hear the mouseblocker works.

 

I had a rat chew the NOx sensor in my Eclipse.

 

Well I want Toyota to come up with a solution. If anyone can, Toyota can.

 

LOL! Toyota builds great cars. They are not in the pest control business. Good luck!