Mouse infiltrated Model 3

[SirDubC]

Last night when I went to grab my charging adapter from the glove box, there was a ball of insulation in the glove box and I swear I saw a little mouse scurry away. Can't see any other damage, but obviously this insulation came from somewhere.

Anyone know where this insulation can be from or what purpose it can be serving? If the mouse is somewhere between the frunk and the glove box, I don't know how to check for additional issues. Already got deterrents and traps in the car, but obviously paranoid.

Worth bringing to service center at this point, or will I look crazy? Wondering if they can easily do a quick damage check. Below pic is from another person I saw posting the same thing.

 

[M109Rider]

I can’t see how that much insulation could be placed there by a mouse. There isn’t even any insulation above the glove compartment. ?
Could someone have placed it there as a joke ?

Aside from abandoned vehicles, I’ve never had a mouse get into a car on me before. ?

 

[03DSG]

Last night when I went to grab my charging adapter from the glove box, there was a ball of insulation in the glove box and I swear I saw a little mouse scurry away. Can't see any other damage, but obviously this insulation came from somewhere.

Anyone know where this insulation can be from or what purpose it can be serving? If the mouse is somewhere between the frunk and the glove box, I don't know how to check for additional issues. Already got deterrents and traps in the car, but obviously paranoid.

Worth bringing to service center at this point, or will I look crazy? Wondering if they can easily do a quick damage check. Below pic is from another person I saw posting the same thing.

View attachment 469220

Definitely a mouse. More common than you think. Leave the nest in there and add a baited box trap (or a glue pad). It’s living in there and in your dash. Shredding insulation. They can squeeze a into the smallest places imaginable. Cross your fingers it’s not a pregnant female.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Last night when I went to grab my charging adapter from the glove box, there was a ball of insulation in the glove box and I swear I saw a little mouse scurry away. Can't see any other damage, but obviously this insulation came from somewhere.

Anyone know where this insulation can be from or what purpose it can be serving? If the mouse is somewhere between the frunk and the glove box, I don't know how to check for additional issues. Already got deterrents and traps in the car, but obviously paranoid.

Worth bringing to service center at this point, or will I look crazy? Wondering if they can easily do a quick damage check. Below pic is from another person I saw posting the same thing.

View attachment 469220

I would open up the cabin air filter compartment and see whether the mouse went through the filter. (There is a video on the Tesla website showing how to do this.) I had that happen on my Toyota Highlander - I left it parked for 3 days in a wilderness area and he got in, and pooped and peed all over the interior of the brand-new vehicle. Nice chewed up hole right through the cabin air filter - fortunately no other apparent damage - he was after the smell of food, not to make a nest.

That air filter is the most likely spot for infiltration, assuming the Tesla does not automatically close the outside air vent when parking (it may). For the Highlander, the correct solution for me would have been to select "recirc" before leaving the vehicle - this closes the shutter which leads to the bottom of the windscreen (he squeezed around the weather protection foam there) - lesson learned.

That insulation looks like it matches the insulation used in the doors. There was a picture of that posted the other day - but it is likely similar insulation is used elsewhere in the vehicle, so it could be from anywhere the mouse managed to gather it. Making a nice cozy nest.

Door insulation

Again, most likely there is similar insulation in the area behind the dash and that's where it was likely gathered from (if the mouse went through the cabin air filter).

Cross your fingers it’s not a pregnant female.

Most likely it is, as it is making a nest! It is amazing how small a hole they can get through. Though the one in the filter was not that small, how the mouse in my car managed to get by the wire mesh screen under the windshield was hard to imagine.

 

[KSilver2000]

Definitely a mouse. More common than you think. Leave the nest in there and add a baited box trap (or a glue pad). It’s living in there and in your dash. Shredding insulation. They can squeeze a into the smallest places imaginable. Cross your fingers it’s not a pregnant female.

Yup.
Looks like what a mouse would have done. My brother recently had to replace some parts in his engine bay after parking his car in the driveway for 2 weeks while on vacation.

Pray that you don't have a pregnant spider lay eggs in the car. That would suck. I would even consider burning the car then, lol.

 

[srs5694]

It could be worse:

(That's a photo from the linked article.)

Seriously, if you Google "mouse in car" or something similar, you'll get tons of hits, with both news stories and suggested deterrents.

I'd suggest taking the car to Tesla for a check-up. If the mice dug through the dashboard to make a nest or in (hopefully vain) search for food, they may have done damage to wiring or some other important component. It's best to get that fixed sooner rather than after something fails on you at a critical moment.

 

[ladysbff]

Last night when I went to grab my charging adapter from the glove box, there was a ball of insulation in the glove box and I swear I saw a little mouse scurry away. Can't see any other damage, but obviously this insulation came from somewhere.

Anyone know where this insulation can be from or what purpose it can be serving? If the mouse is somewhere between the frunk and the glove box, I don't know how to check for additional issues. Already got deterrents and traps in the car, but obviously paranoid.

Worth bringing to service center at this point, or will I look crazy? Wondering if they can easily do a quick damage check. Below pic is from another person I saw posting the same thing.

View attachment 469220

Asking because your location says Seattle and now I'm paranoid... do you park outside at night? Are you next to a heavily wooded area? What kind of deterrents/traps do you use?

 

[jkoya]

Last night when I went to grab my charging adapter from the glove box, there was a ball of insulation in the glove box and I swear I saw a little mouse scurry away. Can't see any other damage, but obviously this insulation came from somewhere.

Keep us posted on how this turns out !!

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

One thing I can assure the OP of is that there will be a LOT of little turds involved. And lots of little yellowish sticky streaks of pee.

Rodents love to nibble - in fact, their life depends on it - if they don't wear down their front teeth, they grow up into their brain.

Rodent - Wikipedia

 

[whatthe2]

One thing I can assure the OP of is that there will be a LOT of little turds involved. And lots of little yellowish sticky streaks of pee.

Rodents love to nibble - in fact, their life depends on it - if they don't wear down their front teeth, they grow up into their brain.

Rodent - Wikipedia

Wow, learned something new today. Thanks!

 

[KenC]

You should see little mouse pellets/turds. The insulation looks like the kind they put in the doors, or the padding from the seats? Either way, a mouse will collect what it needs and make a nice comfy nest in a nice dark space like your glove compartment.

Definitely put traps everywhere.

 

[C141medic]

That’s one smart mouse. It even left a note for the owner

 

[RC2785]

might want to fix that, never know if mice will do the same thing rats did here

 

[SoCalDriver]

Good luck, we have had this happen to our trucks (not driven every day) twice. They pee everywhere, cause a lot of expensive damage, and will come back if not strongly discouraged. We waged war on the more recent one about a month ago. My husband ended up stabbing it with an arrow as he could see it inside the engine compartment one morning. We now park with the hood propped open a foot and have a battery operated repelling device on every night.

 

[SirDubC]

Asking because your location says Seattle and now I'm paranoid... do you park outside at night? Are you next to a heavily wooded area? What kind of deterrents/traps do you use?

Yep, parked outside. Got the car in March, so this is the first time it's really cooling down. We do have a greenbelt behind us, but our driveway is paved. Added a bait box in the glove box and dryer sheets in trunk/frunk. Gonna think about outdoor solutions too. I'm considering parking the car on the street now. Did that with last car and never had an issue.

 

[mswlogo]

I’d take the Frunk liner out and check around, it’s not hard to get it out.

Yes, mouse can move that much insulation. And yes, I’m sure it’s a pregnant mommy building a nice cushy bed for all her babies.

watch out. The insulation on wires was editable at one point. Soy or something. Not just Tesla.

 

[C141medic]

watch out. The insulation on wires was editable at one point. Soy or something. Not just Tesla.

Yeah, weren’t there threads about hungry bunnies chewing on the delicious soy coated wiring?

 

[C141medic]

Added a bait box in the glove box and dryer sheets in trunk/frunk

I did the same with dryer sheets. Apparently it helps keep the little critters away? Good idea for frunk/trunk. I’ll be placing some there today.

 

[Adam_Andersen]

Last night when I went to grab my charging adapter from the glove box, there was a ball of insulation in the glove box and I swear I saw a little mouse scurry away. Can't see any other damage, but obviously this insulation came from somewhere.

Anyone know where this insulation can be from or what purpose it can be serving? If the mouse is somewhere between the frunk and the glove box, I don't know how to check for additional issues. Already got deterrents and traps in the car, but obviously paranoid.

Worth bringing to service center at this point, or will I look crazy? Wondering if they can easily do a quick damage check. Below pic is from another person I saw posting the same thing.

View attachment 469220

We have the same problem with mice infiltrating the vehicle. The insulation you see in the glovebox is from the panel just below the glovebox. We had replaced the air filters recently and saw the insulation was disturbed. More recently we saw the same mess in the glovebox as pictured in the March 2019 post. The mice were nesting in the glovebox and there are feces throughout the vehicle from under the seats to the trunk. Removing the panel below the glovebox we found the insulation had been completely removed. In addition the mice had taken napkins and other materials from within the vehicle to the nest. The owners manual and other documents in the glovebox had chew marks and urine stains. Not sure exactly where they are getting in, but hope one of our readers will find out. we had already installed an intake filter in the air intake under the front hood, which also had feces atop. We also have had major problems with dust infiltration into the cabin HVAC. Recommend installing filters and other accessories to reduce materials entering the cabin. Lots of good Utube videos on this.

 

[ivy_]

C’mon, Elon. We need cat mode.