“Customer complaint: It smells.”
A bad smell inside a car can be anything from spilled food, to a dirty air filter, or damp upholstery that never quite got to dry out.
But when the smell in your car won’t go away, no matter how much you try to air it out, you know it’s time to go to the professionals.
What they find may surprise you.
In a viral TikTok with more than 832,000 views, content creator @sunsetf87c, shared what happened when a customer came in with a strange complaint. (This account seems to be a repost account, which uploads a curated assortment of videos from other users.)
“Customer complaint: ‘It smells,’” the text overlay on the video read.
In the video, you can see that the mechanic seems to have already removed several pieces surrounding the dashboard and exposed parts of the car’s ventilation system trying to find the culprit of the funk.
The mechanic seems to have fed a small inspection camera on a wire into an opening to see what was happening within the vents.
When the camera person zooms in on the screen connected to the camera you can vaguely make out the butt end of a mouse with its tail hanging out.
Using a pair of pliers, the mechanic goes into a vent and pulls a dead mouse out by its tail.
Cars offer mice several things that they’re looking for including shelter, a warm place to be, and sometimes, food, CarParts explained. Vehicles that sit unused for long periods of time are even more susceptible to the furry foes, especially when it’s cold or rainy out.
And locking the doors won’t necessarily do much to stop them. Mice can enter through openings around vents, cables, steering columns, and pedal shafts. Some can squeeze through a space as small as a dime. (Eww.)
Once inside, they may settle beneath the engine cover, inside the airbox, or around the ventilation system. CarPro says the air vents can effectively become tunnels between the engine bay and the cabin.
The damage can add up quickly as mice chewing through electrical wiring can mess with a car’s ignition and other systems. A single mouse can cause thousands in damage in just a few days.
Here are five ways to identify if a mice might be in your car, according to CarPro:
After finding a mouse, nest, or carcass, the car still needs to be cleaned. CarParts.com recommends opening the cabin and engine compartment for 20 minutes before getting started and wearing rubber gloves and long sleeves during cleanup.
Any contaminated materials should be cleaned with disinfectant and waste should be picked up with paper towels. Any nesting material in the air-intake system should also be removed, and affected filters may need to be replaced.
Keeping food, empty cups, trash, and possible nesting material out of the cabin can make the car less appealing next time. Closing the windows and sunroof, avoiding parking in tall grass, and using traps may also help.
Plenty of people were disgusted by what they saw and shared how they would have reacted in the same situation.
“Imagine that breeze from the mouse blowing in your face every day,” a top comment read.
“Throw the whole car in the bin,” a person said.
“I would have to trade in the car, or never turn on the AC again,” another wrote.
“I would throw up then immediately pass away,” a commenter added.
Motor1 reached out to @sunsetf87c for comment.
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