Recently had to remove the blower and clean the HVAC system on my 2001 prius. Not a hard job but could have been avoided had the car's design of the ventilation system been rodent-proof with a few small changes. I'm also interested in how people with Gen 1 Prius cars are doing for miles / durability. Loosing the Gen 1 thread is a loss for that feedback.
you're in the wrong forum, so a lot of gen 1 peeps won't see your post. you may want to consider joining the rodent class action suit.
There is no gen 1 forum. It disappeared I guess. I have had issues with mice also. Had to replace a couple chewed up air filters. Not too big a deal. The problem is if they start chewing the wires. Search the entire forum for this problem. There are some threads with good info on addressing the rodent proofing yourself.
Had squirrels feast on some wiring in my gen 2 years ago. Cost me about $250, and the dealer said I got off lucky. He had seen thousands of dollars worth of damage. I had no idea there was a class action suit. I'll be watching.
I would never have thought to look in the gen 2 forum for a gen 1 thread. Even after you said it was there, I had to really look to find it. It is not easily found.
Any chance you have pics of the damage? Rodent issue seems to problematic in colder states only..? I'm in CA
Search for mouse or rodent damage on these forums. There is a lot of information - and pictures. With mine, I had a mouse chew up my cabin air filter. And he peed and pooped on it. The car had a nasty sour rotten odor inside. Changed the air filter, and mousey didn't come back. Maybe because I switched to the charcoal covered filter? Other people have put steel wool in places to prevent entry. Again, do a search, lots of info available.
No pics, and was definitely cold related. At the time, I had a parking space that was carved out of a hilly yard. We had lots of snow, so I imagine the squirrels were just looking for someplace dry and out of the windy cold. Pulled out of the driveway one morning and the car started misfiring like crazy. Headed right back into the driveway, opened the hood to find all kinds of acorns and twigs, as well at squirrel droppings. There was NO mistaking as to what had caused the damage.
Read this article https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2009/12/02/Tips-to-Keep-Mice- Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
