Spiderwebs Can Cause Problem that Forced Toyota Recall
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(TORRANCE, Calif.) — Last week, Toyota announced a recall of over 800,000 vehicles in the United States due to a problem that could cause air bags to inadvertently deploy or be disabled. On Monday, a Toyota spokesperson confirmed that the issue can be caused by spiders.
The recall affects 2012-2013 Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, and Venza models.
Toyota says that spiderwebs can cause a blockage that in turn creates problems with the vehicles’ air bags. “In the involved vehicles, water from the air conditioning condenser unit housing could leak onto the air bag control module and cause a short circuit, resulting in illumination of the air bag warning light,” Toyota said.
So far, Toyota says they are aware of three air bag deployments and 35 warning light issues caused by this problem, though they were unable to confirm whether spiders were behind each of those instances.
In some cases, the power steering assist function in affected models could become inoperable, according to the recall notice.
Toyota said it will apply sealant and install a cover to the air conditioning condenser unit housing seam, located above the air bag control module.
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