If you’re reading this, you probably know Honda as a company that sells cars. But it sells a lot of other things, too. Motorcycles, generators, lawnmowers, boat engines, airplanes, ATVs, side-by-sides, and even robots.
Honda also sells a product called “rodent tape.” Like me when I first read those words in tandem, I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “Tape made from rodents? That seems pretty gross.” [Ed note: And no, it’s not for repairing or adhering rodents. Sorry! – Pete] Alas, rodent tape is, to my surprise, not made from rodents. It is made for rodents.
Not for rodents to enjoy, though. Actually, the opposite. Rodent tape, despite its inviting tone, is made specifically for rodents to dislike it. It does this in two distinct ways, one of which I presume is far more effective than the other.
Adorable And Threatening At The Same Time
The purpose of rodent tape is to deter rodents from chewing through wires—a problem owners are faced with as rats, mice, squirrels, rats, and others find their way under the hoods of cars. Honda came up with the anti-mouse device to fix damage stemming from animals chewing through its wiring. It works as a shield that protects the wiring from future damage:
The tape’s existence was first highlighted in 2016 when owners filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Honda, claiming they shouldn’t have had to pay for the repairs out of pocket. From NBC News:
The breach of warranty lawsuit, filed last week in Los Angeles and first reported by Courthouse News Service, results from the automaker’s quest to “go green” by using soy-based biodegradable wire coating. The coating costs less than plastic but does have a downside, according to lead plaintiff Daniel Dobbs of Wyoming.
In the lawsuit, Dobbs alleged that he had to pay twice to have chewed-up wires in his 2012 Honda Accord replaced at a Honda dealership. The second time, he said, mechanics wrapped the wires in special tape intended to deter rodents, demonstrating that Honda is aware of the issue.
That lawsuit was eventually dismissed, but to this day, Honda will still sell you individual 60-foot rolls of the rodent tape through its original Equipment manufacturer parts supply network. Like every other OEM Honda part, it comes in a plastic bag with big red HONDA labels (the tape itself is made by Teraoka, a 105-year-old Japanese company known for making all kinds of tapes).
Here’s a statement Honda sent over via email clarifying why it offers the tape, and why rats might target wiring harnesses, even if they’re not soy-based:
It is a long established fact that rodents are drawn to chew on electrical wiring in homes, cars, or anywhere else where they may choose to nest. This rodent damage occurs across the auto industry and is not related to a specific brand or model. Honda introduced a rodent-deterrent tape a few years ago to help combat this age-old issue for customers who live in areas where rodents have caused prior damage. This tape is available through Honda dealers and can be wrapped around wiring if a customer so chooses. It contains Capsaicin, an active component of chili peppers.
Honda sources parts, including electrical wiring and wire harnesses, from several different suppliers who each have their own proprietary formula for wire insulation and wire harnesses. Honda is not aware of studies or information indicating that any of the wiring insulation or other components used for Honda vehicles are derived from substances that attract rodents or increase their propensity to chew on wiring or other components in engine compartments. It is Honda’s understanding that rodents may seek shelter in engine components and once inside, can cause damage as a natural result of their need to chew and use material that has been chewed for nesting. Honda is not aware of any information suggesting rodents use wire insulation as a food source.
Free Will Makes People Do Strange Things Sometimes
From what I can tell, Honda’s rodent tape uses two methods of deterrence to keep rodents at bay.
The first are silhouettes of dead mouse corpses printed on top of the tape strip (you can tell they’re corpses from the “X” symbols where the eyes should be). If I were a mouse, seeing this would be like seeing a skull and crossbones, which would probably be enough to scare me away. Mice are one of the few mammals that pass the mirror test, meaning they can recognize their own reflections. So there’s a small possibility these drawings might actually work (though I have my doubts).
The other, much more effective form of deterrence appears on the sticky side of the tape. According to Honda, the tape is treated with a material called capsaicin, which, according to WebMD, is the chemical component in chili peppers that makes them hot. Rodents hate the stuff, apparently, which deters them from chomping into wires covered in it.
After finding this out, I briefly wondered what this tape might taste like. Surely it wouldn’t taste good, but seeing as it has chili pepper products in it, it would certainly taste like something, right? Thankfully, I don’t have to wonder. By summoning the power of the internet, I’ve found not one, but two different people who have actually tasted Honda’s rodent tape and documented their experiences online.
The first instance comes from Liz Cook, a food writer whose work has appeared in places like the BBC, Eater, and Bon Appétit. Back in 2021, she documented a taste test of the tape on her personal Substack blog, making the rodent deterrant sound … kinda appealing?
It smelled like a Band-Aid-flavored Rockstar Energy drink. It tasted like…heat. The capsaicin was subtler than I expected: nothing abrasive or punishing, just a blushing, ambient warmth like a string of white Christmas lights. There was almost a numbing, mala element, in the vein of a Sichuan peppercorn.
The other taste test comes to us from Zack Nelson, host of the popular YouTube channel JerryRigEverything. He published a YouTube Short back in 2024, trying out the tape, but left a bit underwhelmed. If you can’t see the embedded video above, here’s a quote that sums up his thoughts:
Honestly, not that potent. This whole roll is less spicy than one single pepper that you would get at Subway. It tastes almost like regular electrical tape and I would seriously doubt its ability to deter any rodents.
While the level of capsaicin in Honda’s rodent tape clearly isn’t enough to discomfort humans, it’s likely more than enough to keep mice and rats away, seeing as how Honda requires technicians use it to repair chewed-through wires, per official repair documentation. Off-brand versions, seemingly made by the same brand, also have overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon.
So if you find out your wires have been gnawed at by mice, perhaps consider this Honda part to protect them. And just so we’re clear: Please do not try ingesting it. Let the rats do that.
Top graphic images: Honda; Disney (but it’s the public-domain Mickey, so no worries)
Couldn’t you just bear spray the engine compartment ?
You could.
And there used to be a powder for bird seed made of capsaicin called Squirrel Away.
They make a foam version of pepper spray that is supposed to stay in one place when used indoors.
Might be an option.
This stuff will be active when you get it on your skin or inhale it though.
Yes, interesting thing about peppers, they spread by birds eating them , so they evolved to produce capsaicin which birds cannot taste.
My mother had an assortment of cars over 53 years on a farm/ranch. And there were plenty of rodents and surprisingly, none of them were nibbled on.
I do wonder if an aerosol version of Tabasco might work as a deterrent? It would certainly be easier to apply. Make sure you wear eye protection!
I noticed that only cars parked in the garage or driveway got eaten but the ones in barns or equipment yards did not. Maybe only rodents that are accustomed to being around humans have a taste for cars.
The best part of this whole article is the photo of the package with the words “assembled in USA“.
Love the copyright-expired image of steamboat Willie!
That sounds “kinda appealing” to you? o.O
“[S]ilhouettes of dead mouse corpses printed on top of the tape strip (you can tell they’re corpses from the “X” symbols where the eyes should be).”
Oh, if these mice were actually corpses they’d have two separate Xs, one for each eye, but they only have one X, squashed and in the middle, which is commonly used in cartoon art (such as anime, Western animation, & comic strips) to denote that someone has tasted something bad. Makes a lot more sense, especially since the tape isn’t treated with poison; if it was it’d have to be marketed and handled differently, with MSDS and all, as compared to merely spicy tape.
I’ve wondered about this stuff (rodent tape). Despite the numerous coyotes, hawks, and owls that hang out in the alley behind my house, they’ve yet to actually eradicate the local rodent population. Heavily nibbled underhood wiring and even interior upholstery has happened to neighbors’ cars, even resulting in the junking of an older Range Rover, and the early selling off of a Prius V.
My older Volvo XC90 often sits for extended periods of time, and inevitably, the mice/rats got to it too, though so far they’ve only eaten the heat/sound blanket on the firewall behind the engine and not any vital wires or hoses (AFAIK). I haven’t noticed much/any new nibbling since putting one of those small battery-powered ultrasonic rodent defenders under the hood, which is good, since at $40 a roll, it’d cost several hundred bucks to buy enough rodent tape to cover the huge collection of wires and hoses in the XC90.
As it happens, I dropped the car off at a local independent European car shop yesterday in an effort to resolve a persistent CEL caused by a small leak in the evap recovery system (they found a leaky valve right away using a smoke machine) so the car can be smog tested. When he popped the hood, the first thing I did was apologise about the now-mostly-missing firewall blanket.
PS: hourly labor there is now $225 an hour… just a few years ago (post pandemic, not before) their highest hourly rate was $140. I think they do good work though, and some places with worse reviews charge more. This is the place, for any of you in SoCal: https://saab-and-raffi.com Plus, it’s within (a long, uphill) walk of my home, so I don’t have to bother anyone for a ride. 🙂 When I pick up the XC90, I’m going to have Raffi look at a couple things on my 240 wagon… I just spent a grand on the Miata last week, so 2026 can be a year in which I spent $$ on all three of my old cars. 🙂
PS: kudos on the Steamboat Willie graphic! 😀
I had a CEL on my Grand Cherokee just after Thanksgiving. It had just been in the shop for a replacement traction control computer which was covered under my lifetime warranty.
Didn’t think much of it but then got a call from the dealer that the issue was caused by rodents chewing through the evaporation line for the gas tank – which was above the tank which of course meant the tank had to be dropped to replace the $25 part.
The irony is that I have a two car garage and the only reason the jeep has been parked outside since we moved is because I had an old utility trailer that can’t be parked outside (HOA) which was taking up the one garage bay. Sitting next to it for four years was a waiting-to-be-assembled folding trailer from Harbor Freight.
So I fixed the barn door after the horse was gone. While the jeep was in the shop I put the trailer together and scrapped the old one right after I got the jeep back.
Procrastination turned into a $2000 lesson. And a souvenir chewed into hard plastic part which I kept.
I wonder if it could have save the filler neck on my Pilot’s gas tank when rodents chewed into it several years back. Created a chronic CEL that would never let me pass inspection, and the estimate to replace the tank was the last straw for the beloved beast–just shy of 250K on the odo.
Same thing happened to my 2010 Honda Fit a few years back, had to replace the tank on it too. That’s when I first learned about this tape.
Henkel has recommended a two part for repairing plastic radiator parts.
Might be useful