Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

More Rodent Damage *PHOTOS*

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Last edited:
Do you get an error message if wires are cut to the sensors?
Did we ever! At first it was " Service is required; Front motor disabled" . Panic! However Utah said we could keep driving the car, which we did. We requested service. Then this was the series of error messages that followed over the next week:
Errors displayed on console:

1. Service is required
2. Front motor disabled
3. Power reduced
4. Tire pressure monitoring system fault
5. Steering assist reduced
6. ABS (Automatic Braking System) disabled
7. Safety restraint system fault
8. Regenerative braking disabled
9. Power braking assist reduced
10. Auto pilot safety/convenience features unavailable
11. Park assist unavailable
In addition:
12. Right front signal non-functional (rear flashes quickly)
13. GPS system does not update (car appears to be stationary in driveway during entire round trip of ~ 90 km)
14. Creep “off“ according to display, but car rolls anyway (when taken out of Park on a slope)
15. Console displays icons for headlights on, traction control failure, parking brake failure, ABS failure, tire pressure monitor failure and seat belt not fastened (when it is).
16. Air conditioning and fan totally inoperative.
About a week later the Service Center did a remote diagnostic and told us we had rat damage and not to drive the car. Removing the plastic windshield plate we saw the damage. We had to have a flatbed truck take it to Vancouver from Vancouver Island. $1,500 for starters. ICBC comprehensive insurance will cover some of the repairs minus deductibles. However Tesla Service comes at $175/hour plus parts. The wiring harness is another $1,550. They expect it will take about 16 hours to repair. ICBC has stated they will not pay Tesla service rates. It has taken 2 weeks just to order the part. We hope they have dispatched the "rat from hell" likely a bush rat or tree rat.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Russell
20200228_153830 (002).jpg
 
This picture was taken by Tesla Service while in the shop. What worries us is it looks like Tesla workshop manuals (see text in picture) and that the rat may still be in the car! We have asked them to wrap the wiring with Honda rat tape. We have also ordered rat repellent electronic devices that attach to the battery. They give off variable high frequency noise, have motion detection, and strobe lights that randomly come on. These are available on Amazon.com and not Amazon.ca. Cost a bit more with shipping but hopefully will stop the rats. Other devices are placed around the driveway where the car is parked. Our Red Falcon is a 2017 Model X 100.
 
  • Helpful
Reactions: Russell
We put rat poison on a couple of places in the engine compartment of my wife’s BMW including the tops of the strut mounts. One day, months later, I asked my wife if she’d seen any more mice. She hadn’t checked of course. We opened up the hood and there on a strut mount was a mouse butt hanging out! :/
 
The vermin aren't an issue at my home, only when we visit relatives where we have to park on the street in a very nice, new, neighborhood. I've started putting out d-CON blocks when we visit there. If neighborhood cats or small dogs crawl underneath the car and eat them from inside the protective anti-pet housing, so be it.
That's the problem - outdoor parking. Always will be an issue. Just had a similar thing happen to a brand new RAM 2500 work truck. Rodents chewed wiring causing it to not drive over 25mph. It's parked outside.
 
A rat chewed off the sensor wire on the battery heater on our Model S a couple months ago. Tesla wanted ~$1000 to fix it as the service technicians only replace whole parts and the wire was part of the heater assembly. I told them to leave the frunk out and soldered up the wire myself in 10 minutes. After I called the service center and they checked the car's remote diagnostics and said "we can not comment on the quality of your repair but the error is no longer being reported".

More interestingly, a month later I was chatting with another technician while he was installing the FSD AP HW3 in our Model 2. He said they currently had 6 Teslas in the service center with rodent damage and that he had heard that Teslas might be more prone to this because they used plant based insulation on the wires. Tesla did the environmentally friendly thing by avoiding petrochemical insulation but may have ended up leaving the wires smelling like vegetables to the rats!
 
He said they currently had 6 Teslas in the service center with rodent damage and that he had heard that Teslas might be more prone to this because they used plant based insulation on the wires. Tesla did the environmentally friendly thing by avoiding petrochemical insulation but may have ended up leaving the wires smelling like vegetables to the rats!

I think current regulations requires all car makers to use biodegradable insulation. A number of OEMs have had problems with rodents chewing on the wires, such as why Honda has anti-rodent tape, or that the insulation pre-maturely biodegraded causing shorts.

It is just like the switch from lead based paint in the 80s. All the OEMs failed in one way or another as they made the big change to more environmentally friendly materials.
 
What I don't see is the damage the rat did.!
IMG_3221 (002).JPG

I think current regulations requires all car makers to use biodegradable insulation. A number of OEMs have had problems with rodents chewing on the wires, such as why Honda has anti-rodent tape, or that the insulation pre-maturely biodegraded causing shorts.

It is just like the switch from lead based paint in the 80s. All the OEMs failed in one way or another as they made the big change to more environmentally friendly materials.
20200228_153907 (002).jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: StarLog