Mazda Recalls Cars For Terrifying Reason

On Friday, for the second time in three years, Mazda issued a recall of thousands of cars that were susceptible to — wait for it — spider infestations. A total of 42,000 cars were recalled, and not only because spiders are creepy: It seems the webs the spiders weave can block air flow in the fuel tank hose and pose a fire risk. In other words, Mazda is recalling sedans because spiders can invade the gas tank and make the car explode.

Yellow sac spiders, who are attracted to the hydrocarbons in gasoline, have apparently been making their way into the fuel tank hoses of the Mazda6 sedan. Once inside, they’ve been weaving webs that block the incoming airflow. That puts the hoses at risk of cracking, and the resultant cracks can cause fires. Thankfully, there haven’t been any reports of fires yet, but the company isn’t taking any chances.

Try as they might, the good folks at Mazda just can’t seem to design a Mazda6 that doesn’t attract spiders. It issued a recall of 52,000 vehicles in 2011 due to the same problem; that time, their solution was to install a special spring to prevent the spiders from making their way in. That apparently didn’t work, so this time, they’re tackling the issue via a software update to the car — a bug fix, if you will — that alleviates pressure from the hose itself. So, while Mazda6s may continue to suffer spider infestations, they’ll no longer be at risk of blowing up because of them.