What does this look like to you.

The story goes they found quite a bit of this under the hood of a car between the insulation and hood and in the HVAC filter. Its a Toyota RAV4, the dealer said it was cereal. The owner said Nope its rat poisoning, Toyota put it there while being shipped and they did not remove it. It is odd their other car parked right beside it never accumulated this green pill. I cannot find any signs of a mouse on board.

Both are correct. It is mice cereal to kill mice. I put it in my shop.

Surely they can determine what it actually is, theres a big difference between rat poison and cereal. And what makes the owner think Toyota puts rat poison in their vehicles? Thats one of the more ridiculous theories I ve heard in a while.

This post was edited by MJMJ on 03/26/2023 at 05:52 pm.

Surely they can determine what it actually is, theres a big difference between rat poison and cereal. And what makes your friend think Toyota puts rat poison in their vehicles? Thats one of the more ridiculous theories I ve heard in a while.

It sure looks like it came from a bait block of rat/mouse bait. I have found similar stuff in all kinds of odd places on the golf course equipment. Didn't Toyota have issues with mice eating wiring with the enviro-friendly soy based wire insulation?

Unless your going to try your hand at
eating some of it, what difference does it
make??

I don't think I'm going to be tearing out
the insulation in my car, if I'm up for
eating some cereal. But, if you want to,
knock yourself out. Just not on my car.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is rodent poison. My neighbor's Toyota had hundreds of dollars of damage done by squirrels to the electrical wiring.

I can guarantee you manufacturers do not put poison in vehicles. Think about the backlash they would get from customers, animal or environmental organizations, then think about the liability if a dog or child ingested it.

There are hundreds of warnings in owners manuals. I would like to find one that says, "don't eat the poison bait blocks, we put them there to kill the rodents"

I think rodents are a problem for car dealers. a couple years ago I bought a used 2015 Jeep Cherokee off a dealers lot. Thie vehicle has a large
plastic cover over most of the top of the engine and a small access cover to get at the oil filter. I looked under the cover and saw white
material I thought it was sound proofing material. A few days later I was checking things, and found out the white material was a rat nest. It
must have been from another car, because it didn't come from mine. I also saw some chewed wires. The car is a still a good car, with a little
over 30 k miles, with no rat problems. I guess they jumped ship when I left the dealer.Stan

Looks like rat bait to me.

Could have easily been put there by a rat. They treat it as food, so stash
it like they would anything else they eat or collect.

I have put poison in bait stations in the building and discovered the rodents carry it to their nest, that could be how it got in the car.

(quoted from post at 20:15:55 03/26/23) I can guarantee you manufacturers do not put poison in vehicles. Think about the backlash they would get from customers, animal or environmental organizations, then think about the liability if a dog or child ingested it.

There are hundreds of warnings in owners manuals. I would like to find one that says, "don't eat the poison bait blocks, we put them there to kill the rodents"

Click to expand...

What is the dollar amount of payment of your guarantee?

IF it is rat poison, they probably had it set out on the Toyota factory floor where the Rav4 was built. Then, when this particular car was
assembled it got flagged for some reason and sent down to repair the lot and maybe sat there for a few days or even a few weeks. Some rodent
discovered a poison bait station, chewed off a piece and stashed it under the hood of his new home and then ate some either near or in the
HVAC plenum where it stayed or was sucked into the filter when the blower motor cycled.

At the factories I worked in, we always had mice problems with a few cars that ended up being ''found'' in the wrong storage lot months
after they were supposed to have been repaired and shipped, or ones that had sat still over weeks-long change-over periods.

As said earlier, NO manufacturer is willing to risk the liability potential of putting poison in their U.S. bound or made vehicles.

Now, if you start smelling a odor like, say, a dead, poisoned rat or mouse, Carefully examine your headliner for any somewhat Mickey Mouse
shaped stains bleeding through. If you dont see any, tap along the headliner and listen for something to ''bounce'' inside between the
fiberboard, insulation and the metal roof. If it aint there, pull the side panels at the kick panels and in the luggage area and carefully
feel the insulation looking for gooey lumps. If the smell is at its strongest when running the HVAC system, that rodent's corpse is cooking
on your heater core.

A curious dog or cat can help narrow down your search area!

I remembered I had a bucket of Tomcat rat bate.

(quoted from post at 06:38:49 03/27/23)

(quoted from post at 20:15:55 03/26/23) I can guarantee you manufacturers do not put poison in vehicles. Think about the backlash they would get from customers, animal or environmental organizations, then think about the liability if a dog or child ingested it.

There are hundreds of warnings in owners manuals. I would like to find one that says, "don't eat the poison bait blocks, we put them there to kill the rodents"

Click to expand...

What is the dollar amount of payment of your guarantee?

Click to expand...

Your entire investment will be refunded.

(quoted from post at 19:54:19 03/26/23) I wouldn't be surprised if it is rodent poison. My neighbor's Toyota had hundreds of dollars of damage done by squirrels to the electrical wiring.

Click to expand...

I had that same problem with a 1979 Toyota Carrolla. I put three sets of spark plug wires in that car until I figured out what to do. Those plug wires had extensions on them that fit down through holes in the valve cover so they were not something I could easily make.

What I did was get some clear plastic tubing a little larger then the plug wires. I took a razor knife and slit the tubing down lengthwise and used the slit to open up and slip over the plug wires. That fixed it, they never chewed on the plastic tubing so that fixed the problem.

Honda had a problem with tasty wiring also. They created a mouse proof tape that rodents would not chew through. Supposedly it had a burny pepper taste to it. I used it on another car where mice would chew though the wire on the 02 sensor. They didn't bother it after that. That stuff was called Honda Rodent Tape.

I am thinking the brand is 'Tomcat' or some such. And I bet it was left there by a mouse, shortly before his demise.

What is the dollar amount of payment of your guarantee?

Click to expand...

I wasn't wagering a money bet, but I would appreciate a link or proof that manufacturers are putting poison in their vehicles. Dealers might, depo's might or some other place that harbors the vehicles might but vehicles do not leave the assembly with poison installed, that's what I'm saying. I doubt any business would put the poison inside the vehicle, more than likely the poison was brought to the vehicle by a rodent from somewhere else.