Consumer feature: a game of car and mouse

Small critters can mean big mechanical issues for your motor

he battle between humans and nature is a neverending saga. More often than not it sees a dejected human humbled by Mother Earth and her ensemble of elements and animals. For instance, human builds a settlement on a verdant mountain slope … nature engulfs the settlement in a torrent of lava. Human decides seaside living is just the ticket for thriving communities and industry … a tsunami reduces their efforts to saltwater-soaked kindling. Such struggles aren’t confined to sprawling cities and coastlines. A friend of mine with a farming background once told me a story of his old man’s battle with a foe most would consider cute and largely harmless. The battleground, a seemingly secure garage on a smallholding in Montagu. The antagonists, a disgruntled guest lodge owner and his much-loved Mercedesbenz SLK pitted against ... a family of common field mice. Initially, the conflict caused little damage. The odd mouse dropping on the engine cover. Maybe a piece of dried grass poking out of a bumper vent. But under the Merc’s bonnet, forces were being mobilised and once

simmering hostilities would turn into a private little war. The first sign of escalating tensions manifested in his then-new car struggling to start. A lumpy engine idle and hobbled performance quickly followed. Suspecting a fault with the vehicle’s mass airflow meter or at least an air filter replacement, he took the car to his nearest Benz service centre. The air filter was the issue but not because of a mechanical fault. He was informed a mouse nest of dried grass and lint about the size of a large orange had been dug out of his engine bay. Far from being deterred by this invasion of their engine bay bunker, the mice soon returned to the mothballed Merc. The wary owner would periodically pull out their attempts at reconstruction but, without any further action, it would inevitably become a tiresome routine through which his car would ultimately suffer. It sounds rather hyperbolic but the phenomenon of rodent damage to vehicles is surprisingly widespread. Its effects range from a mere messy nuisance to eye-watering repair bills and, in worst-case scenarios, quite spectacular mechanical failure. To a rodent’s beady eye, a garaged car looks like a castle: secure, quiet and well insulated against the elements and predators. Once entrenched, they can nibble on important wires and pipes and make mincemeat of your upholstery. Yet, there are measures you can take to prevent further rodent raids.

The phenomenon of rodent damage to vehicles is surprisingly widespread