It's unlikely this is diversity hire, appliances have been doing this shit for a long time - this is the result of cutting costs beyond the bare minimum. I worked for one of their competitors for a few years, it wasn't uncommon to get the control boards from certain models with tracks burnt off because there was absolutely no protection in drive circuitry for motors and solenoids, and in some cases, the input to the power supplies. The only reason the things didn't burn is the tracks were undersized and burnt off before any heat could start fires. It looks like what's going on here is something broke or is carboned up, and the thing is arcing - or they didn't use a good seal and it gets soaked with water and corrodes. Appliances, especially the ones with fancy-pants digital controls, are built as cheap as shit, although the controllers have gotten better because they're made in China instead of Mexico these days, and that wasn't a high bar to clear at the start.