Anyone remember the large dead rat I pulled out of my car a couple years ago?

My brother in law works in transportation and he said there is some evidence that rodents are attracted by some kind of energy emission that is unique to the hybrid system. Not sure of it would be a high-frequency sound or something else. It's an interesting idea.

The 'wool' looks like chewed carpet padding to me. My previously un-dead rat settled in around the AC condensate tube, presumably for water.

As for the stank, it was God-awful. I bought a few pounds of activated charcoal from an aquarium supply and filled old socks with it, which I distributed strategically around the car and in the airflow.

 

Well, I guess I'll have to ask the question. Have you noticed fewer ... ummmmm... squeaks lately?

Seriously, though, I had a Pontiac G6 which developed a dead animal odor about a week after I bought the car. I took it in to the dealer, and the shop guy told me to fix the problem myself. That was the last GM vehicle I bought. BTW, that dealership is out of business now.

 

So is Pontiac......

As for rodents being attracted to hybrids, sounds like the makings of a great urban legend.

 

This is your best bet to keep the mice from coming back into the same way that they originally entered, and it will also keep whatever is in there just where it is so it will in all likelihood eventually starve.

http://www.bwire.com/

This place has the wire mesh material that you are looking for at good prices and they can ship any quantity out to you pretty fast.

If these critters got through your plastic mesh, then you definitely need to upgrade to the real metal stuff, there is not rat on earth who is getting through this wire cloth material.

 

Glad this thread was resurrected. A few months ago I changed my daughter's (Corolla) cabin air filter. She leaves her car outside in the driveway. While there wasn't a critter (or the remains, thereof) to be found, there was a ton of 'stuff' there. There was gobs of 'wool' (see photo in first post above) as well as, at least, 20-30 acorns.
Word to the wise, no matter what you do, animals will seek shelter in warm dry locations, inlcuding the air duct (or what ever the passage is called) in your car. Online cabin air filters can be had for under $10 and they take 3 minutes to change (inlcuding 2 minutes figuring out how to drop the glove compartment). I'd recommend changing the filter annually and cleaning out the 'stuff'. Further, if you ever get that 'smell' chances are it'd be pretty easy to find...right behind the filter.