2005 XC90
Love this vechicle except there appears no way to keep mice out when parked for a few days in the garage. Was told by my dealership that there was nothing you can do except try and eliminate the mice with poison/traps outside the vehicle.
I asked how they could get in and was told that there are air flaps in the vehicle that allow the pressure inside the vehicle to escape when closing the doors. Obviously these flaps have no screens or constrictions to stop mice from entering the vechicle. I don't even know where to look to find them so I can try and block them. Have caught 4 inside the vehicle so far. Windows, doors, and sunroof were never left open
Nothing like sliding into those wonderfully comfortable leather seats and then find mice poddy everywhere; seats, dash, glovebox, cargo area, under seats, etc etc.

:cat: Hi there. Leave a cat inside the car-preferrably a hungry one at that.

Looking forward to hearing your next report

Cheers :cat:

Id get a cat and put it in the garage, not the car. Seriously, if its that bad, thats what Id do.

I have outside cats due to alergies etc and the garage is now kept very very clean. We have not had any mice since I did a major posioning in the garage and outbuildings. Could have depeted the population immensely. What still bothers me is that mice can get into the closed vehicle anyway. Nesting in the engine compartment or above the muffler is common in the country and understandable but inside the vehicle is a bit much. Would think that could be prevented by engineering........
Thanks to all for the support
Todd

Hi,

Very happy to see your posting here. I have owned an XC90 2.5T AWD for 2 years. Two months ago I started smelling something very strange, until one day
we noticed mouse waste and a bag of food left in the cargo area got lots of mouse
bite marks. What's really bothering us is the smell.
I just came back from a dealer. They didn't know how the mouse got in the vehicle, and charged me $108 for deordering the vent. Now the whole vehicle
is full of the deorderor's fragrance and made me headache. I started catching
mice in the garage and caught 4 so far. I left several traps in the car but no one
is caught inside the car. I'm afraid if there are mouse bodys or nest inside the car
to cause the smell. If people know of naything, please let me know.

Thanks.

Sorry to say that mice are incredibly destructive in a car, especially as they LOVE to chew wiring - system failures (think about ABS, airbags etc.) and even fire can result, so urgent action is needed.

Bearing this in mind, personally I'd see whether an exterminator is willing to seal the garage airtight with the car inside & then gas the little so-&-sos to death. Could necessitate using lots of air fresheners for a while though.....

What bait have you been using on the traps? Forget cheese (they're not that keen & it makes them smell apparently!). Try chocolate, a juicy raisin or a piece of raw potato perhaps. Mice follow edges due to poor eyesight & to avoid being caught in the open, so traps are best placed along edges & in corners, not in the middle of the garage or car loading bay/foot-well area.

Remember to use any poisonous bait with caution if you have children or pets.

Good luck!

BB
:57:

Sorry to hear that you are having the same problems that I had. Since we poison baited the garge and did a major clean of it, we have not had a mouse problem yet. The best thing to do is keep the area around the car clean and make sure that their is no food ever left in the car. Maybe volvo will eventually screen those air vent holes but until I can find them this is the best one can do.
I would not recommend fumigating the car in the garage. Too much residue and as you found out, the air freshener can give on headaches.
Good luck

Follow the first 5 steps for "replacing bulbs in the tail light cluster" on page 160 of the 06 manual. Basically :Open the rear storage compartment where the battery is stored (you will need to fold down the 3rd row seats). There is a triangular piece of carpeted "foam" on the side of each compartment. Lift these out. Then pull on the plastic tab and you will remove a small section of the side panel in the trunk area.

Once you get the side panels out, look down into the interior of the fender. There is a curved black housing that points down. I believe that the "air flaps" are inside this housing.

Get a mirror and a flash light and look up into the housings. You may be able to put your mesh in there.

tim.s

I couldn't help but notice this thread.

Cockroaches in the car, surething. Especially after your kids have their day-outings and all. But mice? This is serious. Refer to BB's post...

I'd give Tim.s' suggestion a serious thought. Get one of those gardening-meshes and cut them into shape (with the help of a piece of cloth etc, as you see fit) See this as a form of 'gardening' to exercise yourself. :P