How to keep mice out of your car

I'm heading up to the N. Cascades next week. Last time I was there (a couple years ago, also a heavy snow year) I had a hell of a time with mice constantly invading my '13 Corolla and shitting everywhere. It made sleeping in my car at any trailhead in the forest impossible. I've tried throwing dryer sheets everywhere, sprinkling chopped up soap bars on the floor, covering everything in mothballs, and leaving mousetraps outside, but nothing prevented those little bastards from sneaking into the cabin.

Anyone have tips for preventing this? I'm thinking their 3 points of entry into the cabin are through the cabin air intake and then the glovebox, by chewing through the e-brake pleather, and possibly along the accelerator/brake pedal shaft. Has anyone used steel wool or the like to plug up entry points or something similar? Or maybe sprayed diluted bleach? Looking for ideas

I find mice in the winter are pushing hard to get into vehicles and homes, less so when it’s warm. We fought mice for years and what worked in our house are those ultrasonic emitters that you plug into a wall. Not sure how you’d rig this in a car - maybe a jump starting power source with a 110V plugin that you could plug the ultrasonic device into. Just doesn’t work with the occasional deaf mouse...

There is a product used by RV owners to solve the same problem. Can't remember the name, but you will easily find it through a Google search.

This is important, so listen up:  Your Carolla (10th generation) is one of many vehicles made with soy-based insulation or wiring, which rodents find irresistible. I have an older, less eco-friendly 95' 4runner, and haven't had rodent issues despite having bits of food between the seats, on the floor, etc. I learned about this issue after my wife bought a 2019 Impreza, which is made with soy-wiring. This is a problem with a lot of vehicles made after the mid-2000's, and still being used in new cars today. WTF, right? This is part of why I keep repairing my 95' 4Runner. http://www.toyotaproblems.com/soy-wiring/ 

If you can't avoid parking in rodent country, to keep the buggers out, find out how they're getting in, and plug it with steel wool, wire mesh, and/or some spray foam (link below). They're likely getting in through the firewall. Check your parking brake cable, as well as your engine computer wiring harness (tasty), heater core hoses, etc.  https://www.amazon.com/3-Pack-GREAT-Pestblock-Insulating-Sealant/dp/B01N2WLTEV/ref=asc_df_B01N2WLTEV/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198092304429&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18108229472558954523&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033356&hvtargid=aud-801381245258:pla-357503374052&psc=1

Maybe you can find some cougar piss to sprinkle around your car, or something like that to keep em away? Good luck.

Many vehicles also have vents to release the air pressure when you shut the doors. On subaru imprezas, they are behind the rear wheel wells, and are only covered with a soft rubber flap. They are a pain to get at, but a little wire mesh covering them goes a long ways.

For what it is worth, sections of women's stockings filled with moth balls and placed around each wheel is effective in keeping skunks, etc. from chewing brake lines covered with salt. Might repel mice from using the wheels to climb up into the engine compartment.

Braden Downey wrote:Maybe you can find some cougar piss to sprinkle around your car, or something like that to keep em away? Good luck.

Cougar piss, and a few other types, can be found online; look for companies that cater to trappers. They don't have to know that they are also catering occasionally to tenants getting revenge on shitty landlords.

dryer sheets, lots of them - just don't die from inhaling them yourself.

Cats

Get a crag kitten.

A small warning. If you're going to use any type of poison, there's one thing to remember: whatever eats the poisoned mouse gets poisoned as well. So, your cat, dog, ferret, or chicken might pay the price. Personally I vote/use traps. I bait using chunky peanut butter, Reece's peanut butter cup or pumpkin seed. 

Put a mousetrap on top of each tire when parked.  Done.

John Ryan wrote: Just doesn’t work with the occasional deaf mouse...

WHAT?

Leave some rice out and a pan of water.

Their little stomachs explode.

(I hate rodents. One chewed through the hose behind my washer and I came home to a disaster.)

Local repair shop told me lavender essence oil, or peppermint, or irish spring soap shavings. Haven't tried it yet though.

"If you're going to use any type of poison" also if something eats the poison and crawls deep behind your dashboard and dies the smell could last forever.

To get rid of something already in there I think glue traps are the best (not the most humane though). They seem to figure out spring traps after the first one gets killed. 

John Ryan wrote: I find mice in the winter are pushing hard to get into vehicles and homes, less so when it’s warm. We fought mice for years and what worked in our house are those ultrasonic emitters that you plug into a wall. 

Those don't really work and this is confirmed with night video.

+1 on the peppermint.  As part of their attempt to 'decorate' my truck when I got married, my friends placed meat on my engine block - which attracted mice - which chewed through a few sensor wires... $400 later I learned that mice don't like pepperment oil; and that I need new friends.

You may as well do the peppermint oil spray, as there really isn't anything in your engine compartment that smells like food. 

Bounce dryer sheets are your friend.

The Christmas tree looking air fresheners are said to discourage rodents. I leave one under the hood to keep an overly familiar marmot out of there, and it seems to work. Might work for mice.

Last summer mice chewed through my all my alternator cables, not all the way, just enough for it to fail on desert highway 45 minutes north of Reno, NV. I went to amazon and bought all the pseudoscience products including the peppermint spray and the high frequency noisemaker things that plug into your battery. I don't know if they work, but I have not had any more mice problems.