2017 Prius Engine Destroyed By Rodents One Week after Buying

You need to protect your HOUSE from them too.
Safety bait stations are the best solution......OUTSIDE around the perimeter.
Look around almost any commercial building in the continental US and you will see them, about every 100 feet ALL the way around the building.

Electrical wires are insulated with plastic.
Plastic is made from: Oil. Sometimes petroleum, sometimes soy and sometimes other things.

The OP needs to get over it.
At this point it starts looking more like a troll.

 

Kind of off topic, bit I don't think I can start a new thread yet, somebody rear ended my wife today in our 17 prime. We dont even have plates on it yet, anybody heard how much the rear bumper will cost them to replace?

 

^ Good avatar!

 

If it needs replacing - there's a good chance there'll be more damage behind it. Have a good look underneath.

 

Horrible story.
In for the answer.

Hopefully the insurance adjustor will had some insights.
Truly rodent damage?
Happened at owner's home? Happened at dealer? Happen at lot where dealer received the vehicle from?
I'd say time to set a trap at the residence.

Over night seems like a large rodent with a beautiful smile so perhaps this was partially eaten at the dealer and vibration chafing destroyed the rest of the wiring.

Good luck.

 

We had a similar incident with our new 2016 Prius v Three soon after buying it. In our case the person that rear ended us insurance, Progressive, took care of the damage. The estimate was $1429.53 for the total repair which includes parts and labor. Here is a short breakdown for some of the parts/materials costs.

9 102788 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE Rear Bumper Cover 52159-47912 234.00 * INC
11 OEM PRICED MATCHED A/M PARTS AS SHOWN* ON ESTIMATE
12 102789 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE Rear Lwr Bumper Moulding 76891-47040 420.90 INC #
13 102786 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE Rear Bumper Mldg Retainer [email protected] 75392-35220 5.61 INC
14 MISSING DID NOT ARRIVE WITH VEHICLE
15 101954 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL Rear Bumper Reinforcement Bar (Alum) Existing 0.4 #r
16 REQ'D FOR REAR BODY REPAIR
17 AUTO REF ADD'L OPR Clear Coat 1.3
18 AUTO ADD'L COST Paint/Materials 164.50 *
19 900500 BDY OVERHAUL RESTORE CORROSION PROTECTION * Sublet 10.00 *

 

i opened the hood of my dakota, which i keep in the barn, to put a battery tender on for the winter.
tons of maple seeds started pouring out from under the hood insulation.
turns out, mice had been nesting in there since i put it away in the fall.
hard to keep the critters out completely.

 

sorry to hear it. i think you can start a new thread, all the best with your repairs.

 

Our first car, an '81 Civic, was the last one with a REAL bumper. The anger people of my generation feel over this absurd nonsense will die out soon enough. No one will recall why bumpers were called bumpers.

 

I had a 2008 Yaris up till I traded for my 2016 Prius this Summer. About 7 or 8 years ago mice got in to the headliner from the bottom of the A Pillar shorting out wiring running up there. Radio and some lights stopped working and new fuse kept blowing. $1800.00 dollars damage to replace wiring and headliner and about a month without the car. Homeowners insurance paid for repairs. I keep mouse traps under the hood now. They work. Car sits a lot in a carport because I have other rides.

 

In about 1978 I was in a work car (a Holden Ute) which was a lot bigger than my own Renault. I had to call into one of the outstation offices and swung into the carpark and THUNK - hit a VOLVO, about BRAND NEW. The car I was driving bounced back savagely, I got out, checked the damage - none. The heavy chrome bumper on the Holden was unmarked, still straight and square. So I checked out the VOLVO - with the shock-absorbing bumpers. No damage other than a bit of dirt which wiped off. The owner checked too, he was happy that there was no damage. Those were REAL BUMPERS.
vs

 

nowadays, all the engineering goes into protecting the passengers and reducing weight for mpg's, at the expense of the car.

 

Our civic bumpers connected to the car via two shock absorbers. The business end was steel sheathed with a thick/broad strip of rubber. Form followed function.

I don't think bumpers of this ilk would defeat the "crumple zone" behaviour, in higher speed, catastrophic crashes. I guess they do hinder it though, to be fair.

At the least: perhaps manufacturers should be legislated to reduce not only the severity but the expense of crashes. Expense both monetary, and the environmental impact of all this plastic replacement, painting and so on.

Maybe start with the $1200 a pop head lights lol.

(^ Can't believe I thumbed that on my phone, ugh.)

 

i'm surprised the insurance institute isn't fighting for this. but i suppose they got it on the other end with penalties, fines and surcharges.

prime will be a very interesting car to follow for repair costs.

 

They are focused on reducing claims from accidents, especially medical payments. At one time, at least, Consumer Reports crash tested and then evaluated the cost of repair in generating their ratings.

 

I read over on this side of the pond that European insurers are concerned about the extra cost of repairs to modern vehicles because of the extra cameras and auto braking systems, radar etc. I think the figure they suggested was ~€3,000 extra per vehicle with these safety features.

 

it's early in the game, but when primes start getting totaled because a headlight goes out, there will be a problem.

 

Take a mechanic that has looked at your wiring harness out to the lot, not their mechanic, and have that mechanic examine a few of the cars, I suspect the rodent was carried from the dealer.

 

I remember an almost brand-new small DAEWOO, 2003ish, had a minor front end hit which bent the bumper etc, holed the a/c and a small ripple in the bonnet - guards untouched. But it set off the 2 airbags. The insurance assessor said it would have been a repair job - but the 2 airbags made it a write-off.