Arachnophobia!: Spider Menace Grows
Cheiracanthium inclusum is fast becoming the bête noir of the automotive world, first causing a recall of Mazda6s, and now raising concerns about Honda Accords. The LA Times reports:
Honda Motor Co. hasn’t announced a recall but has notified its dealers to be on the lookout for the spider. The company has issued what is known as a technical service bulletin telling Honda mechanics how to fix the problem.
“It was the same scenario and the same breed of spider. It would get in there and create a blockage that would create problems,” said Chris Martin, a Honda spokesman.
Honda doesn’t have a record of how many times it has spotted the problem but said it was big enough to put out the alert. Otherwise, mechanics could be spending many hours searching for the source of the problem, and that would run up the bill for Honda if the cars were still under warranty, or for the owners after the warranty expired.
The weirdest part: Honda spokesfolks say occurrences of spider web fuel line blockages are “pretty random” and not limited to any particular region. The spiders are climbing through non-airtight fuel tank doors and into the gas cap vent hole, where their webs can then clog up the fuel system. Also, the spiders are only attacking late model vehicles, namely 2008-09 Accords and 2009-10 Mazda6s. What nobody knows: why the spiders are suddenly moving into fuel lines, and which cars will be affected next. Are the Hondas and Mazdas the canaries in a horror-movie-scenario coal mine, heralding the crippling of America’s entire auto fleet at the mandibles of an implacable arachnid foe? Probably not, but a blogger can dream…
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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When the GM Oklahoma City Plant was in the final phases of construction, a buddy of mine and I were headed up the ramp into the east entrance of the plant in a golf cart when a huge tarantula crawled in front of us and stopped. I jammed on the brakes and it just stood there daring us to run it over. Finally, it headed off in the direction of the building where the seats and tires were stored. Hopefully it was dealt with before it reproduced. I wouldn't want to find something like that living under the drivers seat.
GM has noted in its repair manuals that some MIL illumination for slow evap leaks may be caused by spiders entering the vents on the fuel system. When the computer commands the system to test the integrity of the fuel system, it can fail because the spiders prevent the vents from closing tightly, resulting in a trouble code. So Mikey, it seems spiders have warmed up to GM products.
two things re: 8 leggers: Check the instructions that came with your gas grill and you'll likely find some caution that, every spring, you should clean out the spider nests. Mine sez it's the first thing to check if the grill won't light. My missus, who drives a Lex ES 350, reported that a platoon of tiny yellow spiders came marching out of her dashboard vents. She wiped them out with a tissue. I didn't give this report much credit, mostly because it was reported with no trace of drama. But mebbe I'd best check this matter . . .
Spiders in the fuel lines are a bit far-fetched. They should have started with dung beetles designing Acura grilles, and worked up from there.