(WXYZ) — Heated seats are an added convenience during Michigan's cold winter weather.
Early this January, Carol White suddenly found herself bummed out because a number of electrical features in her Ford Escape stopped working.
"The windows aren't rolling down. The heat isn't working. I had the heated steering wheel, the heated seats, none of that was working," she said.
After Googling and trying to troubleshoot the problem herself with no success, she took her SUV to a Ford dealership, thinking there was an electrical problem that was covered under warranty. She wasn't expecting what they found.
"They found chewed wires. They sent some photos over to us to let us see the bite marks from the rodents and the chewed wire as well," White said.
Critters escaping the cold left her to pay for their stay.
"How much was the fix?" I asked her.
"It was about $620 actually," she said. Her warranty didn't cover it.
It turns out, the rodents aren't just looking for a warm place to ride out the winter. Many are looking for a tasty snack.
Adnan Aljida, the lead technician at Western Auto Service in Hazel Park, said he sees the issue of rodents chewing wires all the time.
He said manufacturers switched to a soy-based material for its wire housing. It's more environmentally friendly, but can attract furry nuisances.
"If you smell a burger when you going past Burger King or KFC, you smell the chicken... you're like 'sniff, sniff'. I smell it. I'm attracted to it.' Same thing with, ya know, the wiring. When critters are going through the trash and looking around," he said.
Aljida said most of the cars he sees are from 2014 to around 2022.
"This plastic material that wraps around the whole engine harness of the vehicle," Aljida said.
Keith Barry, an automotive reporter for Consumer Reports, has explored the phenomenon of critters nesting in vehicles.
"There are some studies out. We've talked to people in pest control. We've talked to people at automakers. The jury's kind of still out on whether those wires can actually attract rodents. I think some of it is actually the fact that rodents really like to chew on things," Barry said.
Regardless of why they chew the wiring, Barry said one step a driver can take is to ask the dealership to wrap a special tape containing spice, which repels rodents.
"Even if you're not driving a lot. Move your car around, make sure there isn't any food in it. Make sure, if it's in a garage, make sure that the garage is pretty well sealed up," he said.
Whether you park indoors or outdoors, he said peppermint oil and cayenne pepper can also be a good deterrent.
"I'd say be preventative absolutely. Because that's not a fun thing to deal with," White said.
