And, again . . .

[hmp10]

On July 25 our car went to a Service Center to have all the cameras replaced due to a system fault. While there, a sun visor fell off, requiring the replacement of the windshield, and the driver door handle failed to present, requiring a new opening mechanism. Then they noticed a problem with the high rear brake light, requiring replacement of that panel. The car was at the Service Center for two weeks.

The day after it came back to us, the car shut down in heavy traffic at rush hour on a 6-lane highway. The car was trucked back to the Service Center where two battery coolant leaks were found to be the culprit. The leaks were repaired, and the car was put back on a truck to be returned to us. While en route, Lucid Engineering detected an anomaly signal from the battery pack, and the truck was turned around to take the car back to the Service Center. It was determined that the isolation between two modules had been breached, and the entire battery pack had to be replaced (a $41,000 repair covered by warranty). After two more weeks at the Service Center, the car was returned to us last Thursday, August 24.

Today -- five days later -- I was driving home from a medical appointment, and the car once again went into "power limit" mode at almost exactly the same place the car had shut down almost three weeks earlier. This time the car was still drivable at speeds up to about ~45 mph. I was able to get off the 6-lane roadway and onto side streets to get me the last few miles to the house with less fear of being rear-ended. I called Lucid, and they ran a remote diagnostic which indicated the rear drive unit had failed. I was told not to drive the car and that it would be picked up in a couple of days (as Hurricane Idalia has shut down trucking on Florida's west coast right now).

We've had the use of this car for 5 days out of the past five weeks and are about to lose its use for another prolonged period. Lucid's service operation is very responsive. I wish I could say the same for the car. I no longer have confidence in putting it back on the road even after the next round of repairs.

 

[Shane_SLC]

It's been nearly unbelievable how many issues you've had over all this time and the amount of patience and grace you've maintained. I hope that whatever happens going forward Lucid will make things right for you, even if it means keeping the car and giving your money back. All the best.

 

[Lucken]

Absolutely beyond belief that you guys are having such a deluge of horrific luck. I’ve never seen anything like this. Good grief, they’ve rebuilt almost the entire car, and it’s not even your first. It’s got to turn around at some point, but honestly, I wouldn’t want my car anywhere near you, you’re cursed.

 

[hydbob]

Well this sucks. Suffice to say, only the front drive unit is left eh?

 

[Drendino]

I hate to say it, but I think you have the literal definition of a lemon. I think it’s time to request a replacement and if that doesn’t work, time to enact the lemon law. I hope in the end you end up with a Lucid because it’s just not supposed to be this way.

 

[hellolucid]

I hope Lucid gives you a brand new car just because of all the issues you had over the past year or so.

 

[Amster]

I hope Lucid gives you a brand new car just because of all the issues you had over the past year or so.

Yeah, that is way more issues than any owner should have. Way more than just about any owner has had.

 

[racerx2095]

This is insane … you’ve got a lemon, to put it mildly. Lucid must replace your car.

 

[Bobby]

This is insane … you’ve got a lemon, to put it mildly. Lucid must replace your car.

Depending on state of residence, the word “lemon” has very specific legal definitions. I hope Lucid and OP can work something out that solves this issue.

 

[DBV]

That stinks. Lucid needs to buy your car back and then you can decide what to buy next. There is no way you should have to keep that car.

 

[joec]

I could be wrong, but he didn’t buy this car from Lucid. It was an existing DE car bought from a private seller. All the same, it has been an unbelievable journey of bad luck, and anything Lucid could do to make it better would be appropriate. Perhaps they should just replace the front motor, which I believe is the only major part that has not gone wrong on this car at this point.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

My man, my daughter’s favorite movie is on Apple
TV, called Luck. The main character Sam has comically bad luck constantly until finding a lucky penny from the land of luck. I hope you find a lucky penny . Of course there’s nothing funny about your situation. It’s a tough call as to what to do, in one sense I’d consider a new battery pack/drive unit less likely to fail thus making the car good for the future, especially since they’ve now replaced your old car once and then have mostly rebuilt your replacement car….but when you factor your luck into it

 

[CraZ8]

Really at this point they should give you a new car. This is beyond beta testing, this is at the intersection of comedy and tragedy. And for these problems to pile up on one of the biggest brand boosters / ambassadors for Lucid to boot. You got a Monday car ( assembly line workers still hungover from the weekend) as well as an early car (production techniques still in flux)there is just no amount of fix that will cure this car completely.

 

[Tesla2.0]

Today -- five days later -- I was driving home from a medical appointment, and the car once again went into "power limit" mode at almost exactly the same place the car had shut down almost three weeks earlier. This time the car was still drivable at speeds up to about ~45 mph.

I’m sorry to hear the awful situation and I cannot imagine how I would feel in your shoe and still being very composed here not to lash out tsunami of anger.

This is very peculiar situation and pure speculation on my part. I believe a few months back @Bunnylebowski had instrument panel display error issue whenever he was passing through certain area under the bridge perhaps some radar or radio wave in the same area affecting it. In your case, since Air’s motor-inverter-transmission packaged powertrain is comprised of electric permanent-magnet motor component, could certain same area causing demagnetization in that GPS location which affected your rear drive train result in turtle mode?

I don’t mean being ridiculous in my hypothesis. Any wild scenario can happen. Florida is part of Bermuda Triangle with many naval or aerial instruments go bad or lost signal, and even recently many UFO sighting in and out of sea surface. Just throw out wild guess, perhaps DE has certain component that is more sensitive in that location than rest of the trim?

 

[racerx2095]

Really at this point they should give you a new car. This is beyond beta testing, this is at the intersection of comedy and tragedy. And for these problems to pile up on one of the biggest brand boosters / ambassadors for Lucid to boot. You got a Monday car ( assembly line workers still hungover from the weekend) as well as an early car (production techniques still in flux)there is just no amount of fix that will cure this car completely.

Nah, this is more like a car made by a scab during a strike, on a Monday, no less.

 

[Halodde]

So sorry to hear this. I won't offer suggestions, just wish peace of mind for you with whatever the outcome

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I’m sorry to hear the awful situation and I cannot imagine how I would feel in your shoe and still being very composed here not to lash out tsunami of anger.

This is very peculiar situation and pure speculation on my part. I believe a few months back @Bunnylebowski had instrument panel display error issue whenever he was passing through certain area under the bridge perhaps some radar or radio wave in the same area affecting it. In your case, since Air’s motor-inverter-transmission packaged powertrain is comprised of electric permanent-magnet motor component, could certain same area causing demagnetization in that GPS location which affected your rear drive train result in turtle mode?

I don’t mean being ridiculous in my hypothesis. Any wild scenario can happen. Florida is part of Bermuda Triangle with many naval or aerial instruments go bad or lost signal, and even recently many UFO sighting in and out of sea surface. Just throw out wild guess, perhaps DE has certain component that is more sensitive in that location than rest of the trim? View attachment 14578

Ah yeah I did get a drive system error but the car still drove completely normal. That was awhile ago so the vehicle may have some software upgrades since then which deliberately power limit the car to protect it when an error is thrown, not sure. Interestingly Matt Watson on CarWow just a couple days ago did a video of an air Dream Performance not unlike @hmp10 car versus a Porsche 911 Turbo S, and in his launches he’d get a random drive system error on the dashboard, but the car behaved normally and still beat the Porsche under most conditions (even won the 1 mile race despite top speed being limited to 168mph). Of note the drag strip is at an airfield so perhaps there was some radar causing fault messages?

 

[hmp10]

I could be wrong, but he didn’t buy this car from Lucid. It was an existing DE car bought from a private seller. All the same, it has been an unbelievable journey of bad luck, and anything Lucid could do to make it better would be appropriate. Perhaps they should just replace the front motor, which I believe is the only major part that has not gone wrong on this car at this point.

You are correct. Our original Dream Edition (No. 154) was totaled when a young driver who had just gotten his first car (a Subaru WRX) three weeks earlier turned left in front of us at an intersection. That first car was plagued with software-related problems during the UX 1.0 era (and a few very minor trim issues), most of which disappeared with the advent of UX 2.0. In the just over 17,000 miles we had that car, it had no drive system problems at all.

Since we so liked the first car and wanted another Dream Edition, which were now out of production, we located an identical car (No. 395) at a dealer in New Hampshire with a bit over 5,000 miles on it. Lucid checked the service records of the car and told me it had no significant service history other than a couple of recalls. Now, with less than half the miles on it of our original Dream Edition, this car seems to be falling apart.

I haven't yet looked into Florida's Lemon Law regarding its applicability to used cars still in warranty. For one thing, Lucid has been very responsive to the problems so far, sometimes actually surprising me with how far backwards they bend to be accommodating. And I'm hesitant to initiate a Lemon Law claim that is reported publicly, as I really don't think the company deserves that at this juncture. Also, I sunk $20,000 into a radar/laser detector installation and a full body wrap on this car, and that money would go down the drain with a car swap.

I'm going to see how this repair round goes and then decide whether I need to start discussions with Lucid about next steps. Meanwhile, I'm rethinking our plans to put down a deposit on a Gravity as soon as reservations open up.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I think the other factor is both of your cars were built in 2021. Given the Gravity likely won’t include a lot of brand new tech, I’d like to think Lucid has polished some things since then that will make the Gravity less trouble prone?

 

[hmp10]

I think the other factor is both of your cars were built in 2021. Given the Gravity likely won’t include a lot of brand new tech, I’d like to think Lucid has polished some things since then that will make the Gravity less trouble prone?

That was my assumption when I first decided to replace our Honda Odyssey with a Gravity. And, having been an early adapter of automotive and other products most of my adult life, I've got a fairly thick skin when it comes to the hassles of being a willing guinea pig. But this round is really wearing me down.