Creepy crawlies under the rear seat?!

I know this is an old thread, but wondered if you ever figured out how to get rid of the carpet beetles? I'm in the midst of a similar issue. thanks!

 

I have heard dryer sheets work to repel various critters. Has anyone had luck spreading a bunch of those under the seats, between seat and seat covers and around the spare after a good cleaning with any luck? I am going to give it a go to see if there is maybe an alt to bombing my car. I'm not a big chem guy....also not a big bug guy either. I hope it works otherwise plan B-omb.

 

This has worked to keep mice out of my pontoon over the winter.

 

Interesting idea here

How To Get Pests Out Of Your Car | Extended Auto Warranty | Protect My Car

about fumigating a car using dry ice. Other sources indicate that very high levels are needed (>40%) for at least a day, and going several days would be better. In practice that means the car has to be "bagged" in some way to keep the CO2 from leaking out, as cars are not airtight. The amount of CO2 needed to get to 50% is roughly the air volume divided by 1000, so it isn't an enormous block of dry ice. (Not sure what the inside volume is, maybe 8 m^3? 1000 liters per m^3, the 1000's cancel, so around 8 liters volume of dry ice. Density of dry ice varies (especially if it isn't one solid block) but roughly 1.5g/ml, so 1.5kg/l, so 8 liters is about 12 kg. Ball park, do your own calculations, I'm not confident in mine.) CO2 won't leave any residue. However, the inside of the car will be exceedingly toxic until it airs out, so if anybody tries this, maybe best to bag it outside, and when done, open all the doors and the hatch without inhaling and then move well away from the vehicle for a while. Also a hot day would cause the dry ice to sublimate faster. Safety discussion:

https://www.hhs.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/DOH%20Legacy/Handling%20and%20usage%20of%20dry%20ice_tcm172-72937%20%28002%29.pdf

If the bugs are restricted to just a flat section of the carpet, perhaps scattering CO2 pellets all over those areas, and then covering with a layer of plastic wrap would suffice? Between the cold and the high CO2 levels that might do them in. Some places sell CO2 like that, rather than in big blocks.

It would of course be a bad thing if the inside of the car went below freezing, and CO2 sublimates at -109F. My gut feeling is that if the car is in the sun it won't get that cold, but if the outside air temperature is somewhere near freezing at night, then this could be a real problem.

Edit: wait, under the rear seat? The gas tank is under there. I wouldn't scatter dry ice there lest it screw up something related to the gas tank - which would be a PITA to have to replace. No carpet under the seats though, just vacuum up the bugs, and maybe fumigate the rear seat pieces outside the car in a bag.