I bought my 2012 plug-in Prius almost 2 years ago and it came with a reconstructed title due to a front passenger side collision.
A couple weeks ago a Jeep backed into the parked car and broke the front bumper and foam energy absorber.
The next day, after a hard rain, my wife found the rear passenger floor pan to be flooded with water.
It doesn't make sense that the minor collision would cause this problem, but it didn't exist before. I don't think I can get insurance to pay to fix it since there is no evidence that the collision caused the problem.
A few months ago I smelled something dead in the car and discovered a small mouse. The death smell went away, but a musty smell has lingered ever since.
I'm now beginning to suspect that a small amount of water began to infiltrate the car right about the same time as the mouse, and that the musty smell was caused from that instead of the dead carcass. Somehow getting backed into perpetuated whatever entery point the water had found.
Anyhow, it seems to me the water is leaking in from the front passenger side firewall area (near the previous collilsion area), and flowing into the back when it's parked uphill.
Rear footwell with seat and drain plugs removed
Front footwell
The padding was soaked, and I've mostly got them dry now by using a space heater. I'm wondering if the smell will go away if I throw some baking powerder in there and then vacuum it out later? Hopefully I don't have to replace the padding.
To address the mouse infiltration, my dad used spray adhesive and a plastic mesh over various vents. I'm hoping the critters don't chew through it, although I'll at least have evidence of their point of entry if they do. I've had at least 4 occasions where there was evidence of rodent infiltration.
Left rear quarter panel vent covered with plastic screen.
Finally, my last problem was discovered while taking a wheel off to look for the source of water infiltration. Both of my front tires are wearing the inside tread much faster than the outside. This is after about 35,000 miles. My suspicion was the alignment was toe-out.
What do you think about this before and after alignment? It shows that it was slightly out of spec toe-out, but would that account for this much uneven wear? The car tracked straight before the alignment, and now requires slightly more steering effort to drive straight on the freeway, which doesn't really make sense.
I've got 2 more weeks to fix the leak and put everything back together before my wife takes it for a month in Klammath Falls.