Many car companies are experiencing problems because they replaced metal or plastic car parts with a bio-degradable product. Unfortunately, these are sometimes food-based products that pests love to eat. The latest case is Honda, who in their quest to “go green,” used a soy-based biodegradable wire coating on some of their engine wiring rather than a plastic coating. Apparently the soy-based coating is quite tasty to hungry mice, rabbits, and squirrels. They will chew on it and cause the engine to malfunction.
One man claims he had to take his 2012 Honda Accord in twice to have the wiring fixed because of gnawing rodents, and there are many other cases of this happening.
Soy used in vehicles has caused some funny problems in the past. In the mid-1940’s license plates in some states were made from compressed soy beans and fiberboard, as a way to save on using metal during the war. But they soon found that goats and cows were attracted to the vehicles, and would chew off entire license plates!
