Update on my 2022 Toyota Camry Hybrid after 1 year / 8879 km
The car, as expected, has been performing flawlessly. As I write this, the car is currently at 8879 km, which is slightly lower when compared to my original estimate of ~10000 kms a year.
BHPian Torque&Power recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
The worst nightmare for a Car Enthusiast is the sign of rat entry inside the car.
I dealt with this horror for the last 10 days. While I was out of the station for 2 weeks in November, my XUV700 was parked inside the garage and it became a home for a rat. After returning, when I got into my car, there was a pungent smell inside the cabin. I shockingly found rat droppings, pee marks on seats/ mats, and greasy footprints all over the plastics/ dashboard. By that moment, it was quite obvious that my innocent & defenseless XUV had been physically harassed by this little baddie.
I opened the bonnet. Although the engine area was full of rat droppings, footprints & greasy marks, I didn’t find any kind of chewed wires/ hoses. Then, I inspected the insides of the car & found out that the rat entered the cabin through the co-passenger’s footwell area, which might be through air ducts. I turned on the car. Luckily, got no errors in the MID. Then, I noticed the damage done by the rat. The cabin lights/ roof lamps & microphone were not working, the power windows were rolling down but not rolling up.
The next day, I took the car to Mahindra Service Center to find the extent of damages done by the rat. I asked them to check the whole car for any unseen/ critical damage done by rats. To which I got a stupid reply “Sir, Jaise-jaise systems kharab honge, vaise-vaise pata chal jayega damages kaย I got a serious headache after hearing this unprofessional reply. What kind of skilled manpower Mahindra service centers have recruited.
Driver Side A-Pillar Wiring Chewed
Service Centre dude removing all the grab handles, Sunshades, Cabin roof lights
Notice the dismantled Removed A-Pillars, B-Pillars Panels
The technician had to jump inside the roof liner to remove the chewed insulation debris
Some chewed insulation debris
During the repair of the wiring, it was found that the rat moved through the A-Pillars to the roof liner and also chewed away the insulation/ padding inside the roof liner. I never eat/ drink/ store/ litter food in my car. Actually, nowadays, manufacturers have shifted to Soy-based insulation in cars for environment friendly reasons, but it can also attract hungry vermin. Didnโt they find any other goddamn substance on earth that is less seductive to rats?
Overall, it cost โน 8000 and 3 visits to the service center to repair the damages done by these over-curious creatures.
The service center advisor became emotional after looking at the destruction done by the rat and offered free washing & polishing as a token of sympathy
Coming on to the steps that I take now to avoid such experience in the future-
1. Use my car. Seriously. If I hadn’t left my car untouched for 14 days in the first place, I would have easily avoided the fiasco.
2. I have sprayed rat repellent inside the engine area.
3. Strapped tobacco leaves in a pierced packet inside the engine area.
4. Planned to place a Sticky pad near car
Yesterday, I placed a Sticky pad with a scoop of peanut butter underneath the car engine. The little devil was not able to resist it & got trapped. I thoroughly celebrated the revenge. I freed the rat at some distant place by pouring oil over glue.
Criminal Arrested
Took my darling to its favorite park (Yamuna Expressway) to spread its legs. The white beauty is running bold & fast again. Happy Ending
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