Leak??

Oh they took the car to the Massachusetts service center again. I’m currently the proud driver of a 2020 Chrysler 300 from
Hertz until they figure it out.
Ouch. That is one of the reasons I have stayed away from Alfas. It is also one of the advantages of sticking with BMW or MB as they do have a good supply of loaners (or at least my BMW store does...every time I needed service and called, they said come right in and they had a loaner for me.

A Chrysler 300 is essentially an updated 2006 MB E series (at least the chassis is from that 2006 E series when Daimler owned Chrysler). The BMW and MB stores are about 5-10 minutes away from my house; the Lucid service center is more like 25-30 minutes away. But still way better than most cities.

The last time I had service it was in December and BMW had to replace the battery pack ( a bad cell but for some reason they decided to replace the entire pack on my 530e). Initially they gave me a pretty basic 330i; After I learned it was going to be in the shop for a while as they had to order in the batteries, I asked if they had something a little closer to my loaded 5 series. They came up with a Hertz Cadillac XTS which, while not my 5 series, is a whole lot better than a Chrysler 300.
 
Ouch.

A Chrysler 300 is essentially an updated 2006 MB E series
Ha I’d much rather have a 16 year old MB than this turd rental car. It’s beyond stupid, has a dial shifter that’s clunky and catches, there’s this weird transmission bulge in the passenger side, there’s a useless thin slot next to the shifter that holds nothing, the interior dash display is hilarious like who gives a crap about brightly lit up RPM on this Chrysler slug?

Lucid updated me, they can’t replicate the leak, I’m beginning to wonder if I did something stupid like when closing the door maybe my jacket or bag bumped the door rubber gasket and bent it in such a way that it allowed water in, and then when I later opened the door it went back to it’s normal place? Totally bizarre. In any case hopefully it was just some random freak occurrence. The window weren’t down and the doors were closed so I’m at a loss as to what could have happened. They’re still investigating the vibration, they didn’t say if they were able to replicate it or not but they said they are looking into the tires more so maybe there is something to the sound deadening foam being a problem? I’ll try to be patient as I’ll give them credit for being extremely thorough and not dismissive…..but I want my car back please!
 
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Could the seat belt have gotten caught in the door somehow, might just have been enough to cause a crimp in the gasket?
 
Could the seat belt have gotten caught in the door somehow, might just have been enough to cause a crimp in the gasket?
Oh that’s a good point, totally possible! I had gone out to my car to grab a snack I left in the center console and it was pouring rain then so I was really hustling and I remember my jacket getting caught on the seatbelt and getting annoyed cuz I was getting soaked, so maybe it did get caught on the rubber seal and water then tracked down it under the seat. I suppose it’s a relief they can’t replicate the leak, I’d much rather learn nothing is wrong with the car.
 
Could the seat belt have gotten caught in the door somehow, might just have been enough to cause a crimp in the gasket?
Man you are a genius, the service rep Markus agrees this may have been what happened as they did a very thorough leak test and could find no problem. This might allow me to get my car back sooner, thanks.
 
I really hope that was it since it is better it be something random like that than a real fit and finish issue. When you mentioned your jacket in a previous post, it just made sense that it could be the seat belt as I have had mine get stuck like that in my M5, difference was I knew it when it happened and it wasn’t raining.
 
I actually get a Giulia loaner every time my Giulia goes in for service which has been a lot lately. Hence the deposit on an Air Pure.
A neighbor of mine had both BMWs and a Giulia. I asked him about service. He said the Alfa dealer had two Alfas as loaners...otherwise...most likely Fiats or a Chrysler 300!
 
This sounds super frustrating. Really sorry to hear it. Also sorry to hear about the loaner. SA on my test drive today assured me that Lucid will always give you a Lucid Air as a loaner. I didn’t want to get into it with him, but in the back of my head I’m wondering how that’s possible at current production volumes. That might be their goal, but they are probably months or more away from being there.
 
This sounds super frustrating. Really sorry to hear it. Also sorry to hear about the loaner. SA on my test drive today assured me that Lucid will always give you a Lucid Air as a loaner. I didn’t want to get into it with him, but in the back of my head I’m wondering how that’s possible at current production volumes. That might be their goal, but they are probably months or more away from being there.
I presume they would likely give Airs as loaners to DE or AGT owners. Touring and Pure will likely not get Airs.
 
This sounds super frustrating. Really sorry to hear it. Also sorry to hear about the loaner. SA on my test drive today assured me that Lucid will always give you a Lucid Air as a loaner. I didn’t want to get into it with him, but in the back of my head I’m wondering how that’s possible at current production volumes. That might be their goal, but they are probably months or more away from being there.
Noooo, my DA specifically said that’s unlikely because they want to deliver as many airs as possible, which I’m fine with.
She said they don’t have many if any loaners, it’s hard enough to get test drive vehicles for the studios. Also their rentals come from Hertz, who suck. Most of their higher end vehicles are higher mileage beat up cars. Hertz did arrange rides for me to and from the rental location though, all on Lucid’s dime of course.

The only other explanation I can think of that could have caused the leak is if my door was doing the soft-close malfunction like what happened in the Edmunds review, but I’ve never seen it do that or had any problems with door openings/handles at all. The seatbelt getting caught without me noticing it and creating a temporary gap in the rubber door seal makes the most sense to me since their leak test found nothing. The pattern of water underneath the seat supports that, as it could have channeled down the seatbelt housing, as literally all other surfaces in the car were bone dry.
 
Noooo, my DA specifically said that’s unlikely because they want to deliver as many airs as possible, which I’m fine with.
She said they don’t have many if any loaners, it’s hard enough to get test drive vehicles for the studios. Also their rentals come from Hertz, who suck. Most of their higher end vehicles are higher mileage beat up cars. Hertz did arrange rides for me to and from the rental location though, all on Lucid’s dime of course.

The only other explanation I can think of that could have caused the leak is if my door was doing the soft-close malfunction like what happened in the Edmunds review, but I’ve never seen it do that or had any problems with door openings/handles at all. The seatbelt getting caught without me noticing it and creating a temporary gap in the rubber door seal makes the most sense to me since their leak test found nothing. The pattern of water underneath the seat supports that, as it could have channeled down the seatbelt housing, as literally all other surfaces in the car were bone dry.
Could it be a clogged channel that’s supposed to move rain water from top of the car to a weep hole below the door? Often hear of the problem you describe on cars with a sunroof. There’s a channel on each of the driver and passenger side, that moves water collected from around the sunroof, out through the bottom of the door. When one of those gets clogged (small piece of leaf), it results in water backing up into the cabin. Depending on location of weep hole and channel, usually the front footwell of whatever side is clogged. You can usually find the weep holes if you look around under the doors or at the bottom of the frame. The fix is usually a puff or two of compressed air into the channel.
 
Could it be a clogged channel that’s supposed to move rain water from top of the car to a weep hole below the door? Often hear of the problem you describe on cars with a sunroof. There’s a channel on each of the driver and passenger side, that moves water collected from around the sunroof, out through the bottom of the door. When one of those gets clogged (small piece of leaf), it results in water backing up into the cabin. Depending on location of weep hole and channel, usually the front footwell of whatever side is clogged. You can usually find the weep holes if you look around under the doors or at the bottom of the frame. The fix is usually a puff or two of compressed air into the channel.
Interesting, that’s definitely a possibility. On my car when you open the door you see a LOT of retainer water dump out of the seals and run outside the car and lower door sill, but that water didn’t dump into the car because I saw the water channel away from the car when I opened the door. But maybe there is a weep hole that’s not aligned or blocked and it was getting in that way, may be the case since all that water dumped when I opened the door, you’d think you wouldn’t see that much retained water if it was working correctly. But they did do a thorough leak test and I’d think that would have shown a problem with the weep hole if that were the case.
 
I presume they would likely give Airs as loaners to DE or AGT owners. Touring and Pure will likely not get Airs.
My SA said that it is highly unlikely you will get a Lucid for a loaner. He also said you probably won't get a car comparable to a Lucid. I asked if that meant I would get a Toyota Carolla or something like that, he didn't say no. There is nothing in the commitment that says they have to give you a Lucid loaner either. Until the production backlog is eliminated, you won't see a Lucid loaner for a couple of years. Lucid has over 30,000 reservations now and growing, and since they are only producing 14,000 cars in 2022, and likely the same in 2023, the backlog won't disappear until 2024 or 2025. I will demand at least a loaner comparable to a Lucid in size and near quality.
 
Noooo, my DA specifically said that’s unlikely because they want to deliver as many airs as possible, which I’m fine with.
She said they don’t have many if any loaners, it’s hard enough to get test drive vehicles for the studios. Also their rentals come from Hertz, who suck. Most of their higher end vehicles are higher mileage beat up cars. Hertz did arrange rides for me to and from the rental location though, all on Lucid’s dime of course.

The only other explanation I can think of that could have caused the leak is if my door was doing the soft-close malfunction like what happened in the Edmunds review, but I’ve never seen it do that or had any problems with door openings/handles at all. The seatbelt getting caught without me noticing it and creating a temporary gap in the rubber door seal makes the most sense to me since their leak test found nothing. The pattern of water underneath the seat supports that, as it could have channeled down the seatbelt housing, as literally all other surfaces in the car were bone dry.
This should be easy for the service center to try and replicate. Just have them close the door on the seat belt and re-run the leak test?
 
“I will demand at least a loaner comparable to a Lucid in size and near quality.”
LOL
 
“I will demand at least a loaner comparable to a Lucid in size and near quality.”
LOL
My rental before this Chrysler 300 crap mobile was a 2018 BMW 320i that drove fine but reeked of weed. The rental car industry is in shambles and Providence RI is probably scraping the bottom of the barrel more than most.
 
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