Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

[JayGoldstein]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tochatihu @ Oct 1 2006, 05:19 PM) [snapback]326572[/snapback]</div>

Has anybody ever thought of mixing something very distasteful into the vinyl, etc, insulation prior to it being extruded onto wires? I have not checked at HalfBakery for this idea.

Yucky plus non-corrosive rules out acids but there are lots of other choices. What taste do rodents hate? I also see a high school science experiment here...
[/b]

Mothballs can deter rodents. You'd need to figure out where to put them.

[Godiva]

You can strap a few cats to the wiring harnesses.


:P

[donee]

Hi Tochitahu,

In Europe most electrical and electronics goods have to be lead free (except for metals, like free-machining brass), now. And previously, all the wiring needed to be halogen free. I imagine that Toyota is not using PVC, as it has Clorine, and common flexibliziers for PVC have lead in them.

A common insulation in Europe is Cross-Linked Poly-ethylene (PEX). Most likely chemically cross-linked in car wiring, but possibly by iradiation as well. My experience with rodents, squirrels actually, is that they love to eat Poly-Ethylene. I have seen 1/2 inch PVC jacketed coaxial cable stripped, and the copper braid nibbled away, so that the squirrel could get to the soft white Poly-Ethylene inside. And this was at the top of a 40 foot tower, that had an equipment enclosure on it, that the squirrel could get into.

As the Prius is being sold in Europe, I imagine it conforms to those rules and is using a non-PVC wire insulation. And the insulation might be something like cross-linked PE, which rodents might find tasty. Even if this is not the case, the car in the sun would be an inviting enviorment to get out of the wind, and huddle in overnight. The wires might be mistaken for roots.

[FL Buckeye]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Sep 30 2006, 05:50 PM) [snapback]326191[/snapback]</div>

Check with your insurance carrier. This should be covered by the Comprehensive portion of your auto policy.
[/b]

What he said. Where we used to live I had problems all the time with mice and squirrels if any vehicle was left outside for very long. I used to let my neighbors squirrel hunt all the time. A couple of times the problem was minor enough I could fix it myself but one time the damage was both under the hood and under the rear of the car and I didn't want to mess with it. I was insured by State Farm at the time and called my insurance agent. I suggested it would be covered under the comprehensive, he didn't know but after checking with the home office they covered it, about $800. They even suggested I take it to the dealer so it would be done right.

I don't agree with most that think you should not have been charged for any time other than what was spent on the wiring problem once it was found. This was not a normal falure that diagnostic testing would find other than by luck. If you had had damage to wiring under the hood due to rodents then should Toyota have sealed the entire engine area? I've had air cleaners packed with dog food, chewed wiring by the distributor, wiring chewed through at the fuel pump by the gas tank, wires chewed through by the battery, etc, etc, and have always felt it was due to where I live and what animals due naturally. And I've done the same as you, make grills to cover air cleaner intakes, hang moth balls (in old pantyhose feet) by batteries and other wiring, set out rat poison, etc. Hopefully you can find solutions to your particular circumstances that will work.

[Frank Hudon]

[quote]
anytime that you get the Battery exclamination mark and the PS light they will set a code and that will get you started in the right area. I would assume that this was a HV "leak" that should have taken the tech right to the HV battery and cables. We still haven't seen any of the codes from the OP so can't say for sure, Galaxee your DH care to wade in on this?

[FL Buckeye]

Frank Hudon quote "anytime that you get the Battery exclamination mark and the PS light"

Are you refering to the triangle with an exclamation that he mentioned? That is the master warning light and you look for another indicator light (which he had several) or a msg on the MFD. It doesn't necessarily mean a battery problem. What is the PS light?

What I was trying to say is that when a diagnostic program is designed, in this case to generate DTC's for the tech to use, it usually looks for opens and shorts, or a wrong signal from a sensor. So normally the tech should have been directed to the correct area to look for the problem. But, and this is a big BUT, most all diagnostic programs cannot detect situations that weren't planned as a possibility of happening. There are multiple buses in the "mutlplex comm bus" and with shorted or open wires, DTCs probably can be thrown out that are misleading, invalid, etc. As Frank said, without knowing any DTCs, it would be hard to say why it took so long to figure it out. The OP should ask for a RO with the DTCs on it to see they were showing the correct area. If the DTCs were misleading, I wouldn't trust the average tech to find it very quickly. In this type of problem I would guess that over 90% of the repair time would be in diagnostics.

[eagle33199]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tochatihu @ Oct 1 2006, 05:19 PM) [snapback]326572[/snapback]</div>

Has anybody ever thought of mixing something very distasteful into the vinyl, etc, insulation prior to it being extruded onto wires? I have not checked at HalfBakery for this idea.

Yucky plus non-corrosive rules out acids but there are lots of other choices. What taste do rodents hate? I also see a high school science experiment here...
[/b]

Unfortunately, i don't think you could find something that universally works. There are several products out there designed to keep dogs from chewing on stuff when they're teething (specifically, it's usually s gel or a spray on that makes it taste bad). We had to use it for one of my mom's puppies a few years ago, as she was eating the legs to the chair infront of the computer (the puppy, ot my mom ). When we did, she went over, and imediately licked the stuff off and started chewing again! Needless to say, we kept the chair until she stopped chewing, then bought a new one...

And for the OP: I'd definately ask for the part/proof and an itemized bill. Maybe even ask them to show you where the harness is (even if only on a diagram). so you can make sure you know what was replaced. Something sounds shaddy here, and while they did do a lot of work (what with the computers and such), it was a wild goose chase.

[erogla]

your own insurance should have covered that, unless you have a deductable over 1 k.

[SW03ES]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mootsman @ Sep 30 2006, 05:10 PM) [snapback]326184[/snapback]</div>

I wouldn't give them a penny until they demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt, including photographs and written statements, that the damage was caused by a rodent -- period.[/b]

I agree

Also, this is a classic example where if, indeed, a rodent caused the damage Toyota is shooting themselves in the foot by not doing a courtesy warranty. What they would spend would FAR outweigh negative publicity.
[/b]

LOL! Why on the green earth would you expect Toyota to pay for damage caused by a rodent? Thats hilarious. Whats next, should they pay to repair cars that trees fall on? What about flooded cars? Toyota has about the control over those events as they do rodents chewing things up. Rodents have been chewing up cars since cars have been around, this is soley the owners responsibility and nobody else's.

[eagle33199]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Oct 2 2006, 04:33 PM) [snapback]327136[/snapback]</div>

LOL! Why on the green earth would you expect Toyota to pay for damage caused by a rodent? Thats hilarious. Whats next, should they pay to repair cars that trees fall on? What about flooded cars? Toyota has about the control over those events as they do rodents chewing things up. Rodents have been chewing up cars since cars have been around, this is soley the owners responsibility and nobody else's.
[/b]

I agree that rodent damage isn't necissarily toyota's responsibility to repair, however when a situation like this comes in, i'd say they have a responsibility to look into how the rodent got there and what they could do to protect future customers