Contactor Recall Megathread

[Javaling]

I just read about this recall today:

Lucid Recalls the Air Due to Contactors That May Cut Off Power to the Electric Motors

637 examples of the 2022 to 2023 Lucid Air produced between October 2021 and November 2022 are called back over contactors that may open while driving

www.autoevolution.com

Power can suddenly die. Affects 637 cars produced between May 2021 and November 2022 and that affected owners will be contact first class mail by April 21, 2023. My Air was delivered December 2022 so I am assuming mine is likely affected. This could be a serious problem if the problem happens before the fix is made. I could only find this article. Did anyone hear about this?

 

[GM!]

It's listed on NHTSA's website: https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2022/LUCID/AIR#recalls. A small percentage affected, so I'm not worried.

Per the report "An over-the-air software update allowed Lucid to analyze customer fleet data and remotely identify at-risk contactors in 273 vehicles. Owners of 336 vehicles have not updated their software to enable contactor analysis. Lucid is currently examining data from 28 vehicles that have updated software. Lucid expects that once all vehicles are updated
and analyzed, approximately 20 additional vehicles may require contactor replacements."

The report also highlights the importance of accepting OTA updates from a safety standpoint.

P

 

[Volund]

I just read about this recall today:

Lucid Recalls the Air Due to Contactors That May Cut Off Power to the Electric Motors

637 examples of the 2022 to 2023 Lucid Air produced between October 2021 and November 2022 are called back over contactors that may open while driving

www.autoevolution.com

Power can suddenly die. Affects 637 cars produced between May 2021 and November 2022 and that affected owners will be contact first class mail by April 21, 2023. My Air was delivered December 2022 so I am assuming mine is likely affected. This could be a serious problem if the problem happens before the fix is made. I could only find this article. Did anyone hear about this?

My car was made around beginning of October and I think my car is at the service center for this same thing. Needed to have my battery module replaced. I was driving and randomly got a drive fault warning and another earning and had 2 minutes to pull over. Also regen didn't work..
But not 100% sure if it's the same issue, but kinda sounds like it

 

[jri]

By: Keith Laing
March 27, 2023 at 10:49 AM EDT

Lucid Group, Inc. is recalling several hundred electric vehicles due to a glitch that may cause its flagship model to lose power while being driven.
The startup said flawed electrically activated switches could affect the 2022-2023 model years of the Lucid Air, triggering the recall of 637 vehicles, according to a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“This may lead to a loss of propulsion without pre-warning and may increase the risk of a crash,” the company said in the filing, which was submitted to the regulatory agency on March 23.
The Newark, Calif.-based company delivered 4,494 Lucid Air vehicles as of the end of last year. Lucid said in the filing that its service centers will update the vehicle software and replace the problematic switches for free. It didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

[JJ_5]

From the Verge, "Of those vehicles being recalled, 237 are known to be affected. An additional 336 vehicles require an over-the-air software update to assess their contactors."

Lucid Motors recalls Lucid Air sedan for a defect that could cause a loss of power

The contactor lacks magnetic force to stay closed.

www.theverge.com

It sounds like the owners of the additional 336 vehicles may not have their software up to date.
From the recall report, "Owners of 336 vehicles have not updated their software to enable contactor analysis. Lucid is currently examining data from 28 vehicles that have updated software. Lucid expects that once all vehicles are updated and analyzed, approximately 20 additional vehicles may require contactor replacements."

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V110-3395.PDF

From the NHTSA, "Lucid Service Centers will update the vehicle software and replace the contactor switches, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed April 21, 2023."

Recalls | NHTSA

Use our VIN lookup tool to check for recalls on your car, or search by make and model. Also, get recall information on car seats, tires and equipment.

www.nhtsa.gov

 

[Steveinarizona]

It is scary when the glitch involves something that could stop your car on the road. But, on the other hand, buying a car from a brand new company means there will be some startup glitches. The number of parts that go into a modern car is immense.

 

[BradSholl]

Spoke with CS about this over the weekend. Their statement was that only about 1% of vehicles should actually need contactors replaced. As long as our software is current, they should be able to query the car remotely to determine if this is needed. I did say it was a bit of a concern that the process would only start a month from now, given the possible outcome of a propulsion failure at highway speed.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

I'm wondering if this is what we've already seen on some of the cars that have had "battery failures"???

 

[HES]

I just spoke with Customer Care as well. They are not able to let us know if our individual car is affected. I was told that the car cannot be queried remotely to see if I am affected; they are not in a position to do that as yet. We would have to wait until the April 21st notifications. Frankly, I find this unacceptable. Does Lucid realize the huge financial liability that could be Involved if anyone is involved in a crash as a result of this power failure? If they know the numbers of cars that have been affected, why don’t they know which cars they are? And why can’t they immediately inform those owners? Whether I am one of the unfortunate 1% or not, how can I comfortably assume that I will be able to drive my vehicle safely? If Lucid is reading this, they need to answer these questions immediately, NOT by April 21st. I don’t want to be an alarmist, but frankly, I’m extremely uncomfortable about this, and am hugely disappointed in Lucid’s response thus far.

 

[theEVLife]

I think this issue affected me the other day. Drove out and the front panel was dimmer than normal, side panel said "Tablet Rebooting" and bottom panel was stuck at the Lucid logo. It was driving fine and then at a stop light I (stupidly) put the car in park. It would not go back to drive. Called Lucid and they said they would send a tow, but meanwhile was stopped in the middle of a busy street. They said that I could not do the reset without turning off my hazard lights (car has to be completely off). I ended up calling the police for traffic assistance and after the police car came and parked behind me, I was able to get it back up and running with the hard reset procedure.

Customer Service said they'd follow up with me the next day, but never did. Was super scary sitting dead and watching cars have to change lanes to avoid hitting me. Couple times I thought I was gonna get hit for sure!!

 

[Electrified]

Recalls are part of the auto industry, many involve thousands of cars at a time, and many have issues that can cause a car to become inoperable while out in traffic. The alternative is to walk or ride a bike and then hope you don't fall, or get hit by a car or a bus while crossing the street.

 

[Steveinarizona]

I think this issue affected me the other day. Drove out and the front panel was dimmer than normal, side panel said "Tablet Rebooting" and bottom panel was stuck at the Lucid logo. It was driving fine and then at a stop light I (stupidly) put the car in park. It would not go back to drive. Called Lucid and they said they would send a tow, but meanwhile was stopped in the middle of a busy street. They said that I could not do the reset without turning off my hazard lights (car has to be completely off). I ended up calling the police for traffic assistance and after the police car came and parked behind me, I was able to get it back up and running with the hard reset procedure.

Customer Service said they'd follow up with me the next day, but never did. Was super scary sitting dead and watching cars have to change lanes to avoid hitting me. Couple times I thought I was gonna get hit for sure!!

My complaint on Lucid has been the quality and quantity of communications. The car is great. Lucid is selling a luxury car; when it promises a call the next day it has to follow through, especially on something as dangerous as this was.

 

[Jeanwoodie]

Speaking of recalls, three on my 2019 Subaru Ascent. Most recent was potential CVT chain wear, a failure which would leave vehicle stranded.
Frankly I’m amazed this the first for Lucid and only relative few effected.

 

[joec]

I had a few recalls for my Tesla Model 3 where they sent me a note about what may go wrong, told me they didn't yet have the fixed part, and instructed me to wait for further instructions. Then a year later, they still hadn't followed up with those instructions.

Not sure I prefer being told something might break and then not have them be ready to fix it. But Lucid certainly could send a note out only to potentially effected owners and tell them to sit tight until they have the solution ready to be installed. That way, those owners could choose whether they want to avoid driving the car in the meantime.

For all we know, they may be doing that by mail. That's how Tesla always let me know of recalls. Even software ones.

 

[HES]

I had a few recalls for my Tesla Model 3 where they sent me a note about what may go wrong, told me they didn't yet have the fixed part, and instructed me to wait for further instructions. Then a year later, they still hadn't followed up with those instructions.

Not sure I prefer being told something might break and then not have them be ready to fix it. But Lucid certainly could send a note out only to potentially effected owners and tell them to sit tight until they have the solution ready to be installed. That way, those owners could choose whether they want to avoid driving the car in the meantime.

For all we know, they may be doing that by mail. That's how Tesla always let me know of recalls. Even software ones.

That’s what I was asking Customer Care for, but was told that all notices about this issue would be sent around April 21st, not before. So we have no way of knowing if ours are the affected cars.

 

[Car Guy]

It is scary when the glitch involves something that could stop your car on the road. But, on the other hand, buying a car from a brand new company means there will be some startup glitches. The number of parts that go into a modern car is immense.

Such problems don't only happen to vehicles from "brand new companies." They happen tp all manufacturers. Modern cars are complex, many parts are from outside sources, stuff happens.

 

[GMan]

I just spoke with Customer Care as well. They are not able to let us know if our individual car is affected. I was told that the car cannot be queried remotely to see if I am affected; they are not in a position to do that as yet. We would have to wait until the April 21st notifications.

According to the Recall Notice itself, Lucid *can* check remotely.

"On Nov. 3, Lucid briefed NHTSA on this issue and Lucid's plan to develop software to permit telemetric screening of vehicles based on current signature. The software update was sent to customer vehicles starting Dec. 16, and Lucid analyzed contactor closing data in its customer fleet through Jan. 2023. Lucid briefed NHTSA of its progress in early Jan. and early Feb. 2023. After analyzing the fleet data, Lucid determined 232 customer vehicles exhibited double-dip signatures at least 5% of the time, which provides a greater than 99.999% confidence interval for capturing affected contactors. As of Feb. 22, owners of 533 vehicles had not updated their software. Approximately 27 of these were expected to require contactor replacement. The Lucid Product Safety Executive Council (PSEC) determined on Feb. 14 that an unreasonable risk to safety exists in vehicles with double-dip current signatures at least 5% of the time, and that Lucid would recall these vehicles and replace the contactors. Lucid filed this report with NHTSA on Feb. 22. After discussions between Lucid and NHTSA, Lucid's PSEC determined on Mar. 22 to amend this report to increase the number potentially involved to 637."

 

[Drendino]

My complaint on Lucid has been the quality and quantity of communications. The car is great. Lucid is selling a luxury car; when it promises a call the next day it has to follow through, especially on something as dangerous as this was.

As the software improves, the less I care about Lucid’s communication methods. I’m sure my proctologist has excellent customer service, but I prefer not to find out. That’s kind of how I feel about Lucid’s customer service. The car is getting better and better, which fixes everything.

I didn’t read the article because I go out of my way to avoid reading Bloomberg. Sounds like another anecdotal nothing burger, served with a side of bogus.

 

[lcidson]

It is scary when the glitch involves something that could stop your car on the road. But, on the other hand, buying a car from a brand new company means there will be some startup glitches. The number of parts that go into a modern car is immense.

My 2020 Pacifica hybrid just got a recall for the risk of an electrical short in the wiring harness that may result in an engine shutdown. Apparently their fix is to install a software update that will alert the driver of the short and impending engine shutdown to allow the driver enough time to pull over. Not sure how this can be considered an appropriate fix...
Edit: apparently this software update isn't even available yet.

 

[HES]

According to the Recall Notice itself, Lucid *can* check remotely.

"On Nov. 3, Lucid briefed NHTSA on this issue and Lucid's plan to develop software to permit telemetric screening of vehicles based on current signature. The software update was sent to customer vehicles starting Dec. 16, and Lucid analyzed contactor closing data in its customer fleet through Jan. 2023. Lucid briefed NHTSA of its progress in early Jan. and early Feb. 2023. After analyzing the fleet data, Lucid determined 232 customer vehicles exhibited double-dip signatures at least 5% of the time, which provides a greater than 99.999% confidence interval for capturing affected contactors. As of Feb. 22, owners of 533 vehicles had not updated their software. Approximately 27 of these were expected to require contactor replacement. The Lucid Product Safety Executive Council (PSEC) determined on Feb. 14 that an unreasonable risk to safety exists in vehicles with double-dip current signatures at least 5% of the time, and that Lucid would recall these vehicles and replace the contactors. Lucid filed this report with NHTSA on Feb. 22. After discussions between Lucid and NHTSA, Lucid's PSEC determined on Mar. 22 to amend this report to increase the number potentially involved to 637."

Nevertheless, I was clearly told that they cannot, and will only be reaching out to customers about the recall by direct email on or about April 21st.