Honda Accord was Also Caught Up in the Same Spider Web as the Mazda6

It seems that the petrol-sniffing Yellow Sac spider that forced Mazda to issue a recall on some 52,000 cars in the USA last week has a thing for mid-size Japanese sedans as the eight-legged arthropod also caused problems to Honda in the past. According to reports, Honda posted a Technical Service Bulletin in the summer of 2009 alerting its dealers to check Accords for possible infestation by the Yellow Sac spider, but had not issued a recall then.

“Spider webs are clogging the EVAP canister vent hose or the drain box,” said Honda’s service bulletin with the corrective action being to clean the webs and install a spring in the drain box.

Now, in the wake of the Mazda6 recall, Honda reportedly told its dealers to be on the lookout for the same spider in 2008-2009MY Accords.

But while in the Mazda6 the spider webs could cause air pressure problems in the gas tank potentially leading to a crack and fuel leakage, Honda says that’s not the case with the Accord. "It's just not happening in our cars," Honda spokeswoman Christina Ra told CNN. The company said that in the Accord, the spider webs create blockages with the only visible symptom being a "check engine" light coming on.

Sources: USA Today & CNN

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A Gasoline-Addict Spider Gets 52,000 Mazda6 Cars Recalled in the US

This must be by far the most hilarious recall action we've ever heard about. It involves some 52,000 US-market Mazda6 cars from the 2009 and 2010 model years and a gasoline-loving spider. Yes, you read correctly; it's about a species of a spider that loves to build its web in the Mazda6 vent line, thus endangering the integrity of the gas tank.

“A certain type of spider may weave a web in the evaporative canister vent line and this may cause a restriction in the line," reads the National Highway Traffic Safety Association press release. "If this occurs, the fuel tank pressure may become excessively negative when the emission control system works to purge the vapors from the canister.”

What could happen is that “the stress on the fuel tank may eventually result in a crack, potentially leading to fuel leakage and an increased risk of fire,” adds the document.

The Yellow Sac spider, a common species in the US, likes the smell of hydrogen oxide that gasoline contains. The Mazda6 “has two pipes coming out from its gas tank, which is extremely rare and means that the smell of gasoline is strong enough to draw the spider in but not strong enough to kill it,” said Japanese automotive journalist Mitsuhiro Kunisawa quoted by Reuters, adding that there's no similar problem with any other Mazda car.

The remedy is to install a spring to prevent the spider from entering the vent line. The recall action will be free of charge for owners of the affected cars and will begin on March 25.

By Dan Mihalascu

Sources: NHTSA, Reuters

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