Remember Mazda’s 2011 recall caused by gasoline-sniffing spiders? Well, despite the automaker’s efforts to solve the problem, spiders have still found a way to get into the Mazda6’s fuel tank vent line.
According to the report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “Mazda North America Operations is recalling certain model year 2010-2012 Mazda6 vehicles manufactured September 14, 2009, through May 2, 2011, and equipped with 2.5L engine. In the affected vehicles, spiders may weave a web in the evaporative canister vent hose, blocking it and causing the fuel tank to have an excessive amount of negative pressure.”
If that happens, the emission control system will have a hard time purging the vapors from the canister, with repeated purges causing a stress on the fuel tank that may result in a crack, “potentially leading to fuel leakage and an increased risk of fire.”
Mazda said it is not aware of any fires related to this condition. The recall includes 42,000 Mazda6 sedans with 2.5-liter engines from the 2010-2012 model years.
Following the 2011 recall, Mazda attempted to remedy the problem by adding a spring to the canister vent line to prevent spiders from crawling inside. However, even after the fix, there were nine cases in which tanks were damaged.
The solution engineers have come up with now is a change in the car’s software that would keep tanks from cracking even if a spider web blocks a vent. In other words, the score in the Mazda – spiders match is now 0-2.
By Dan Mihalascu
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