Hello there,

I recently bought a 2016 EX Fit that I love dearly... however it's clear that the dealership I bought it from sold it to me in a state that it shouldn't have been in.

The previous owner must have left it for a while, because a family of squirrels nested there in the interim. While mechanically and electronically sound (thank god), we took it into a detailer for the smell. They told me that the headliner- along with possibly the carpeting due to the pillars- are pretty much ruined with half-chewed hickory nuts, an ocean of droppings, and enough piss stains to make someone gag. The nuts didn't surprise me; they've been throughout the car (inside the hood liner, trunk liner, behind the rear wheel guard, hell even in the interior engine bay liner!). But the droppings were an unpleasant surprise.

I've only had the car for about a month, but the dealership refuses to take responsibility. While we lawyer up, I want to take care of this myself, so a few questions:

1. Can I replace the headliner myself, and what part number/place can I get it from?

2. Same thing with the carpet/floor assembly- it seems hard to find unless I go into a junkyard...

3. Can I remove the engine bay liner myself, and how can I go about finding the screws to remove it? I only need to remove the two or three passenger-side ones to shake the nuts out.

4. Will I be able to take the dealership to court through the lemon law, citing unsafe conditions for the car?

Thanks for your help! A few photos of the headliner, the carpet-removed driver's side cargo area, and the engine bay liner (with some nuts poking out) are included. NSFW. Thank you!


Headliner looks gross

I hate squirrels

Stupid nuts trapped in the engine bay liner

 

Wow! Looks like you need a used donee car with a good interior. Probably $1.5k-2k.

 

I can't believe you didn't catch all this before you bought the car.

In my case it was mice and I went through an insurance claim to gave everything cleaned by a company specializing in this (they do a lot of RVs). It was over $2 K. They had to order a number of replacement parts through Honda which took weeks,

Don't forget to open the engine and cabin air filter containers. My engine air filter contained a nest. They had to drop the gas tank to get at another nest which was on top of it. What you are seeing so far is probably just the beginning.

 

As someone that runs across mouse cars constantly for work, those aren't squirrels.

Bull snot is the best product I know for getting rid of the smell. But you're going to need to deep shampoo all the pieces. Pull the cabin air filter and make sure they're not nested in the vents.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...dor-eliminator

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/shar...tm_source=feed

Lemon laws are specific to each state, so talk to an attorney. Best case is they buy the car back from you.

 

I concur with alvern regarding mice. A deer mouse or house mouse can get through any opening you can get the tip of your pinky finger in. A squirrel, or even a chipmunk, is way bigger and would absolutely destroy the car (worse than it is) getting inside.

As others have indicated, the cabin air filter and HVAC system in general provides easy interior access for a mouse. My Fit is not driven regularly, making it even more enticing to squatters. After a few mouse nests on top of my cabin air filter (way too expensive, even from Amazon, to be replaced every few weeks) I fashioned a screen from 1/4-inch metal hardware cloth to cover the cabin air intake under the cowl.

I also had a problem with mice setting up shop on top of the engine air filter, so used the same hardware cloth to make a screen on the engine intake. The result - no mice issues for the past few years.

Regarding the OPs car, although it will be tedious, if you want to rid this car of odors (and potential pathogens) you need to strip out the interior. You can then get at all interior metal surfaces and plastic interior trim (front and back) for a good cleaning, plus get at every last bit of poo, nesting material, and food caches. In addition, it will be way easier to pressure wash/steam clean the carpet and seats outside of the car.

Doesn't sound like fun to you? I guess you better hope they will buy back the car.

As another suggestion, if you didn't detect this issue on the test drive I would suggest you find a friend with a better sense of smell to go car shopping with you in the future.

 

Thank you for those lovely photos. I'm tempted to copy them and put them on the wall of my dining room. 🤣

There are tablets available that are supposed to repel mice - all natural(?). Maybe they would work for squirrels - just in case the word has spread in the squirrel community that their home is now in a different location. 😉

 

I did the same using wire mesh, and I also used wads of steel wool stuffed into other openings which might provide access - they don't like that! Only thing is I should have sprayed the steel wool with WD40 or Fluid Film because it rusts over time.

I have squirrels, chipmunks and mice which get into my garage. The mice are the only ones which cause a problem for me.

 

There is stainless steel steel wool.

 

I didn't know that at the time and I was just using a bunch of steel wool that I happened to have for other purposes.

 

This whole thread is nuts. Sorry, lol had to say it

 

As I'm sure you're all wondering how it's going, here's an update:

The detailer has miraculously cleaned about 95% of the headliner and carpeting. They were also able to get all the nuts out from the back seat cushions (which I had no idea were even there). The smell's not COMPLETELY gone, but it's night and day difference.

We're filing a complaint against the dealership for the lack of pre-inspection. I know it is part of my due diligence as a buyer, but I do think it falls on the dealership to sell a safe car- with the amount of droppings and urine in the car prior to selling it to us, this is not a safe car.

Due to their immaculate cleaning, however, we've had two new electrical problems come up- the rear turn signal's on the fritz due to a broken ground (maybe the squirrel poop stuck to the frame acted as a conductor? You can even see the stain on the frame from where it was!), and the removed-and-replaced map light allowed for two chewed wires to touch, draining my battery to nothing while I was away for a work trip.

I love this car but I'll be damned if it's not cursed.