Mice inside the car?

[genesisorbust]

Hey guys,

My 2014 was sitting for a couple of weeks outside, and when I finally opened the door, I found mouse poop on the floor, in the rear seat and front passenger seat areas.
Setting aside the disgust factor, what should my next steps be? In terms of figuring out how bad the problem is, and how to prevent it from happening again. I'm a little bit lost, I've never had this problem, and I kept all my cars outside.
Also, I couldn't figure out how they got in - everything seems to be very tight and seals are intact... No signs of mice in the trunk either. Any advice is appreciated (on how to clean the car as well)!!!

 

[427435]

Probably though the heating/ventilating duct work. You might try getting a friend to shine a light on the fire wall and other places while you are inside on a dark night. If you see some light coming into the inside..................

 

[craigt]

I had mice eating the hood insulation on my former Passat, but only while it was garaged in the winter. While they didn't get *in* the car, one day while I was driving to work, I was pulling into the parking spot and saw a mouse run across the lower windshield, right above the wipers. I'm not scared of mice, but that freaked me out.

I got out of the car and closed the door faster than I thought possible that day. But never saw the mouse again.

I'd suggest putting sticky traps where you found the droppings and see if you get lucky.

 

[CLASSYRSPEC]

i found a spider sewing a web in my car this past weekend. and a large spider at that. curled itself up in the top left corner of my windshield until i got to my destination and got rid of the buggar.

 

[Rogerf]

I have seen them nest in the headliner, chew the wiring till a new harness was required, use foam padding and insulation along with carpeting all to make nests. Over time hantavirus can grow in mouse droppings and subsequently cause pulmonary problems in humans. Get rid of em'.

 

[dg_moore]

i found a spider sewing a web in my car this past weekend. and a large spider at that. curled itself up in the top left corner of my windshield until i got to my destination and got rid of the buggar.

If my wife got in the car and saw a spider she'd insist I sell it (the car) immediately. She is terrified beyond sanity of spiders.

 

[ASHDUMP]

I had to replace my cabin air filter (behind the glove box) because mice had gotten in. they brought seeds and everything.... If I had to guess, they could have kept going and made their way into the car somehow. I would check there....

 

[PSL]

I had same problem with mice getting to my cabin air filter, as well as building a nest in the trunk of my Equus with insulation from somewhere else in the car. I've owned a bunch of cars but this is a first for me. Never found the mouse either. My dealer pointed it out to me and my response was "must be a Korean Mouse because I've never had them in my American made cars".

 

[Richard Ft. Lauderdale]

Once had mice get into the heating/air conditioning system of an older Mustang that was rarely used. When I turned the a/c on the fan ground them up and a the next time I turned on the heat a few weeks later the smell was over powering. Had to jump out of the cat and use a different one.

That Mustang had been in an accident and had front end damage that was not fixed properly and gave the mice a place to enter.

Has your Genesis had any damage that my not have been repaired properly?

The American Indians used to burn anything that mice had peed on for fear of any diseases. Hopefully you won't have to burn your Genesis.

 

[genesisorbust]

Has your Genesis had any damage that my not have been repaired properly?

The American Indians used to burn anything that mice had peed on for fear of any diseases. Hopefully you won't have to burn your Genesis.

Nope, no damage (at least what I'm aware of) - the car is virtually brand new with less than 3k miles. Burning a leased car is generally frowned upon, so, the goal is to not let it go THAT far

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[genesisorbust]

You guys were absolutely right -- they chewed through the air filter. I left glue traps inside the car pretty much everywhere over the weekend, didn't catch anything, and no new droppings (whew). We are in the middle of a big heatwave in Cali, so a dark brown car sitting in the sun is probably one of the worst places you want to be in, so I assume they jumped the ship (no smell so far, so at least it looks like they didn't get cooked inside)
I believe there is a fundamental design flaw in the cabin air intake system so they can easily get through.
I'm going to put 1/4" hardware cloth on top of the filter so at least they don't get inside again, but the question is, how do I prevent them from even getting there? Breathing air carefully filtered and "enhanced" with rodent feces and urine can't be healthy, lol

 

[landtuna]

Hey guys,

My 2014 was sitting for a couple of weeks outside, and when I finally opened the door, I found mouse poop on the floor, in the rear seat and front passenger seat areas.

See if you can hook up a mouse wheel to the differential and improve your mileage.

 

[Billfz1]

Or Bust,
I am also a California driver and while in a carport my Genesis is basically outside when parked. I have had mouse problems with several cars and trucks. On mine The mouse got in through the cabin air filter. It gnawed through got into the car and couldn't get back out and died. The way this frequently happens is that many cars have a water channel that runs into the area right behind the front wheel well. This channel is the shunt for the water that gets into the vent at the back of the hood. (Didn't you always wonder why it didn't end up in the car?) Lots of cars have this opening and very few are screened. Most are small but it is incredible how small an opening some mice can squeeze through. Be sure to put the hardware cloth on the TOP of the filter then the mice wont be able to chew through. Good luck and be assured this isn't a Genesis only problem. I hate miceses to pieces!
Bill

 

[FirstGen]

wow!! sorry for the car. heard of mouse making nest in the engin bay and chew the wires in cold days(friend's car), spiders making webs in my cars(tsx and genesis)every night this past summer. web in the face every morning. mouse inside the car and did #2 is just crazy.