Hi all, We have two gen 3 cars and have been having the mouse issues that many others have had. It is time to trade in the oldest car and I'm wondering if Toyota fixed any of the gaping openings in the gen 5 car to prevent similar issues. Wife wants to get some entirely different brand/car over the mouse ordeal unless it's completely fixed.
Listen to your wife... Or buy a Gen4 Prius... Gen5 are not available to purchase without a long wait and are ridiculously overpriced. They also have significant design defects, currently undergoing a recall for months that's shut down production. They also are more expensive to operate than a regular Prius and have less interior space, as well as lots of people are having problems with the control panel and entertainment system.
It's not that deep. It's a rear door issue, it's not that big of a deal since the "lock doors while in drive" is default enabled and negates the issue. And it seems like a fairly quick fix where they swap the module for a better sealed one. There's the rear trunk plastic breaking for a few people but it's not critical nor is it widespread. So why make it sound like these things are rolling disasters? It's not a cybertruck lol.
I had the same response to this post as Soft_R had. I've had none of these problems. The production shutdown that was mentioned was implemented so that the new door parts could be obtained. Even so... Every time in the last year that I've been to a dealer to evaluate a Prius they have had one available, and when I decided to buy I drove one home that day. For that matter, In 2002 my local dealer told me that there was a 6 month wait for a model shipped from Japan. The next morning I picked up the exact car that I wanted at a dealer 15 miles away. In 2019, I was told by a different local dealer that it was hard to find a Gen 4 Prius Prime. I drove one home that afternoon. In January of this year I was told that they were hard to get. I noticed one in the sales lot. My wife OK'd the color and I traded my 2017 for the new one, then drove the Gen 5 home. If you only look once, they may seem hard to find. If you check daily you are likely to find a car quick than you expect.
The issue isn't the size of the holes in the undercarriage that allows mice and other rodents to get into the engine bay. It's the soy-based plastic harnesses that they like to chew on which attracts them. Your best bet is to make friends with stray cats or set mice traps around the car.
The engine bay is always wide open; no way to avoid that. The cabin “can” be protected, and that’s what I’d do. With our 3rd Gen I’ve put anti-rodent mesh over the cabin air intake (under metal cowl below windshield), the engine air intake, and the two cabin air exits (under hatch floor, in the corners). I doubt Toyota’s done anything, say to prevent cabin rodent incursion, with 5th gens.
I have a hard time seeing "mice issues" as a reason not to buy Gen 5. I had a VW Golf before that has some mice evidence in the engine area, but have not had any mice issues with my Prius, now over a year old. Seeing this thread, I will now set up some mice traps, the old style spring loaded ones, with peanut butter, throughout the inside passenger area. And spread some coyote urine (collected organically) around the engine area. And for good measure, just in case, I have set up a "have-a-heart" live trap in the hatch area. Not sure how large the holes are but if a groundhog or skunk gets in, I will be all set!
If you have mouse issues with the prius, the problem may lie more in the fact you have mice issues than with the car itself. There may be better solutions than trying to worry about plugging every possible gap a mouse can squeeze through into your car. As this issue will present itself to any car, because mice want shelter and they also like to chew wires. Both things pretty much any modern car will provide since we're long past the days where almost everything was mechanical or driven by physical connections in cars. If you live in a rural area, with a ton of fields around you... they'll hide in the car assuming that its the best place to hide. Offering alternative options, might serve you better. Even in my suburb, I was told some people have mice issues. My house is not particularly mouse proofed, and in 5 years never had a problem. Not a big one anyway, I had 2 mice in my garage one fall when the garage wouldn't close properly but that was it. Some neighbours have had them get into their homes and cause havoc, but I havent. I happen to have rabbits that live behind my shed and sometimes under the shrub out front, and I and one neighbour share a cedar hedge. Mice/birds/squirrels hang out in there a lot. Maybe that's helped me? No clue. But we also dont let our cars sit too long, so this could be a factor for them in particular.
Best things I've done to prevent mice (1) set traps inside (2) seal the exterior of the home and (3) living in the country, got a couple of cats that stayed outside and used the garage for shelter. I recall hearing about certain cars with organic based wiring insulation that was attracting rodents. Electrical systems were being destroyed. Maybe that type wiring was discontinued? Anyway I don't live in a rural area any more and haven't had a mouse problem in many years. Both of my cars are garaged.
Back in the day when Prius was truly great they sold 25K Prius a month in the US for years and years and years... Gen5 is a faint shadow of its former greatness.
Your opinion. As someone who owned one of those 25k/month, I'll take my gen5 every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
That's such a retarded comment. They clearly didn't want to risk some kid falling out of the back seat while the car was in motion because the sensor triggered it to open from getting wet so they halted sales til the fix was in. This was despite the fact that even according to Toyota, it wouldn't trigger if the door was locked (hence their advice to make sure the lock doors in drive option was not to be turned off). So of course sales would be near 0 DURING A SALE STOPPAGE. Not like it hurt them because even with the back log they can't produce enough 5th gens to meet demand even now. The fix was to epoxy the part so the circuits couldn't get wet. Again, the whole situation is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Personally I think having an electronic back door switch is stupid in this car to begin with because we still have the mechanical button. But that's a separate conversation.
The guy is just salty he can't get one from past comments of his. He only hangs out in the 5th gen forums to shit on them. I don't think he's ever provided anything of value on 5th gens.
Have actually been doing my best to help people in this particular forum while learning about the newest version of Prius... If you want to shoot the messenger because you're in denial about all the problems associated with Gen5 Prius, that's fine.
Is this hard to do? Maybe there’s a YouTube video? : ) I’ve had mice in my Gen 2 despite it being parked in a large parking lot. They were probably trying to get to my stray pumpkin seeds. : / Still waiting on my Gen 5. Test drove another one yesterday on my way to run errands. Each time I test drive I get more comfortable with the new design. This time I adjusted the seat so I can see the top half of the digital screen and can get in and out fairly comfortably. I was starting to think I could deal with the pearl white as a second choice color but sticking to cutting edge. They had two white Gen 5’s waiting for buyers to pick up and one of them had those black dirty drips coming from all door handles and other parts of along the bottom of the car. Why does this happen? I don’t have a convenient place to clean my car. They had 4 black Prius(s) in a row and a blue Prime still waiting for recall fix. They have two cutting edge coming in next month but they won’t take a bank check from a third party written out to their dealership. My local dealership will so I’m still waiting patiently. Who knows I might end up with a 2025.
We've been having mice in the house, and I'm getting really OCD about food spillage. You've got to leave them no dinner options other than the spring traps. Doggy's kibbles have to be kept under wraps too. Doing everything, sealing egresses, web cam, more traps than I can count on fingers. Anyway... The main one is the cabin air intake, and the wipers and metal cowl has to come off for that. The exit air flaps at back corner of hatch area I took the back bumper off, bit of a handful as well, added mesh on the outside. Somebody relatively handy, it's not too hard. If you don't want to take it on, you don't need a full-fledged "mechanic", someone who advertises as handyman would do. 1/4" mesh opening galvanized steel rodent mesh and sheet metal screws, and maybe some thin steel wire to secure corners, is what's needed. Plus tin snips, power drill and bits, pliers. For parts removal a few wrenches, screw drivers and socket set. pic of the rearmost mesh method attached; just did it recently:
