Imagine this scenario: You're cruising around comfortably in your 2013 Toyota Avalon (I know it's tough to think about, stay with me here), listening to your favorite AM talk radio station when BANG! The airbag explodes in your face. Who's to blame? Spiders, of course!
Toyota, however, is working on a fix for this creepy, eight-legged Avalon scourge. CNN Money reports that 870,000 2012 and 2013 Camrys, Avalons and Venzas due to a problem with an air conditioner part could cause airbags to deploy unnecessarily.
In some cases, the deployment was caused by spiders — their webs can create a blockage in a drainage tube coming from the air conditioning condenser, which causes water to drip into the airbag control module resulting in a short circuit. Long story short is spiders = an airbag exploding in your face.
From the story:
So far, Toyota is aware of three airbag deployments as a result of this and 35 cases of warning lights coming on, Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight said. In the cases Toyota has investigated, the only consistent cause of the blockages has been spider webs. Knight could not say if spiderwebs caused every incident, however.
This is not the first time spiders have targeted our Japanese sedans. In 2011 Mazda recalled more than 50,000 Mazda6-es because spiders liked to nest in their fuel systems.
Spiders are nature's assholes.
Photo credit Toyota/Shutterstock
Hat tip to Mary!