The Toyota Yaris is a popular little car, and for good reason. We love them, however, they aren't without their problems, as we can see on this video. The leaks found on this Yaris are all fairly common issues.
While they are in themselves, no big deal, they have led to a situation where all four footwells are soaked. The seals around the lights can be easily replaced, although most people will take the cheaper option of putting on a sealant, which is probably what we would do with the rubber boot that surround the cable at the top of the tailgate. Likewise, we can put a rubber restorer on the rubber boot-surround and stick it back into place.
However, if you look at the video carefully, you'll see there is quite a lot of carpet and underlay for a cheap little car. There's less of it than you would find on a family saloon, but still enough to hold quite a lot of water. That top layer of carpet isn't particularly porous in many cars because of the way it's moulded. The water got under there by seeping underneath. So once the leaks have stopped, even though no more water is getting in, there will be a load of water trapped in that inch think underlay. You would think this would probably just dry out in a few weeks, but it isn't actually that easy for it to evaporate. It is important to lift those carpets up, suck out as much water as you can, and let it all dry before putting the car back together.
If you don't, it will stay wet for months, the whole car will be damp, the moisture will combine with traces of dirt, and mould and bacteria will thrive, causing you a health hazard. It's an almost perfect environment for growing nasty stuff that's bad for your lungs. We don't like to scare our customers and most of our marketing has a positive spin, however, a car like this is often "mum's car". It's the kind of vehicle which does the school run, or you do your shopping in. So we do encourage you to take mould and bacteria seriously. We do!
We disinfect the car before starting work, we thoroughly dry the cars we have repaired, and in case of serious mould issues, we are fully equipped for environmental decontamination of biohazards.
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