Car will not update. Lucid says needs new telematics module not covered by warranty. Is this normal?

[levsha]

But people seem to want to start making decisions on those guesses, like "not ordering gravity" or "selling my air" or whatever, and that is what I am saying is misguided.

Who are these people?
Because I've checked what I've written in my messages and I don't see any decisions there.
However at the end everyone makes decisions based on the information only available to them, that is usually not full, that means they make some guesses and assumptions.

 

[levsha]

Is it? There is currently no update. There is no possible way for the car to update. It does not know about a new server, and thus there is no update for it to grab and install. That seems like a perfectly fine implementation of the check in the firmware.

Why would I tell you about an OTA update you can no longer install? That would be terrible UX!

(See? These things are rarely as simple as they seem at first glance.)

And that is clearly bad design of the OTA protocol. Because there has to be clearly the difference between "your FW version is up to date" and "there was an error during checking for updates".
And it is simple to implement:
* The car periodically checks "Here am I. My current version is a.b.c. Is there a new version for me?"
* The OTA server either:
1) responses "here is the version x.y.z for you"
2) responses "your version a.b.c is up to date"
3) responses with an error or doesn't response at all
* The car:
1) shows "there is the new version x.y.z to be updated"
2) shows "it's up to date"
3) after some period of retries and pauses shows "Can't check for OTA updates. Please contact the dealer".

Is this implementation doable? Sure! Complicated? Well slightly more than a very simple one. However any good code is just a little portion of the actual work and a huge portion of error processing. And just silently hiding the error that happened during checking for OTA updates is clearly the bad design of the code.

 

[rking0122]

@borski @Bobby My comment about one line of code was not meant to be literal. I just think it would have been a good idea if instead of saying what it said, it could have said "Call Lucid" or "Schedule Service" or "Update Error". Wishful thinking on my part I guess.

In the meantime, my app is now pinging me that some kind of software update occurred and my car finally physically moved a little on the map. For that I am grateful.

 

[borski]

@borski @Bobby My comment about one line of code was not meant to be literal. I just think it would have been a good idea if instead of saying what it said, it could have said "Call Lucid" or "Schedule Service" or "Update Error". Wishful thinking on my part I guess.

In the meantime, my app is now pinging me that some kind of software update occurred and my car finally physically moved a little on the map. For that I am grateful.

I completely agree it would have been a good idea in hindsight. No argument from me there.

But, without that hindsight, they'd have to get it on the car somehow, which would be via an OTA, and if it never got installed, here we are. I don't know if that's what happened, but if we're speculating, sure why not.

To be clear, again: your experience sucks. You are blameless and I would be annoyed in your position as well. I do think Lucid should cover it, just for PR reasons, since this isn't a common occurrence. But that's just my opinion.

I just don't think Lucid is necessarily acting in bad faith, which appears to be the prevailing assumption amongst many of the posters here. That's all.

It still sucks to be you right now, and I wouldn't trade places, heh. <3

 

[borski]

Who are these people?
Because I've checked what I've written in my messages and I don't see any decisions there.
However at the end everyone makes decisions based on the information only available to them, that is usually not full, that means they make some guesses and assumptions.

Hm, a random quick assortment:

It's a great vehicle, but there's a reason it's my first ever lease, and why I don't think I could ever consider actually purchasing or owning a Lucid. I hope they're following this.

I was considering a Gravity. Not anymore. If this is Lucid 's idea of how to treat customers, I don't want anything to do with them.

So it looks like my post #26 is dead on. This is silly on the part of that service manager.

Oh, and hey look:

TBH it's pretty significant incident for me to think about to buy or not to buy Gravity - I'm not sure I'll be happy to wait for replacement part to be delivered oversees because the dealer decided to just replace it when I did not mistakes.

I know you said "think about" and thus that's not a decision, but it's clearly influencing it.

You know what, I don't care anymore. I'm done. This argument is asinine and we are spinning in circles. I wanted to close this thread eight pages ago, except for allowing @rking0122 to post updates, because I knew it was just going to spin in circles and that is exactly what happened.

Have fun. I'm done getting dizzy.

 

[emoylv]

There's an adage that says, "The customer is always right." There are several Lucid employees that are members of this forum. Surely one of you must have connections to someone with influence. For $1,400, Lucid is missing a tremendous amount of (basically) good will publicity. There's also a saying that 1 "oh S**t gets rid of 100 attaboys. At Lucid's current burn rate, $1,400 isn't even a roundoff error. There are a lot of attaboys available for practically nothing. I'm hopeful that someone at Lucid has already taken this ball and run with it. Fingers crossed.

 

[suchluke]

To be clear, again: your experience sucks. You are blameless and I would be annoyed in your position as well. I do think Lucid should cover it, just for PR reasons, since this isn't a common occurrence. But that's just my opinion.

This right there! 1 bad experience that is not common and it's not really helping Lucid reputation. I also agree with you that Lucid is not acting in a bad faith here. Also, I think others here think that way as well. I just think it could have been handled better by Lucid based on my own experience and what others said. Meaning throw a bone and maybe cover at least half of the cost out of the good will. This whole experience makes me think of two things and these are purely my own observations not necessarily a norm: 1) Second hand owners are treated differently because they didn't contribute to the revenue. 2) Repairing Lucid at the service center outside of warranty will be very expensive. I hope Lucid is not looking at Service Centers as another stream of revenue what Tesla is doing now.

 

[suchluke]

There's an adage that says, "The customer is always right." There are several Lucid employees that are members of this forum. Surely one of you must have connections to someone with influence. For $1,400, Lucid is missing a tremendous amount of (basically) good will publicity. There's also a saying that 1 "oh S**t gets rid of 100 attaboys. At Lucid's current burn rate, $1,400 isn't even a roundoff error. There are a lot of attaboys available for practically nothing. I'm hopeful that someone at Lucid has already taken this ball and run with it. Fingers crossed.

I am fairly certain that this has been brought up and discussed at the higher level already. At this point they all would like to see this tread go away.

 

[Neurio]

I am fairly certain that this has been brought up and discussed at the higher level already. At this point they all would like to see this tread go away.

I think we all would... Infinite loop indeed @Buffalo Bob

 

[Tâm]

This right there! 1 bad experience that is not common and it's not really helping Lucid reputation. I also agree with you that Lucid is not acting in a bad faith here.

I think the thread started because Lucid's explanation doesn't make sense.

Meaning throw a bone and maybe cover at least half of the cost out of the good will.

I don't think a bone is needed. Lucid needs to explain why the service center said the car still has the warranty, but the non-communicating telematics module issue could be resolved for a price.

1) Second hand owners are treated differently because they didn't contribute to the revenue.

I don't think there's a need for charity here: Warranty should be applied equally, whether first or second owner.

2) Repairing Lucid at the service center outside of warranty will be very expensive. I hope Lucid is not looking at Service Centers as another stream of revenue what Tesla is doing now.

Lucid is a for-profit company, so I don't understand the logic behind ensuring service centers are not profitable.

 

[levsha]

I know you said "think about" and thus that's not a decision, but it's clearly influencing it.

Exactly: this is not a decision. Yes, it clearly influencing my future decision. As everything else I know or will know. That exactly how people make decisions: based on all they are aware of. And yes, they are often not aware of everything.

 

[levsha]

1) Second hand owners are treated differently

looks very much like it.

because they didn't contribute to the revenue.

And that is not true. Money don't just come from nowhere. The 1st owner initially paid full price to Lucid, but then got some money back from the 2nd owner. And that means that the part of money Lucid got is from the 1st owner, the other part from 2nd one.

 

[borski]

Exactly: this is not a decision. Yes, it clearly influencing my future decision. As everything else I know or will know. That exactly how people make decisions: based on all they are aware of. And yes, they are often not aware of everything.

OK.

 

[bassem]

One of the luxuries of living in this day and age is that people can communicate around the globe in realtime. I love my Lucid and would like my shares to increase in value. This story is a classic example of how to alienate future buyers after we got into the nitty gritty of tcu updates and broken update paths.

I have talked to at least 100 people after I was asked about my experiences with the vehicle and the company which have all been positive. And as some of you may recall, from the old time De Niro movies, when the mob bosses told him to clean things up, as this stuff becoming public debate was not good for business.

Today Lucid is a niche Luxury EV, but to go mainstream there needs to be some wisdom, as your average buyer doesn’t like to read about these marital infidelities on who did what and who neglected to update when. The point is that we all believe this company can and will continue to create superior American luxury ev’s, no point in tarnishing its reputation over cost saving measures that end up making look the company look petty.

While I can appreciate the technical aspects of this discussion, the end result defeats the purpose as the actual reputation damage far outweighs the service centers revenue from this vehicle.

 

[suchluke]

Lucid is a for-profit company, so I don't understand the logic behind ensuring service centers are not profitable.

Don't get me wrong. I want Lucid to succeed and I understand in order for that to happen it needs to become profitable at some time. My point here is the company (any company) can focus on selling great product and making most of the profit from selling that product (even if it means higher prices) and only charge minimum to cover the operating cost for service, repairs and subscriptions etc. or they can sell a product cheaper and focus on making most of the profit from annual maintenance, service, repairs, subscription costs etc. Think for example laser printer. You can buy one cheap now compered to many years ago. The most of the cost comes from replacing toner cartridges down the road.

 

[suchluke]

Carbuzz reporting on this issue

 

[Tâm]

Carbuzz reporting on this issue

Crickets!

"We reached out to Lucid on November 6 to ask about these issues, the focal point of which appears to be the 2.1.43 update. At the time of publication, Lucid had not replied with a statement or information. We will update this story if more."

 

[Wolfman]

Carbuzz reporting on this issue

Such a dumb move to get negative publicity over $1300.
No consumer will understand why a newish, very low mileage car with factory warranty doesn’t have this taken care of. Every other luxury brand will do that.
It is that simple and the technical merits extensively discussed here are really of no relevance.

 

[borski]

Carbuzz reporting on this issue

“The owner said that because the car he bought had missed one update before he even owned it, it could never be updated again.”

That is not even a little bit true; it was not one missed update. I hate “articles” like this.

 

[Tâm]

“The owner said that because the car he bought had missed one update before he even owned it, it could never be updated again.”

That is not even a little bit true; it was not one missed update. I hate “articles” like this.

I think the context was there's only one

“software version of doom 2.1.43”

As it's called on the Post #104.

He can miss as many versions as he wants but the only one that caused the failure to connect to the new and improved sever is the only missing one “software version of doom 2.1.43”.

Not 2, not 3, but one is enough so far!

You can miss as many as you want AFTER one “software version of doom 2.1.43” but that won't cause failure to connect until there will be a decision from Lucid to create a second one “software version of doom x xx”.

Thus, Lucid needs to come out clean that there would only one “software version of doom" or many in the future as part of a luxury car design.