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

[sdlucid]

I think you have a strong case now. The vehicle says it's up to date. And as per you, Lucid did confirm that the warranty was up to date before purchasing the car. I would suggest reaching out to their PR folks or someone in twitter or any other medium. If nothing works, this is an interesting article for the EV-centric websites out there (InsideEvs?), it will also help as an awareness article for those who don't care much about software updates on their vehicle. I would never have thought of a clause like this for warranty. Such an attempt may help catch attention from someone at Lucid to change this warranty policy. It's quite possible that a vehicle on used car dealer lots sit for quite some time without any updates installed.

 

[skomarla]

when cars sit in inventory, i really doubt that someone is going around updating them all so that its within the warranty terms. When I took delivery, I *know* that the service center triggered the updates and there were many. Took several hours. If you have evidence that Lucid stated that the car was under warranty before purchasing, honestly, take it a lawyer. I'd say you have a case.

 

[AwesoM]

I am a reasonable person and have posted about this *specific* issue in this forum many times before. It is not absurd to expect someone to read the warranty for their vehicle.

That said, this is a case of buyer beware: it is very important, especially with EVs, to make sure the software on the car is up to date before a second hand purchase. If it isn’t, make them update it before you purchase it, for this very reason.

@HariK No. Just because this is the letter of the warranty does not mean Lucid must enforce it. Being out of town and unable to install an update, or it failing, is not an issue, provided you address it relatively promptly. Lucid has no reason to screw anyone over on purpose.

Which brings me to my next point: *technically*, Lucid could say it is no longer a warranty item because when the first owner had it they should have installed the OTAs, and instead it has sat updateless for many months, despite sending out repeated warnings.

That said, I think the right thing for Lucid to do would be to “good will” this particular case in the interest in generating a happy customer, but it’s not insane for them not to, either.

It *would* be different if this were a customer who simply had missed an update or two; this seems to be a case where it has fallen so far behind, despite the warnings, that it was not simply a case of a missed update or two.

While you are making accurate points perhaps I am in the minority, I have never read in detail my warranty contract in any of my last 35 cars. Then again I would not not update my car either

 

[rking0122]

when cars sit in inventory, i really doubt that someone is going around updating them all so that its within the warranty terms. When I took delivery, I *know* that the service center triggered the updates and there were many. Took several hours. If you have evidence that Lucid stated that the car was under warranty before purchasing, honestly, take it a lawyer. I'd say you have a case.

To be fair they haven’t told me the warranty is void. No one at service is telling me that, at least yet, it’s just something that’s being discussed here. They are just telling me the module that’s bad in this case is not a warranty item.

And they’ve repeatedly told me the warranty is active. Even on the form I got when I dropped it off for this issue. They’ve just changed course on this being a warranty item.

 

[borski]

Except I did exactly that. And this is what the car told me. I suppose I should have come here to ask the numbers everyone was on…but that seems like a stretch.

*That* is valid and compelling evidence for Lucid to comp it; there you go. Now you have the reasonable expectation that the car should have let you and/or the previous owner know of the update, and as far as you could tell, it was up to date.

That’s a much stronger case.

 

[Leftlane]

For $1400 (at retail price, certainly not Lucid’s cost), is this really worth Lucid denying? If they do, they’ll have an unhappy customer that will definitely not buy another Lucid and probably tells plenty of people about his experience. If they goodwill it, they will have a very happy customer that will talk up the service he received and will likely spend more $$ in the future.

 

[skomarla]

To be fair they haven’t told me the warranty is void. No one at service is telling me that, at least yet, it’s just something that’s being discussed here. They are just telling me the module that’s bad in this case is not a warranty item.

And they’ve repeatedly told me the warranty is active. Even on the form I got when I dropped it off for this issue. They’ve just changed course on this being a warranty item.

That doesn’t make sense. Is it a wear item like tires or brakes? Nope! I don’t understand their claim that this is not a warranty item. What reason have they provided for this?

To the manual or warranty term sleuths out there is this listed explicitly?

 

[RedwoodEmpire]

You may have been asked this already but did they say the reason why you are being charged for the telematics module is because you are not the original owner?

The 30 day update language in the warranty is concerning as sometimes it can take weeks for the release to get pushed to the fleet. Does the 30 day countdown start from the first day the release is available or are they actually tracking a sliding 30 day window for each wave of updates for a given release?

I had something similar happen to me during one of the earlier 2.xx updates. There is this established norm that you shouldn’t ask customer support to push you the update unless it’s been a while, so I waited about three weeks before asking about it. They tried to push the update to me for about a week but then said they could no longer communicate with my car and that I needed to bring it into service so they could hook a cable up to it. I decided to just do my annual maintenance at the same time if the car was going to have to go in anyway, but it was about six weeks to get an appointment.

All in all, it took about 75 days from that initial release to get it resolved, when I think at least another update or two dropped during that time. They took good care of me and there was no charge except for the annual service, but it leaves me thinking that 30 days isn’t a lot of time in the service world.

 

[rking0122]

You may have been asked this already but did they say the reason why you are being charged for the telematics module is because you are not the original owner?

The 30 day update language in the warranty is concerning as sometimes it can take weeks for the release to get pushed to the fleet. Does the 30 day countdown start from the first day the release is available or are they actually tracking a sliding 30 day window for each wave of updates for a given release?

I had something similar happen to me during one of the earlier 2.xx updates. There is this established norm that you shouldn’t ask customer support to push you the update unless it’s been a while, so I waited about three weeks before asking about it. They tried to push the update to me for about a week but then said they could no longer communicate with my car and that I needed to bring it into service so they could hook a cable up to it. I decided to just do my annual maintenance at the same time if the car was going to have to go in anyway, but it was about six weeks to get an appointment.

All in all, it took about 75 days from that initial release to get it resolved, when I think at least another update or two dropped during that time. They took good care of me and there was no charge except for the annual service, but it leaves me thinking that 30 days isn’t a lot of time in the service world.

They say that whoever owned the car first should have done the updating. All I can say is I checked the car when I bought it and the car said it was up to date on the screen. (I added a picture of that above.). I didn't think anything else of it. Still says that it's up to date while it is at service now. I have no idea if the car thinks it's up to date how anyone, prior owner included, would have known to do anything, but Lucid so far is holding me to this and that fact hasn't motivated any other response from them. I just hit 1800 miles.

Re: second ownership. I will say they have mentioned several times to me that as a second owner I am entitled to less than they might offer an original owner. For instance there is some wrinkling in the leather in the center of the backseat and I casually asked the service department if that was common. (I know it is because I have seen that in photos of cars on this site.) I was told if I were the original owner they might consider some "steaming?" process for me to smooth it out...but as a second owner they will not do such goodwill kinds of things. Second owners also have less functionality on their Lucid.com accounts in terms of seeing car data. It absolutely is not a big enough deal for me to care about, but there is a lower standard for second owners. I have seen others on this site say similar things.

 

[Pragmatic]

At least that will help resale value.

 

[Steveinarizona]

I can understand Lucid's position on the Telematics equipment because the failure to update may be related to the hardware failure. But if Lucid is "voiding the warranty" because of the failure to update, is it doing so on other hardware that is unrelated to the failure to update (e.g., the car's suspension system)? I would hope not but a voided warranty is a voided warranty. Assuming that Lucid only intends to void the warranty on hardware related to the failure to update, it should say so.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

... a bunch of pre-owned Lucids are sitting on lots...not getting updates ... does that explain why Dream Editions are selling at half price?

...especially that update we got several months ago that came with the warning that went something like:

" INSTALL THIS UPDATE IMMEDIATELY OR THIS WILL BE YOUR LAST !"

Receiving and installing updates is one of the cool things about the Lucid.

My GT has been in the shop for three months and counting so I missed the last update...can see it on my phone...I wonder if I should sneak over to the body shop and install the update? ... now thinking I should. Who knows how long it will take to install a hood? I"m on the 4th month...

Deer ran into me in July...cracked front bumper cover and dented hood.

car works, but noise from active front louvers tells me deer guts are jammed in there.

Car is completely drive-able. Did not realize how long it would take or I'd have kept the car and done the repairs myself. It's at a place that fixes Lambos and Ferraris...lesser cars (nothing they have matches performance of the GT) but this place was recommended by Lucid service in KoP. This is the kind of shop it is: (Ferrari Enzo: slow but kinda neat-looking)

When I dropped off the GT I parked it between a Lambo and a Ferrari, and two other Lucids were also there. I think I'll borrow the wife's car and go see what's up.

Point is: check for updates daily, then install them immediately.

 

[illopp00]

I am sure you paid a good price for this car. Just pay the $1,400 and be happy you still paid a lot less than we did when we bought it new. Its not worth the headache.

I appreciate this practical perspective. When you buy a used ICE car, even if it's a relatively new/low usage one you would expect it not to be perfect and to have some inspections or potential work to be done.

 

[vav493]

I can understand Lucid's position on the Telematics equipment because the failure to update may be related to the hardware failure. But if Lucid is "voiding the warranty" because of the failure to update, is it doing so on other hardware that is unrelated to the failure to update (e.g., the car's suspension system)? I would hope not but a voided warranty is a voided warranty. Assuming that Lucid only intends to void the warranty on hardware related to the failure to update, it should say so.

(casually joining the discussion)
now i agree with the logic about the components being related, but if the software update is THAT critical to the operation of the hardware, then should it not be required/forced by Lucid? they obviously can communicate with the car as long as it has a charge…

Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, and I’m sure many other software-hardware companies have made it almost all-but-required to have certain updates installed. they understand that sometimes there are critical security flaws and they force people to patch them (if i am remembering correctly) but heck… I don’t even get asked by Windows when it updates lol. tbh i think at some point that my Model 3 forced me to at least “schedule” the update before i could operate the car after numerous reminders.

the situation just in general doesn’t really make sense from a customer experience perspective but

 

[illopp00]

... a bunch of pre-owned Lucids are sitting on lots...not getting updates ... does that explain why Dream Editions are selling at half price?

...especially that update we got several months ago that came with the warning that went something like:

" INSTALL THIS UPDATE IMMEDIATELY OR THIS WILL BE YOUR LAST !"

Receiving and installing updates is one of the cool things about the Lucid.

My GT has been in the shop for three months and counting so I missed the last update...can see it on my phone...I wonder if I should sneak over to the body shop and install the update? ... now thinking I should. Who knows how long it will take to install a hood? I"m on the 4th month...View attachment 24224
Deer ran into me in July...cracked front bumper cover and dented hood. View attachment 24226 car works, but noise from active front louvers tells me deer guts are jammed in there.

Car is completely drive-able. Did not realize how long it would take or I'd have kept the car and done the repairs myself. It's at a place that fixes Lambos and Ferraris...lesser cars (nothing they have matches performance of the GT) but this place was recommended by Lucid service in KoP. This is the kind of shop it is: (Ferrari Enzo: slow but kinda neat-looking)
View attachment 24225
When I dropped off the GT I parked it between a Lambo and a Ferrari, and two other Lucids were also there. I think I'll borrow the wife's car and go see what's up.

Point is: check for updates daily, then install them immediately.

My car was in the shop and the Lucid Service team updated it when the release came out, so it is part of their process. Funny how a supercar that would smoke the Air GT over 125 mph is considered slow

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

There was a critical update a few months ago where Lucid warned us that if we did not install it we would not get any more updates.

I have to guess there are more Lucids out there that did not get this update... I'm hoping to snag a Dream Edition that did not get it. I've already seen them asking $80k (in Florida).

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Funny how a supercar that would smoke the Air GT over 125 mph is considered slow

Enzo Ferrari 0 to 100 mph 11.0 seconds
Lucid GT 0 to 100 mph 7.0 seconds

The Enzo used to be quick ... not as quick as the Lucid GT but OK for an ICE car; and still is impossible to drive. I think there are 50 that haven't been crashed, the ones on display, (not driven).

Do a quick search of crashed Enzos...they only made 399...most of them have been crashed at least once.

 

[rking0122]

My biggest struggle with this is THE CAR ITSELF SAYS ITS UP TO DATE. When I bought it (and even now) it specifically told me “Your vehicle is up to date”. I don’t even know what made me snap a picture of that screen but I did.

My second biggest struggle was being told, in writing, this is a warranty covered issue. And now, it just isn’t.

I’m not dealing with anyone at Lucid suggesting my warranty is void. That’s good news I guess. It’s just in a case where I have to believe the former owner saw the exact same message on the car I do now, that “Your vehicle is up to date”, what in the world was either of us to do? It’s quite possible the telematics module wasn’t communicating from the start, but I don’t have any way of knowing.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

We'd like to see that photo you took showing what update it was on when it said "you car is up to date". Does anyone remember what update came with the warning: "Install this or go to hell?" The drugs I'm taking (Lyrica) have erased my memory.

 

[rking0122]

We'd like to see that photo you took showing what update it was on when it said "you car is up to date". Does anyone remember what update came with the warning: "Install this or go to hell?" The drugs I'm taking (Lyrica) have erased my memory.

Yeah. I’ve posted it somewhere in this thread. I’ve posted the drop off ticket showing this was covered as warranty. The only thing I guess I could have done is saw the version number the car was on and researched what everyone else is on, but when the car literally said it was up to date, I didn’t think anything more of it.