What's Your Verdict?

I would not have considered attacks by wildlife to be a warranty claim. I see it just like cattle rubbing up along the side and denting the doors.

I think you should have tried for an insurance claim.

I can understand Toyota's point of view, it's a new vehicle, a lot of sensors involved. It's a bit like me building a special purpose machine for a manufacturing business and rats chew the wiring, why should I warrant the machine that has a 20 year potential lifespan. Reliability and potential safety hazards could see me in court at some stage if I signed off on someone else's repair. As far as insurance goes, if a bush fire burnt the vehicle out, it would be covered. The fire could have been started by lightning, that would be classed as an act of God. So I don't see the difference in type of damage. The owner insured it so he doesn't have major cost outlays if something happens to it beyond his control. As only one injector is involved, maybe take the chance on the current repair or pay the Toyota bill and move on. Michael

This is very interesting to me, as I have had personal experience with animal damage to my wiring...

In July 2015, my five-month old (!) Jeep Wrangler broke down in the Colorado mountains. It was eventually delivered to the nearest Jeep dealer.

It turned out that an animal had chewed through some wires in the rear of the vehicle. However, the dealer also had to replace the TIPM (a computer). So its not clear whether the computer went bad and the chewing occurred during the two days the Jeep sat awaiting recovery. Or if the wires were chewed and then somehow that fried the computer.

The "comprehensive" part of my auto insurance paid for the wiring repairs, no questions asked. And the wiring repairs were done at the dealer.

So far, no problems related to the repair. Which is good becuase I don't know if Chrysler guarantees the work. My insurance company doesn't guarantee the work because it wasn't done at one of their selected repair shops (note this was not explained to me at the time!).

I've wondered if this sort of thing happens very often in Oz. This is the first time I've heard of vehicle wiring or other parts being damaged by an animal. (Obviously, collisions with wildlife are a big issue outback!)

Here, marmots (probably the animal that got my Jeep) are notorious for chewing up wiring, brake lines, etc. I don't know specifics, but certainly in Colorado every summer, a certain number of people become victims.

Marmot / Porcupine Blues

Other rodents may also chew on vehicles, or at least nest somewhere in them, especially if they're left parked for a long time (e.g., over the winter, in parts of the country with lots of snow/ice).

We've had it happen a few times over the years and several times with other vehicles in the group, not uncommon in my experience and quite often the rats have targeted the newest vehicle in the group. A couple of times in the VHC we've had brand new Toyota's faced with green coolant puddles under the vehicle after coolant hoses and header bottles have been chewed through overnight.
Also had wiring chewed as well as rubber brake lines. Best to put napthalene blocks under the vehicle of a night if worried about it, that's what we do on the farm to keep them out of the tractors and machinery.
In cold weather they head for the warmth and sometimes just the new plastic and rubber components.

Possibly a good idea to "lift the bonnet" when camped in areas where rats might be prevalent as they seem to like warm engine bays.

That aside, from a warranty perspective on the new car, I'd save the $3,500 by keeping it in my pocket. I suspect it doesn't void the entire vehicle warranty, and if there is an injector problem it may not void the warranty depending on what caused the problem in the first instance.

Realistically, most modern vehicles that are well maintained suffer little issue within the warranty period or after it for that matter (and yes, there will be some!).

In military parlance "one problem at a time 'Sarge" - forking at $3,500 now, as suggested in the article by Toyota to maintain the warranty on the injectors, is akin to paying an insurance premium on a policy that you may never use...

That equates to roughly $1,200 a year on a basic three year warranty. I'd be happy to "underwrite" that myself if it was my vehicle.

Cheers, Baz - The Landy

I live on a rural property in FNQ and also have had under bonnet wiring chewed on both our vehicles. I had to resolder in new wires, colour by colour on one of the looms. It also chewed my Redarc dual battery wiring, taking the insulation of the thick red cable that is live when the vehicle is stationary. I now have wax rodent baits cable tied throughout the engine bays, which have been nibbled at, but fortunately no further damage to wiring...

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Have the loom repaired even if a part from the wreckers ,to keep all the wire colour & connectors the same as originally fitted.

There maybe a engine loom connector or bulkhead connector ??

Its absurd Toyota is holding a gun to there head over this .

Plenty of broken wires in heavy industry that get repaired and no ill effects to warranty on any associated component .

If Toyota did not cover this by repair , unfortunately just another Toyota moment .
Not much else on the market but Toyota Australia just don't even hide there arrogance these days .

Is it Toyota or the dealer?

In my experience some dealers can be complete tools and their recommendations/advice are often not backed by information coming from head office. Its all a bit stupid in this day and age, you aren't dealing with isolated owners that have to accept what you tell them, online communities are more than happy to call BS when they see it and it doesn't do your brand much good to go viral.


I camped at Tinaroo Dam and a brand new Triton had its wiring eaten and went to Atherton on a tilt tray. Maybe its a new car smell thing?

The Ranger there recommended a few small LED's be installed in the engine bay as the white tail rats like to move in because its nice, warm and dark.

No vermin exclusion with CGU BTW. (pg 20) https://www.cgu.com.au/sites/default/files/media/2e97a085-1079-4d05-90f3-52b0cba8f83f.pdf

I checked with my insurance company today to check & ask them about the vermin etc exclusion policy. they said that home contents insurance has it but not vehicle .
I guess you pay for what you get .....

I'm surprised the wiring damage wasn't enough to write the vehicle off! - it takes so little, with todays highly-complex vehicles, to initiate a Statutory Write Off.
FYI, damage to virtually all wiring in todays vehicles is a SAFETY-RELATED issue.

The entire wiring harness in every vehicle today is interconnected via a CANBUS.

In other words, every microprocessor and every sensor and every electronic control device in a vehicle, is capable of, and does communicate, with the main ECU, and often with each other.

As a result, damage or "non-factory" wiring repairs can lead to issues whereby safety devices fail to activate as planned.

Yes, I know it was damaged injector wiring - but who knows how safety devices or other important electrical control devices in the vehicle are connected through that wiring repair?

Without studying the entire vehicle wiring harness, and the entire vehicle electronic programming, in fine detail - one can't be sure that there's no possibility of a safety device (e.g. - airbags) in the vehicle being affected at some time in the future, due to a failed electrical signal caused by the wiring repair not doing its job.

If you purchase a vehicle stickered with an SWO - you CANNOT RE-USE a single electrical component of any kind, from that SWO vehicle, in any other vehicle - even if all the wiring and components from the written-off vehicle look completely undamaged.

This is because electrical and electronic components can have unseen damage that affects their proper operation.

Toyota are covering their ar$e$ legally here, in case the vehicle is sold to an unsuspecting buyer, and suffers an electrical failure that results in a crash, an injury or a fatality, due to some electrical component in the vehicle not functioning as designed.

If Toyota cover a "non-factory" electrical repair, and injury or a death comes out of that repair - even 20 years down the track - then some smart lawyer would be right onto the "faulty" or "non-factory" repair.

The bottom line is, it shouldn't cost $3500 to replace the affected section of wiring harness. I consider that is a major rort.

Cheers, Ron.