I had a problem with my cars blower fan making a weird noise. Happened almost overnight. Sounded like it was off kilter like the bearings were shot. As I already had an appt for new rear struts I asked them to check out my blower fan. Seems a little critter decided he wanted to live inside rather than outside. Blower fan completely jammed full, 4” hole eaten thru cabin filter. Cost $250 to fix.

Asked what to do about it, no good answers. Spray peppermint oil. But still doesn’t address how they got in. So I YT’d the problem. Seems the recirculating button, on your AC/Heater controls, close a little door when it’s engaged. I always left it open to outside air. Not anymore. At least when I park it. I can see myself running outside at 3a to make sure the buttons on.

I had a similar issue about 20 years ago.

Hopped in my car after it sat outside for a couple days, and when I turned on the AC, I was greeted with a horrendous ratting sound. It sounded like there were rocks in the blower. Cracked it open to find that that there were, in fact, rocks in the blower. (Kinda.)

It seems a family of mud dauber wasps had crawled in the intake and built a nest of hardened mud inside the blower.

Had to replace the blower fan assembly due to the damage from the nest bouncing around inside at full speed for a bit.

Rumor is that some car wiring now comes with soy-based insulation that some rodents enjoy chewing.

If so, rodent-in-car issues may get steadily worse.

They'll chew and eat anything plastic, soy or no soy. Especially windshield reservoir's. A rodent can get through a hole as small as about a dime as long as their skull can physically pass through it. They use any and everything around to line their crib. Hood liners, carpet, wire wraps, sound deadening pads, or any foam are fair game plus organic crap they carry in from outside.

They also carry in and store food, like dry pet foods that people leave outside.

Friend of mine is a Acura / Honda specialists and says that the wiring that rodents are attracted to the wiring that Honda uses for their cars and when the customer describes the problem, he usually knows what wire, location, etc that has been chewed. God Bless

The majority of automotive wiring is PVC jacketed, which usually has a soy based plasticizer. It's cheap, light & passes the oh-so-important environment factor better than other options.
I've had to explain to 10+ people that 'how much would it cost to change' is a lot more than they are willing to pay (manufacturing setting).

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They also carry in and store food, like dry pet foods that people leave outside.

A biker friend parked his late model BMW in carport for a few months and went to start it one day. After a battery charge, bike started and would only idle. Anything else would kill the motor.

He pulled the muffler and found around two pounds of pack rat food being stored inside.

Blower motor basket is like top choice, prime real estate for the automotive mouse house market.

I used to watch Shawn Woods "Mouse trap monday" on the tubes of you, and I think in all the time I watched, he tested one product that kept mice away, a little and only if applied frequently.

This has been an issue for decades.
Honda makes "Honda Tape" that's made with pepper to keep them from eating the wiring.

I believe it was the O'Hare long term parking that had to have 1,200 cars or so towed out after rabbits stripped them bare.

My buddy at work let his daughter store her brand new car in his garage when she went on vacation.
A nearby field was cleared and the mice went into the shop.
It cost him nearly $5,000 to make it right.
They ate the wiring under the headliner all the way to the dome light, under the dash etc.
He was pretty hot over that.
He set out 5 gallon buckets with water in it and a roller on top with some peanut butter to clean them out.

My buddy has water rats that chew the wires in his car. He says a small 6" al pan with moth balls and a few stones to keep it in place, does the job of deterring them. Cheers

This isn't just an automotive issues, houses too. A couple years back at work we had a bathroom drop ceiling open and I couldn't understand what I was looking at, random single wires run across a the span. In looking into it more, I found it had been "Romex", but the mice had eaten the yellow outer sheathing off all the runs across this ten foot or so span.

the tree rats got me for another $540 in wiring yesterday. That's $1700 this year alone. The pepper tape doesn't work. The peppermint oil doesn't work and I can't get a garage built until next summer

Our Ford Escape had a mouse intrusion into the blower fan. luckily our insurance covered the $1200 repair.

On that repair, apparently Ford re-designed the part with a cage to prevent animals from entering the opening again.

Been there, done that to the tune of nearly $6K between my wife's vehicle and mine. Freaking pack rats. Go hard core. Bait stations around the perimeter of the vehicle/garage and two traps at each wheel of the vehicle as well as a couple of traps under the hood

I hadn’t seen this one… Not cheap though.

All those nooks a crannies are like condos to mice. Hard to keep them out.