The other day, Sena was out at the auto dealership getting our lease car serviced and had an interesting conversation with the service guy and another customer.
The other customer was discussing his vehicles issues with the service guy and mentioned that rodents were probably snacking on his engine wires and hoses. The bill for a partial repair just to get his car back on the road temporarily was several hundred dollars. Sena overheard him mention “mice” and asked him about it.
The other customer and the service guy both endorsed the idea that mice and other rodents were eating the edible tubes and belts of the engine because nowadays they more often are made of plant-based materials. It’s a phenomenon connected with the economy going green, and making products that are generally more environmentally friendly. They said that, while rodents generally have always nibbled on engine parts, it’s gotten worse with the auto industry adoption of things like soy-based hoses and whatnot.
We were curious about this and looked it up on the internet. It turns out that the soy-based auto parts are not just a shenanigan supported by soybean intensive states like Iowa—so you can’t blame us.
We noticed that the idea that rodents chew auto parts because they smell like vanilla is controversial. Sometimes it seems like what side you’re on depends on how you make your living. Auto makers tend to deny that the soy-based materials attract mice—for obvious reasons if they use them in the manufacture of their products. On the other hand, some (but not all) pest control experts tend to endorse the notion, often in an obvious effort to get your business.
One auto expert said this whole idea about rodents getting addicted to soy-based alternator belts and the like was debunked by a study. The problem is the author didn’t give a link or a citation for the study.
One of the pest control experts testified, I mean reported, that the rodents are actually chewing through the compressed super beets radiator hoses because they’re seeking a healthier way to keep their teeth from growing too long. They need to gnaw things partly because if they didn’t their teeth would grow through their lower jaws.
Yet another den of bald-faced liars, I mean stakeholders, say that the critters might be addicted to certain substances other than soybeans. There is a story about mice eating their way through a half ton of marijuana in a police break room, I mean evidence room, in police headquarters. That was just because of the munchies.
That’s a little hard to believe until you have a look at the study of laughing rats. It turns out if you tickle them on the back or the belly, they laugh so hard you can actually hear them if you use special audio equipment and smoke a bong of weed.
Alternatively, the auto industry could make radiator hoses with little fingers on them which is similar to the hand chasing game in rat tickling experiments. As the rat crawls on them, the little hands tickle it on the belly. They would laugh so hard they fall off the hose. On the other “hand,” if the auto industry made auto fan belts of marijuana, that could get the rats (the rodents, not the auto makers) so stoned they might just forget what they’re doing.
Seriously, the most intelligent and even- “handed,” well-documented summary of the problem with rodents eating timing belts made of Iowa ditch weed was written by Erin Gobler, an auto insurance staff writer, updated August 22, 2023. It’s entitled “Does Car Insurance Cover Rodents Chewing Wires?”
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