Toyota may have a problem on its hands. With the company’s increasing focus on using natural and environmentally-friendly materials, they seem to be offering a tempting feast for Nature’s opportunists.
There have been several recent reports of Toyota car owners discovering their cars have been vandalized. One report showed a south Florida family’s Toyota Sequoia SUV had two 6-inch panels ripped from the outside of the car. Another, from Croydon, South London, England, found that a Toyota Aygo! sported a chewed aerial, rubber trims and oxygen sensor.
But the vandal wasn’t the two-legged variety. In both cases, it was a hungry squirrel! It makes sense, given that Toyota uses materials such as peanut oil, castor oil and tomato skins on these “green” cars. A tasty offering for any 4-legged creature, to say the least. Toyota’s response? They will ‘investigate if any improvements can be made to the design of our products to deter rodents’.
photo by likeaduck, Flickr
Stay tuned. And be sure to lock up your cars in your garages, just in case!