[JoshMachine]

A person living in our society faced this issue about a month ago.
He keeps his car under a semi-open car park, which gets humid and warm sometimes (perfect environment for the crawlers to multiply their tribe).

Here's what I got to know from him:-
* Stop using the car immediately, for the next few days.
* Whenever possible, keep the bonnet open, car windows rolled down and doors open for max air flow, naturally.
* Keep a combination of natural oil car perfumes (peppermint, eucalyptus etc.) in the air vents (smell good to you but repelling for the creepies inside)
* Thorough vacuum pressure cleaning
* 3M fumigation treatment at the nearest center. Some even do it at your premises (our society guy got it done)

Repeat the above process 2-3 times, or as needed. This should suffice

[swarnava.ch]

Dear Bhpians,
Thanks again for your replies to my issue. There are very valuable inputs with some logical viewpoints. I thought of kick starting “Mission Spiderman” from today with the following action plan:
Day 1 (Today) – Kept the car for almost 4 hours in the sun and ran the blower at full blast at 32 Deg – the max the settings allowed.
You can see the first results of today in the attached picture
A small dead spider next to the knob.


I will repeat this for the next 3 days.
Day 4 – Procure IPA aerosol spray and try the spray all across in the Cabin, AC vents, crevices and repeat the process above for another 2 days or I will try to get this kind of Interior and AC vent cleaning done at 3M.
I am now at 750 km mark, So next week do another short trip of 250 km and complete the mandatory 1000 km to trigger the first service and ask the Toyota ASS to clean up the under dash and cabin filters once more as suggested.
I will update this thread shortly with how the progress is after trying out the above solutions.

[wildsdi5530]

I think these are not spiders, but mites. Any living organism needs food to live and multiply. Spiders are predominantly non-veg and feed on other insects. Where are they getting a food source in the parked car? For sure these insects have not made a home with an external food source.

These mites are probably living in the firewall insulation cladding which is probably coir. They are feeding on the coir and multiplying. The overflow is what you're seeing on the dash.

The dash will have to be removed completely and the organic parts need to be removed. Maybe replaced. There is no easy answer.

[audioholic]

The only way the spiders can enter your cabin without your own negligence(like leaving windows open) is the fresh air vent of the AC. I had heard from a member here that the climate control system of the Innova opens up the vent when the car is shut down and locked irrespective of what position it was in earlier while in use. When the car is switched on again, it would return back to the position it was earlier. I guess this allowed a spider to creep in from the engine bay and then into the AC.

This feature can be turned off using the diagnostic tool and I had come across this when I was going through various features in the Toyota techstream I have. I think when turned off, the fresh air vent wont get automatically opened when the car is turned off.

If the car is used regularly, the heat in the engine bay will keep out spiders and other insects from venturing too deep into the innards. I hope this problem would not repeat else visit the service center and with their help turn off this feature using the diagnostic tool.

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by swarnava.ch

Dear TBhp Members and Experts, Please help urgently.

I had my new car - Innova Crysta ZX AT delivered on 20th July and until yesterday was only driving occasionally in the evenings for short city rides, mostly in the evenings and around 9 o'clock.

I will not do anything myself but take the car to the Toyota dealer and tell them to solve this issue. It's a brand new car so I won't take any chances. Spiders coming from AC vents is a serious issue and had to be handled carefully. Better they have a look at it and confirm what is causing this to happen.

[Desmosedici]

I used to get a lot of small spiders in my home regularly and I was tired of dusting and cleaning the walls and ceilings too often. The spiders also bring along the unfriendly wall crawler - the lizard.

After reading through the net, I prepared a home made concoction consisting of white vinegar, dettol and listerine. Why Listerine, because spiders hate mint. Mixed it in water and sprayed liberally on all ceiling corners and the perimeter of the windows.

This literally solved my problem, both, the spider and the lizard stopped coming.

You can try this rather than using Hit. These are non toxic so you should be able to use this practically anywhere and everywhere in the car.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Raj

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Desmosedici

I prepared a home made concoction consisting of white vinegar, dettol and listerine.
Cheers,
Raj

This is a great suggestion! I keep getting various creepy crawlies in my car from time to time including white spiders and while they have so far gone away on their own, I would like to dissuade them from coming in the first place. Can you let me know the proportions in which you use the above ingredients in your homemade concoction?

[4Runner]

Originally Posted by VKumar

Get the red Hit from the market, the one that comes with an extended pipe. Spray it in all AC vents, particularly in the area behind the windshield. Don't spray in open sections or on leather, use the extended pipe to spray only inside the vents, do it generously, keep spraying till the satisfaction of your heart, lock the car and leave it for the night. Running only the heater won't solve the issue. And there is a decent possibility of a few hundred eggs still lying in the car, whose care you will need to take 10 days down the line again.

Lol, whatever you do OP, pls for the love of god don't spray red hit or any hit into your brand new car's AC vents. This forum is truly amazing.

[anand.shankar]

So far, ive been lucky not to get Spiders inside the car, but they did trouble me quite a bit inside the house. The roof corniche edges are home to 1000s of these tiny dudes, they are cute and persistent, they happily walk around, sometimes they just drop in or will be 'hanging around'. I tried all sorts of HIT/Baygon/Mortien with no luck until I read some serious reviews from people who have spent quite some time researching the topic and these crawlies. Apparently, the HIT types are not very effective on Spiders because of the way they are intended to work/harm these bugs. According to many the best way to get rid of them is with strong smells, the most common suggestion was Peppermint oil, I dint have Peppermint ready, but tried with Lemongrass oil, the result was much better than Hit & Mortien.

Maybe in addition to all the suggestions given here, you could try some peppermint / Lemongrass oil. Vinegar may work as well, but you don't want your car smelling like it.

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by vasant.guru@gma

Lol, whatever you do OP, pls for the love of god don't spray red hit or any hit into your brand new car's
AC vents. This forum is truly amazing.

Absolutely! Please don't even think of using HIT or Baygon types. You risk ruining the HVAC in entirety and most importantly, the odour will never completely go away. As many have mentioned before, use peppermint oil which is a tried and tested method. In my case, I hang Camphor Cones in my boot, under the hood and also inside the cabin.

[theqca]

Enough has already been said on this topic but since its about spiders I just had to add my two bits.

I love spiders (and all sorts of creepy crawlies) and have been photographing them for a long time.

Now I do understand you don't like them and wouldn't be okay with them in your car so the only advise I can give you is do not create an environment where they would like to live in.

Think logically what sort of a place spiders would like to live in - and make sure your car is not like that.

I believe they were living in your "new" car for quite some time. Its also possible that they were there inside some parts which were fitted in your car at the factory - anything hollow and dark. A "new" car might be a few months old at the factory / dealer yard etc.

I see some suggestions about leaving the car windows open - that would let in other insects and would be heaven for the spiders.

I feel the issue would sort itself out after a few services and some good usage.

[NPV]

Instead of Hit spray, use "Liqui moly Klima Fresh" aerosol spray to clean and disinfect the AC vents. I'm sure the service center guys will know this - it's one of their usual upsell items, but in your case it makes more sense to use this.

The service center guys will also be able to do a quick routine of spraying compressed air into the AC vents to clean them.

[Desmosedici]

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

This is a great suggestion! I keep getting various creepy crawlies in my car from time to time including white spiders and while they have so far gone away on their own, I would like to dissuade them from coming in the first place. Can you let me know the proportions in which you use the above ingredients in your homemade concoction?

No hard and fast rule regarding the proportion. Maybe 500 ml of water in a sprayer bottle and just add the other 'ingredients' liberally. It should smell right.


For OP
In my opinion, you should do a full pressure wash of the car, clean the engine area, blow and vacuum the interiors and then use this concoction. Washing, blowing and vacuuming might get rid of quite a sizeable population.

[Aish_4761]

People haven't suggested one of those foam based AC duct cleaner sprays available on Amazon so far, I would like to know if that won't make any difference in this situation or they didn't want to suggest it due to something else? Those foam sprays are relatively cheap and since, designed for cleaning the duct, it won't be toxic, probably won't hurt the "New Car Fragrance" as well!

[swarnava.ch]

I wanted to update this thread with the latest situation.
I have been diligently following the suggestions about parking my car in the sun during day and running heater at full blast for the last 4 to 5 days.
I sprayed IPC solution and tried to clean as much as possible.
I tried the other idea of with water / vinegar Dettol and Listerine once as well.
Not sure which one of these worked but after the first three days of this ritual, now I don’t see any more spiders, dead or otherwise.
Now what I am wondering is if they have really left the car or they are re grouping in their secret hideaway for a grand revenge plan.
Last step for me is to take the car tomorrow for 1 Month first servicing and get a good interior and AC Duct cleaning done.

Thanks again for the amazing suggestions and viewpoints shared on this.