Drive System Fault - Car stopped dead in the middle of the road

[netpark]

@netpark You say "the key", there are 3 different keys for this car: valet card, fob, app/BT phone... they are all keys.
I believe that the standard trick for locked wheels is to just soap them up and winch the car onto the flatbed (ugh).
Yes, the battery usage inside or outside of a bag should be about the same.
The fob's battery is pretty trivial to remove and to reinstall, only slightly more effort than open/close a bag... and given the fob's ability to burn through batteries, not unlikely that you'd need to change the battery in a fob after a couple of months in a bag (or in a drawer in the house)... but remember, with a dead/removed battery the fob still works in the same basic way as the valet card.

The only key that requires a faraday pouch that’s left in the center console.
That’s very interesting of the soaping of the tires. I didn’t know that.

 

[markbuick]

Guess it’s my turn to express my concern Had my Touring for approximately 6 weeks and lass than 1000 miles. Had brake light malfunction displayed 3 times within that period Fortunately I’m only 20 minutes from the Riviera Beach service facility. Yesterday was a very dangerous and un nerving situation Stopped at a traffic iight a a busy intersection and car went into park,could not shift into drive or reverse and Pilot screen and left drivers screen went blank . Good news is the hazard flashers worked Called customer assistance,said they would send a tow, but was advised it would take 75 minutes to arrive (and this 15 minutes from their service center and a major metro area). Blocking traffic, with my wife in the car, on a major throughfare and now my wife telling me she will never drive the car.

Finally, after 20-25 minutes was able to get car moving Drove to service center, everyone very nice, scanned car and told me to leave it since they had to contact Arizona to diagnose

I was an automobile dealer for 45 years and never had a customer experience a situation like this. Hope someone at Lucid monitors these blogs

 

[Drdon220]

Guess it’s my turn to express my concern Had my Touring for approximately 6 weeks and lass than 1000 miles. Had brake light malfunction displayed 3 times within that period Fortunately I’m only 20 minutes from the Riviera Beach service facility. Yesterday was a very dangerous and un nerving situation Stopped at a traffic iight a a busy intersection and car went into park,could not shift into drive or reverse and Pilot screen and left drivers screen went blank . Good news is the hazard flashers worked Called customer assistance,said they would send a tow, but was advised it would take 75 minutes to arrive (and this 15 minutes from their service center and a major metro area). Blocking traffic, with my wife in the car, on a major throughfare and now my wife telling me she will never drive the car.

Finally, after 20-25 minutes was able to get car moving Drove to service center, everyone very nice, scanned car and told me to leave it since they had to contact Arizona to diagnose

I was an automobile dealer for 45 years and never had a customer experience a situation like this. Hope someone at Lucid monitors these blogs

Sounds like your situation was very similar to mine. Yes, very disturbing sitting helplessly in traffic, but I do have to say that Lucid took care of the situation. I had a faulty module that was replaced and the vehicle has run flawlessly since. My wife had the same concern about driving, but is now happily driving out AGT. Lucid uses local tow companies, and require a flatbed so sometimes are at the mercy of availability. I found out during my situation that if you can get the police there, they can sit with their flashers for safety, and also have quicker access to tow vehicles.

 

[markbuick]

Sounds like your situation was very similar to mine. Yes, very disturbing sitting helplessly in traffic, but I do have to say that Lucid took care of the situation. I had a faulty module that was replaced and the vehicle has run flawlessly since. My wife had the same concern about driving, but is now happily driving out AGT. Lucid uses local tow companies, and require a flatbed so sometimes are at the mercy of availability. I found out during my situation that if you can get the police there, they can sit with their flashers for safety, and also have quicker access to tow vehicles.

Well is now day 3 that the car has been at the Lucid service center and still no communication from them regarding cause and correction . They are waiting to hear from Arizona. So am I !

 

[markbuick]

Well is now day 3 that the car has been at the Lucid service center and still no communication from them regarding cause and correction . They are waiting to hear from Arizona. So am I !

Forgot to add that I’m also a shareholder and this morning I received a notice concerning the Annual Meeting in April. Almost feel compelled to fly out to attend.

 

[Silkrip]

Recall Notice SR-23-01-0 is coming out (Lucid says on 4/21/2023, Consumer Reports says it's out now). Drive can fail. Solution said to be to replace contactor switches (and update software, but that's probably standard). If you call Lucid Customer Care, they tell you that they can't schedule any service for this issue until the 4/21/2023 official recall date.

 

[Neurio]

Recall Notice SR-23-01-0 is coming out (Lucid says on 4/21/2023, Consumer Reports says it's out now). Drive can fail. Solution said to be to replace contactor switches (and update software, but that's probably standard). If you call Lucid Customer Care, they tell you that they can't schedule any service for this issue until the 4/21/2023 official recall date.

Source?

 

[stratus]

Recall Notice SR-23-01-0 is coming out (Lucid says on 4/21/2023, Consumer Reports says it's out now). Drive can fail. Solution said to be to replace contactor switches (and update software, but that's probably standard). If you call Lucid Customer Care, they tell you that they can't schedule any service for this issue until the 4/21/2023 official recall date.

Interesting. If this is pending I hope it can be done by mobile or it will be a logistical headache. Time will tell.

 

[DeaneG]

2022 Lucid Air Reliability - Consumer Reports

Get reliability information for the 2022 Lucid Air from Consumer Reports, which combines extensive survey data and expert technical knowledge.

www.consumerreports.org

Consumer Reports says that only 637 vehicles are affected by this recall. Maybe the Dreams plus a few of the earliest GTs?

 

[pjdcorp]

You can try activating the wipers by pushing in on the left stalk, as if to initiate the wiper fluid. Just don’t hold it in, and the wipers will start up. Usually, I find with auto wipers, once you get them going like that, the “auto” tends to kick in. Not sure if Lucid’s do or not.

But I agree, a dedicated physical control for the wiper system would probably be better. Lucid tried to strike a balance with physical controls, but I don’t necessarily agree with where they drew the line in every case. I think the left panel with dedicated buttons that don’t change is miles ahead of Tesla’s completely nuts tendency to hide the wipers in more and more difficult to find places in their UX.

If you read me at all on this forum, you’d know I’d never hold up Tesla as anything to emulate. I believe I’m on record for criticizing Tesla more than anyone here by a long shot.

The point is, just because Lucid didn’t consult you specifically and make every control exactly the way it existed on whatever car you had last, that doesn’t mean their choices are all design flaws.

There is no interface for a car that would be perfectly familiar for everyone. Because car companies have never standardized on much of anything.

Thanks for the left stalk suggestion. I, like many, learn so much on this site.

 

[stratus]

2022 Lucid Air Reliability - Consumer Reports

Get reliability information for the 2022 Lucid Air from Consumer Reports, which combines extensive survey data and expert technical knowledge.

www.consumerreports.org

Consumer Reports says that only 637 vehicles are affected by this recall. Maybe the Dreams plus a few of the earliest GTs?

Thanks for this information.

 

[Silkrip]

Source?

I received a text from Consumer Reports: "CR Recall Tracker Alert: NHTSA has issued a new recall on your 2022 Air." They gave a link that I followed. It cites NHTSA recall Notice 23V110000 that says 637 potential number of units affected. The notice is dated 2/22/2023 "Power loss will shut down electric motors, causing a loss of drive power and increasing the risk of a crash." "The electrically-activated contact switches that transfer energy to the drive motors may unexpectedly open, cutting off power to the electric motors." When I called Lucid Customer Care, they said they couldn't schedule anything for me until after their official 4/21/2023 effective date.

 

[Dortreo]

There's a better blurb about it on the NHTSA site.

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

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V110-7457.PDF

Here's the relevant info. Very impressive how this was diagnosed and the relevant cars identified. Also, who doesn't update their software? I boldfaced relevant passages.

Sensata Technologies, Inc. (Supplier) manufactures contactors for 2022 and 2023 Lucid Air vehicles. Contactors are electrically activated switches that close at vehicle startup to transfer energy to and from the drive units, and open at vehicle shut down. Supplier and Lucid determined that in a small population of contactors the spring force may overcome the magnetic holding force. In normal closing, the contactor current exhibits a single-dip signature due to the motion of the internal components in the magnetic field. A double-dip in the current signature indicates a contactor that may be susceptible to opening unexpectedly due to the spring force issue, though many contactors operate normally even with a double-dip signature. Lucid determined 18 vehicles manufactured prior to the factory clean point experienced unexpected contactor openings due to the spring force issue. Lucid also observed six vehicles that had contactor openings while stationary that could not be confirmed to be due to the spring force issue. No contactor openings due to the spring force issue have occurred in vehicles manufactured after the clean point. 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. Recalled contactors exhibit a double-dip signature during closing more than 5% of the time. Vehicles not in the recall population always exhibit a single-dip closing signature or exhibit a double-dip closing less than 5% of the time. By analyzing known bad contactors, Lucid determined a 5% cut-off is statistically significant in determining potential bad contactors with greater than a 99.999% confidence interval.​

​

(Not sure that's how confidence intervals work but I could be wrong...)

 

[DeaneG]

Maybe I should drive my car more often, or at least put it in drive over in a while, to make sure my contractor is being analyzed.

 

[Silkrip]

There's a better blurb about it on the NHTSA site.

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

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V110-7457.PDF

Here's the relevant info. Very impressive how this was diagnosed and the relevant cars identified. Also, who doesn't update their software? I boldfaced relevant passages.

Sensata Technologies, Inc. (Supplier) manufactures contactors for 2022 and 2023 Lucid Air vehicles. Contactors are electrically activated switches that close at vehicle startup to transfer energy to and from the drive units, and open at vehicle shut down. Supplier and Lucid determined that in a small population of contactors the spring force may overcome the magnetic holding force. In normal closing, the contactor current exhibits a single-dip signature due to the motion of the internal components in the magnetic field. A double-dip in the current signature indicates a contactor that may be susceptible to opening unexpectedly due to the spring force issue, though many contactors operate normally even with a double-dip signature. Lucid determined 18 vehicles manufactured prior to the factory clean point experienced unexpected contactor openings due to the spring force issue. Lucid also observed six vehicles that had contactor openings while stationary that could not be confirmed to be due to the spring force issue. No contactor openings due to the spring force issue have occurred in vehicles manufactured after the clean point. 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. Recalled contactors exhibit a double-dip signature during closing more than 5% of the time. Vehicles not in the recall population always exhibit a single-dip closing signature or exhibit a double-dip closing less than 5% of the time. By analyzing known bad contactors, Lucid determined a 5% cut-off is statistically significant in determining potential bad contactors with greater than a 99.999% confidence interval.​

​

(Not sure that's how confidence intervals work but I could be wrong...)

Dortreo, thanks! I agree that it seems like pretty good remote analysis by the Lucid technical team, and it's somewhat reassuring that the number of affected vehicles is likely to be small. I'll keep my fingers crossed when we go on a long trip in May - and I'll keep the reset procedure handy along with the Lucid phone number. Anyway, I don't know what a "double-dip in the current signature" is, but it sounds ominous. Appreciate the additional information!

 

[DeaneG]

A "double dip" means that when the contactor was turned on, its armature bounced back somewhat when its contacts came together. This means that the magnetic attraction of the contactor's coil was barely enough to hold the contacts touching (against the spring tension that holds them apart when the contactor is de-energized). A contactor is just a large relay. It's one of the things you hear when you wake up your car.

 

[digiboxer]

2022 Lucid Air Reliability - Consumer Reports

Get reliability information for the 2022 Lucid Air from Consumer Reports, which combines extensive survey data and expert technical knowledge.

www.consumerreports.org

Consumer Reports says that only 637 vehicles are affected by this recall. Maybe the Dreams plus a few of the earliest GTs?

But it happened to markbuick with his 6 week-old Touring…..

 

[Adnillien]

But it happened to markbuick with his 6 week-old Touring…..

I don't think that we know that @markbuick car suffered from a contactor issue.

 

[digiboxer]

I don't think that we know that @markbuick car suffered from a contactor issue.

Right. But if the contactors did cause his breakdown, then the problem isn’t limited to the 600 cars in the recall. If the contactors isn’t his problem then something else is causing turtle breakdowns

 

[Bunnylebowski]

This is a good example of why you shouldn’t use the nuclear reboot, as it could wipe the logs they used to find this problem. I’m pretty impressed they found what the problem was, that’s some needle in a haystack sleuthing.