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Had my first Wth moment - Varmit ate thru seat cover!

Discussion in 'Prius v Main Forum' started by farmecologist, Feb 21, 2019.

  1. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Got into the car this morning and looked over to see this :

    Seat_Cover.jpg

    Some darn varmit ( probably a mouse ) had gotten in the car and chewed thru my nice Clazzio car seat cover I had installed....I wonder why it ate the cover? It is high grade vinyl that looks like leather...I wonder if mice like vinyl? Maybe the winter is so bad the mice are seeking other 'food' sources? BTW there was no food at all in the car.

    Whatever the reason...it looks like I need a replacement 'Clazzio' front set. :mad: I doubt they have individual seat replacements available..but I'll email them to check.

    So after looking around a bit...I purchased the Clazzio set on the 'clazziousa' ebay store site..NOT clazzio.com. What is the difference you ask? Well, this thread makes for some interesting reading :

    2016 prius Clazzio covers rear fit, meh | PriusChat

    Apparently both clazzio.com and clazziousa (via ebay) sell the exact same product that is manufactured by 'eleven international' (11i). And according to that the thread above clazziousa is the storefront for 11i. And here is 11i's site : About Clazzio | Clazzio . So it looks like the clazziousa ebay store is legit and appears to be 11i's 'outlet' store(?). So is clazzio.com just a reseller then? Appears that way.

    Anyone have more insight to the clazzio.com vs clazziousa ebay store debacle?

    Thanks!

    Edit: Arg...apparently PriusChat replaces all instances of 'Clazzio' with a link to the PriusChat web store.
     
  2. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    A lot of these new vinyls, the faux leathers, are made from organics. Usually really tasty plant based plastics and oils that rodents and other animals love. It's even used as wire insulation now too and it has led to speculation that lots of wiring harness problems are self made. When these plastics were made from nasty dino-based oils nothing would eat it because it was toxic and that was a pleasant side effect.
     
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  3. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    Supposedly, no personal experience, some plastic materials taste like peanut butter.
     
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  4. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Yep ok...makes perfect sense then why these would be 'tasty' to mice, etc... if no other food sources are available. But darn...what a pain. It appears I may have to order the entire set again if i can't reach the company.
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    They could also be getting in through the hatch area exhaust flaps (remove hatch floor and tray to reveal), but start by meshing the cabin air intake?

    upload_2019-2-21_7-42-22.png
     
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  6. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Good idea! I think that will be a spring project. For now maybe some mouse traps will have to do. (y)
     
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  7. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Hummm, plastic eating bacteria, I've heard of. Plastic eating mice, can we use them for something good? Our field mice seems to be perfectly happy to be feeding on chicken scraps. I often find them trapped inside of a feed bucket.

    BTW, have you tried looking for it in Ebay? Not that I have seen one, but they do sell odd things.
     
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  8. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    I thought everyone knew?
    All modern vinyls and fake leather material is made from highly compressed Cheddar Cheese.

    OK...not really.....but is seems so sometimes.

    Hey, don't try to figure out the mind of a rodent.

    My only fear and big concern would be if the rodent is still around.
    Not to place a "Gremlin on the Wing" fear into the situation, but it could still be in the car, and munching on things even more important and potentially expensive than a seat cover.

    Would hate to see the OP replace the cover, only to be ringing the dinner bell for the rodents second course.
     
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  9. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Ha! yep I was a more than a bit freaked out driving into work this morning. :eek: Hopefully the mouse didn't find anything of lasting value and won't come back. However, they can be pesky little creatures.

    At any rate replacing it will have to wait until spring. At least the seat cover is replaceable and they didn't burrow into the seat itself!

    My biggest fear is that I'll have to buy the entire set again. I can't find anywhere that sells Clazzio as a single seat...or even just the front set. It looks like you have to buy the *entire* front/rear set! Sigh. I'm trying to contact the Clazzio folks but I doubt that will go anywhere....(n)
     
  10. mikefocke

    mikefocke Prius v Three 2012, Avalon 2011

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    Look at these seat covers fronts only bottoms only qty 2 for $40 on Amazon. Leather. Matched my DIL's tan seats amazingly. She likes. Ships from China so takes maybe 3 weeks or did over Xmas.

    EDEALYN (Width 20.8×deep 21×Thick 0.35 inch Car Seat Cushions, 2pcs PU Leather car seat Covers car seat Protector for Car Driver and Passenger seat Bottom (Beige-B)
     
  11. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Update...I looked thru the car last night and sure enough....the mouse was on a scavenging mission. There was 'evidence' ( mouse poop ) in the cup holders and some in the trunk area. They sure do poop a lot! o_O

    Needless to say...the mouse traps are on order. (y)

    BTW -As of right now it looks to me like I'll have to order the entire front/rear set again..sigh. At least I'll have 'spares' for everything but the front passenger seat!
     
  12. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Update #2.

    My blower wasn't working properly...low air flow. I opened it up where the cabin air filter is and sure enough...there were remnants of a mouse nest in there. So it obviously must have gotten in that way and then found it's way thru to the floor vent and that is how it got inside the cabin. I cleaned the nest out and all works great again.

    I also found out from the clazzio.com folks that you can order individual parts...so that's good. At least I won't have to buy the entire set again!
     
  13. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    Mothballs distributed throughout the garage (corners, around the wall/floor corners, behind the boxes, at the back of the shelves, along the lower edge of the up-and-over door) seem to do the job for me! (the local dealer recommends to always leave the car with the outside vent in the closed (recirculate) position) - hope this helps - Wil ;)
     
  14. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    …and BTW, I know there be rodents in my garage - I well remember my last car (1993 Corolla DX Wagon) developed an interesting sound each time I turned on the blower fan (think back to when you were a kid, did you ever put folded-up cardboard (usually cigarette packets) in the wheels of your bike so the cardboard hit the spokes? …well that was the sound exactly!) - my local mechanic knew exactly what it was and sure enough there was a mouse-nest in the fan assembly), so out with Mr. Mouse & his house, and in with the mothball treatment, and (so far) no sign of the Mousies or their friends! (…touch wood!) ;)
     
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  15. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Get that mesh in, stop leaving the welcome mat out.
     
  16. mikefocke

    mikefocke Prius v Three 2012, Avalon 2011

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    It was baseball cards we used on the spokes to get that sound. Had I saved them they might be worth real money now but back then we flipped them scaled them (closest to the wall) and otherwise tore them up.
     
  17. PriusV17

    PriusV17 Active Member

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    Sucks that happened to your front seat cover. I myself was thinking of buying another set as a backup since I liked them so much. But I figured the quality is so good that it should last the life of the car. I got my on ebay probably from that same seller custom ordered and had to wait 2 months for the light grey color.

    If the mouse came in through the cabin air vent. That is made of very easy to chew through paper like material. I am using K&N cabin air filter and that is made of metal mesh (2 layers).

    Good luck.
     
  18. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I'm not sure rodents need to go through the cabin filter to gain access. And you don't really want them nesting atop the filter either. Putting 1/4" galvanized steel mesh (available at most hardware stores) over the inlet at the firewall stops them. You need to remove wipers and cowl to access this. Put the same stuff over the inlet of the snorkel to the engine air filter.
     
    #18 Mendel Leisk, Mar 5, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2019
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  19. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Yep come to think of it they did NOT chew through the cabin air filter....but there was nesting material on top of it that resulted in low air flow. I wonder how they made their way into the cabin? Maybe they were able to squeeze their way around it? Mice can really surprise you sometimes as far as the cracks they can squeeze through.

    Yep..this will be a spring project. Too damned cold out now still! This winter is getting to long. We broke the record for the snowiest February *ever*....sigh.
     
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  20. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Plus 7C currently here. We're sweating.
     
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