Judge tosses lawsuit against Toyota over rats gnawing on car wiring

[Homer J Simpson]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/07/06/toyota-wins-rats-vehicle-wires-soybean/757506002/

[Kjelt]

 
Is that a new way for car manufacturers to lessen the lifetime of the car and earn more service money by making parts of the car attractive and eatable by animals ?

[OE2WHP]

Well, not an exactly new problem. Even without edible material martens cause 15k roadside incidents and 65 million Euros damage  every year in germany by chewing and ripping hoses and cables.
https://jalopnik.com/how-cute-ferret-like-animals-cause-germany-65-million-1788013196

[Kleinstein]

Animal chewing in plastics / rubber is not a new problem. There were rodents eating telephone cables as they where attracted by one component (softener AFAIR). Its also no not only rodents, but also the Beech_marten
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beech_marten#Car_damage
AFAIK this not because the cars smell like food but they are nice warm hiding places and they don't like the smell of a rival.


It kind of a positive surprise that US court actually dismissed a stupid consumer claim against a foreign company.

[amyk]

Is that a new way for car manufacturers to lessen the lifetime of the car and earn more service money by making parts of the car attractive and eatable by animals ?

...and more "green", aka biodegradable, so you'll have to buy them more often... 

[Cyberdragon]

Is that a new way for car manufacturers to lessen the lifetime of the car and earn more service money by making parts of the car attractive and eatable by animals ?

...and more "green", aka biodegradable, so you'll have to buy them more often... 

That's the main concern, you'd have to put repellent in stuff to keep rodents away, but if the wiring just rots away in a year because it's made of crap...

EDIT: I will ROFL if some cleaner chemicals people use on there cars disintegrate this crap more readily than normal wiring...

[CatalinaWOW]

I have seen at least one source claim that it isn't flavor or smell that attracts rodents to wiring, it is just the right density/toughness to let them get their required gnawing in.  Their teeth grow continually and if their food sources or whatever don't provide enough wear the teeth will grow right through the other side of the mouth. 

Now we have another requirement on insulation.  It has to be flexible enough to bend, soft enough to cut for stripping, tough enough to protect against wear and also not good for rodent tooth maintenance.  Oh and by the way resistivity, permitivity and chemical resistance matter too.  Unobtainium anyone?

[tszaboo]

Or, or, or or maybe, stop stupid lawsuits USA.

[thm_w]

I wonder if they could add something like this:

Drop a thimble-full of Bitrex into an Olympic swimming pool and you can detect the bitterness in those two and a half million litres of water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatonium

Although this specific compound is supposedly not too effective against rats compared to humans.

[exit_failure]

Rodents (here in Europe its mostly martens) eating though car wiring is a decades-old problem. They are using biopolymer insulated wiring for about 15 years now and yes, a German study finds that the number of cars damaged by martens gnawing on wiring has gone up 33% in the last 10 years.
In the same time, the number of cars registered in Germany has also increased by 15%.
Also martens once were bred for fur production. When that went out of fashion a lot of the farmers breeding them just set them free.(I was thinking about nutrias.) In the past, martens were hunted for their fur. A few decades ago fur and with that hunting martens went out of fashion. They were able to multiply uncontrollably since then because we have practically no predators here that would decimate their numbers. The growing population also mean that they don't find enough food in the wilderness any more. This means that they have to go to more densely populated areas, where there are more cars.
The reason why they are drawn to engine compartments, is the simple fact that they are a warm and relatively safe place to hide in. I myself found half eaten dead birds and even a plastic bag with food leftovers that were dragged in by martens in my engine compartment.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

...and more "green", aka biodegradable, so you'll have to buy them more often... 

1991-96 Mercedes Engine Wiring Failure Alert: Models and Years Affected:

[X]

I've replaced many rodent-damaged sections of coaxial, alarm and telephone cables in a number of properties. I can't recall ever replacing Cat6(A) with this kind of damage.

Squirrels mean business too.

Perhaps instead of (or in addition to, if necessary) soybean-based coating, they could use extract of bhut jolokia or capsicum chinense extract.

[HighVoltage]

This used to be a huge problem in Germany and these rodents were eating anything rubber or silicone in the engine compartments of all types of cars and models.

These days, cars have covers so tight, that rodents can not get in to the engine compartments any more.

[nanofrog]

The new and improved soy based biodegradable wire insulation has now made it tasty for critters.   

[WA1ICI]

Shortly after I purchased a Lexus ES300h, I started noticing mouse droppings inside the car.  Finally, one day I opened the trunk and found the whole family running around!  I live in rural Nevada (high desert) and park outside under a carport.  I had heard stories that Toyota had changed to soy-based foam for the seats, and that this attracted rodents.  An acquaintance reported that mice had eaten the inside of her Prius seats and cost her thousands of dollars.

I looked for entry points, but was unsuccessful.  However, a friend mentioned that animals don't like the smell of fabric softener sheets - the kind you throw into your dryer to soften clothes.  I purchased a box of these with a "Mountain Breeze" smell, distributed some sheets under the seats and put the open box into the trunk.  Total success!  After about two years, I noticed the turds again, so replaced box of fabric softener sheets, and no more turds. 

I'm not sure how this will solve under-hood damage (which, luckily, I don't have), but certain odors definitely deter rodents.

- John Atwood

[frozenfrogz]

Isn’t Toyota the company advertising with something along the lines of "the car that never breaks down"?
I have a vast memory of a couple of commercials that were spun this way...

[james_s]

Volvo used wiring with biodegradable insulation in the mid 80s, unfortunately it degraded much faster than expected when exposed to high temperature and/or oil. I had a 1987 740 that I had to replace the whole engine wiring harness because of that. The car died and when I cut open the main harness with all the injection and ignition wires that ran under the intake manifold, it was a bundle of bare wires in a sleeve full of dust and bits, it's amazing the car ran at all.

On the topic of rodents, I had a rat chew on my alternator drive belt which then snapped while I was on the road, thankfully close enough to a friend's business that I could get there to fix it. I know exactly what happened because I found the rat cooking on the engine block.

[HighVoltage]

Snakes also like it in engine bays, not just rodents.

[X]

Isn’t Toyota the company advertising with something along the lines of "the car that never breaks down"?
I have a vast memory of a couple of commercials that were spun this way...

The Hilux used to have that reputation, and there was an episode of Top Gear where they quite literally gave it a bash. New ones are not as good anymore. Too much cheap rubbish, and too much technology in modern cars = more shit that goes wrong. I would hate to see what would happen if a rat chewed a sensor cable in a driverless car.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Don't worry, there won't be driverless cars in a lonnng time.

[james_s]

My other half has a 17 year old Prius that has been astonishingly dependable, I've replaced consumables like brakes and fluids and lightbulbs but otherwise absolutely nothing has broken, ever.

I shudder at the thought of having to fix it if/when something really does go wrong though, it is an absurdly complex machine with very little in-depth service information.

[MT]

Or, or, or or maybe, stop stupid lawsuits USA.

Heey! What a good idea!

[james_s]

Or, or, or or maybe, stop stupid lawsuits USA.

Heey! What a good idea!

Believe me, there are plenty of us here in the USA that roll our eyes at each of the silly lawsuits that pops up. It only takes a few idiots to make us all look like fools.

[Don Hills]

... I looked for entry points, but was unsuccessful. ...

The place where ventilation air comes into your car is fairly obvious, but have you ever looked to see where it goes out?

[CM800]

I wonder if they could add something like this:

Drop a thimble-full of Bitrex into an Olympic swimming pool and you can detect the bitterness in those two and a half million litres of water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatonium

Although this specific compound is supposedly not too effective against rats compared to humans.

I could do with Denatonium laced hookup wires to stop me stripping them with my teeth when I leave my strippers on the other side of the office...