This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Car Encounters of the Critter Kind

The day I drove the car to the dealership, the odor was so bad, that my eyes were tearing up even with all the windows open.

A few weeks back, my son noticed a somewhat stale odor in my 7-year old Subaru.  We figured it was something that spilled from the garbage on the way to Harvey’s one Saturday morning.  I turned on the vent fan and the odor went away within a few minutes.  However, the odor persisted and despite sniffing around the entire car, I could not find the source. 

I thought it might be a coolant leak so I made an appointment to get the car looked at. Then, I let the car sit in the garage for a few days because my wife and I went away for a few days.  The day I drove the car to the dealership, the odor was so bad, that my eyes were tearing up even with all the windows open.

Good news – it wasn’t a coolant leak.  Some sort of rodent had made a home in the ventilation system filter.  In the nest, there were fibers from an old blanket we had in the garage, along with pieces of paper and grass.  Rodent was nowhere to be found.  Bad news – the mechanic found an oil leak in my head gasket. 

Find out what's happening in Westboroughwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

I asked the mechanic how the rodent got in there and he told me that if you have the ventilation system on flow through, a door is opened that allows anything to get in.  Now, I keep the airflow on recirculation.

I have owned cars for 31 years and this had never happened to me before.  Heck, this car has been parked in the same garage for as long as I have owned it.  Perhaps I have been lucky not to have been so blessed before.

Find out what's happening in Westboroughwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Two years ago, my wife and I had another critter encounter which was slightly less amusing.  We decided to go skiing the day after New Year’s.  I decided to take Northborough Road to the Simarano Drive on ramp to 495.  It was about 6 AM and it was snowing at a pretty good clip.  Right before the 495 underpass on Northborough Road, we must have startled a herd of deer, and they jumped out in front of the car before I could react.

I remember knocking them down like bowling pins and I ran right over one.  I got out of the car and watched it drag itself away using its front legs because it had probably broken its back.  The others scattered and were nowhere in sight when a Southborough police officer showed up 5 minutes later. By the time the officer and I went over to examine the deer I hit, it had already died, saving the need to put it out of its pain.

Again, I had been driving for 30 years and never had that happen to me before.  My wife and I were lucky – the deer could have gone over the bumper instead of under it.  Given what the front of the car looked like (see photo), I shudder to think what would have happened had the deer gone through the windshield.  The cost of that encounter was about $3000.

Apparently, car encounters with deer are becoming far more common in this area.  Last weekend, I was talking to Police Chief Perron at the Fishing Derby at Sandra Pond.  He told me that there had been around 50 deer collisions with cars in Westborough over the last year, which he was significantly more than he remembered in past years.

So, the next time you curse at a bird that pooped on your car, count your blessings – it could have been worse.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?