Spider Webs Force Mazda Recall
Spiders have a strange and diverse reputation among humans. Some of us fear their presence while others consider them a sign of good luck depending on the time of day we come across them.
Whatever be the case, Mazda car-makers are not very happy with the spiders that have found a home in the vent line of their vehicles.
Some 65,000 Mazda6 cars are being recalled because the Japanese car company fears spiders in the fuel system. The recall covers 50,000 vehicles made in 2009 and 2010 in the US, and another 15,000 in Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
“Dealers have found 20 cases where the webs of yellow sac spiders were found in a vent line. It is not clear why the spider likes to build nests in the Mazda6…Perhaps yellow sac spiders like to go zoom-zoom,” joked Mazda spokesman Jeremy Barnes, referring to the company’s advertising slogan.
All of the “infected” cars had 4-cylinder engines; none with V6′s.
Although there have not been any accidents to date that can be attributed to the presence of these nests, they still have the potential of causing a serious problem.
The danger lies in the blockage of the evaporative canister vent line, which runs from a charcoal-filled canister that cleans air coming out of the gas tank. They could increase negative air pressure in the fuel tank, which in turn could cause cracks and fire.
Just to be on the safe side, dealers check all of the cars carefully for cracks and install a spring in the line to keep the spiders away from the evaporative canister vent line.
The Mazda car company is doing all that it can to insure the safety of its vehicles.
The spiders, however, are quite another story.
In the sort-of words of a bearded, rather eloquent Elizabethan bard:
“Oh, what tangled webs we weave even when not meant to deceive….”
(Link)
By MDeeDubroff on 11-03-2011
