Living with the Lucid Gravity: A Tesla Owner’s Journey

[jbrichgels]

As someone who has owned 4 Teslas I don’t think it’s fair to compare the state of Tesla now to the state of the Gravity as a brand new vehicle platform. Plus, I’ve had plenty of issues with my Teslas over the years but I’ve always found the positives to outweigh the negatives.

Falcon Wing Doors were great when my kids were in car seats and I had to lift them out of the car in our garage as a guy over 6 feet tall. But they were also a huge inconvenience in MANY ways over the years. Won’t open fully in underground parking lots with tons of room. WILL open into poles holding parking signs when parallel parked. Would refuse to completely open because the car was parked in the sun too long.

Self-presenting and opening driver door that would fight against you because it knew better how to let you out of the car and have the door literally push you back into the car.

The Y and 3 were generally sorted better but have plenty of their own issues to work though. I’ve had the screens need to be replaced on 3 of the 4 Teslas I’ve owned because the edges of the screen start to delaminate from the touch layer and cause yellowing/fading.

Yes, Tesla’s software right now is in a pretty good state but it took over a decade of my own ownership to get there frankly.

Funny to read the Tesla gripes that we also had, but thought were just a problem with our car. The door fighting against you was one. And I didn't realize that the reason the FD wouldn't open basically at all was because they sat in the sun too long. We all grew to hate the FD. And multiple times both of our screens went black while we were driving on the interstate. Fortunately we knew that it didn't affect the driving and didn't freak out, but also not cool. And the self-park refused to work correctly on our street. Etc, etc. No amount of OTA updates fixed the problems. We lived with them and I imagine we will live the Gravity gripes just the same.

 

[spacegeek33]

So I early adopted my Tesla model S (2012 ed--1300th car off the line). I kept a spreadsheet of faults. In the first 6 months of owning it:

• the charge port stopped opening and was replaced.
• The power switch died and the car needed to be towed bc I couldn't charge it.
• Door handles would present but not work
• 3 of 4 tire pressure monitor (TPM) sensors failed
• Panoramic roof failed OPEN (in the rainy season)!
• 12V battery fault/DC-DC converter replaced, 12V battery replaced.

Then at the year mark, more failures occurred:

• Instrument Cluster Panel went black and needed replacement
• TPM alerts again--needed to retrofit system to match the proper model
• Drive Unit failed while drivng in the fast lane of the freeway!

Most of these were hardware issues on my Tesla. Service at the time (like Lucid it seems) was great--they would either do the repair in my driveway or bring a loaner to my workplace and leave it in the parking lot where my Model S was parked. After repairs were completed, they would bring my car back and swap out the loaner.

Comparing that with my 2025 Lucid Air Pure: had the tech out to see if he could trouble shoot our entry/exit and profile issues. He says they work, but we still have problems.

That's IT! Granted I'm comparing Tesla Year One to Lucid Year Five. Air/Gravity Year One is bound to be problematic and quirky. This is what you get with an early model car! The "features" are part of the fun of owning something unusual and new!
Hope you find some peace with your decision.

 

[allenmhc]

They do. It’s entirely possible not enough owners wanted them. There are plenty of third party mat companies, too.

You’re welcome to like your Tesla, lol, but floor mats are not the example you want them to be.

Tesla won’t install lidar or ultrasound on your Model 3 either, despite *many* owners wanting parking sensors back, at a minimum. That’s a real example of not listening to your customer base

That's a great point, and it also touches on the realities of manufacturing, where scale and inventory matter. From Lucid's standpoint, with minimum orders in the thousands/tens of thousands, they need at least that many cars on the road and some % of owners who demand them to even consider the possibility of making them.

 

[Brian_N]

Lucid Gravity Day 3 – More Discoveries

Today was a new day, and I only drove the Gravity twice for about 30 minutes each time. Even with limited use, I discovered a few more issues and updates worth sharing.

21. Major Microphone Problem: There seems to be a serious microphone issue in the Gravity. I tested this with two different phones, and both had the same result. During calls, the other person’s voice comes through crystal clear on my end, but they can barely hear me. They say my voice sounds faint, distant, and muffled , almost like I’m speaking from another room. This makes it nearly impossible to hold a phone conversation while driving. I don’t know if this can be fixed through software or if it’s a hardware defect, but I’ve added it to my list of technical concerns. I’d like to know if other Gravity owners are experiencing the same thing.

22. Delivery Issues Noticed Later....As I spend more time with the car, I’ve started to notice flaws that slipped through delivery.
These include:

• The right rear window shade doesn’t close fully , it gets stuck halfway.
• The driver’s door handle feels loose, almost like it could come off in my hand. It also makes a creaking sound when pulled.
• While parking, I once saw a red steering warning with a message telling me to book service. It disappeared quickly, but it was alarming. Hopefully it doesn’t come back.
• I noticed dark marks inside both headlights, especially visible while turning at night. I checked outside the car and saw nothing, so it seems to be inside the headlights themselves.

All of these are now on my list for when I eventually bring the car in for service.

23. Updates on Previous Issues

• I managed to turn off the constant face-tracking warnings. No more “WATCH THE ROAD” alerts, so yes, there is a fix.
• Thanks to replies here, I also found the screen brightness control. It isn’t automatic, but at least I can manually dim it at night, which already makes a huge difference.

24. Growing Appreciation...... Every day I drive this car, I like it more. It is unbelievably quiet, comfortable, and smooth. Truly a pleasure.

 

[Brian_N]

Lucid Gravity Day 3 – More Discoveries (Part 2)

25. Missing Automatic Window Close
One feature I miss is automatic window closing when locking the car. In Tesla, the windows roll up the moment you close and lock the doors. I couldn’t find such an option in Lucid’s settings. It’s surprising that such a simple feature, available on many brands, is missing here. Hopefully, Lucid adds this soon.

26. First Home Charging Experience

Today I charged the Gravity at home for the first time on a 40-amp charger. With Tesla, as soon as you plug in, you hear all kinds of mechanical noises as charging begins. The Gravity, by contrast, is completely silent, just like plugging in a smartphone. You don’t even notice it’s charging unless you check the display. I really appreciate this subtle touch.
I continue to document everything , the frustrations, the fixes, and the surprises. Each day I’m finding new things to both love and critique. Please share if you’ve seen similar issues, especially with the microphone and delivery quality points.

Should I keep writing the next update?

 

[Xminus6]

Lucid Gravity Day 3 – More Discoveries (Part 2)

25. Missing Automatic Window Close
One feature I miss is automatic window closing when locking the car. In Tesla, the windows roll up the moment you close and lock the doors. I couldn’t find such an option in Lucid’s settings. It’s surprising that such a simple feature, available on many brands, is missing here. Hopefully, Lucid adds this soon.

I actually dislike this feature because there are plenty of times I’d rather have my window stay open than auto-close and strangely there have been times where my car hasn’t autoclosed when it was supposed to leaving my driver’s door window halfway down the whole night.

A few of my Teslas have had overly sensitive window obstruction sensors where they will sometimes just reverse because the door is closed while they’re operating.

With the high temperatures here there have been many short stop where I’d rather just have the car leave the windows open and only reach ambient temperature rather than cook itself by closing the windows.

 

[Xminus6]

Funny to read the Tesla gripes that we also had, but thought were just a problem with our car. The door fighting against you was one. And I didn't realize that the reason the FD wouldn't open basically at all was because they sat in the sun too long.

The FWD had sensors placed under the door skin to detect objects in its path. But when the car sits in the sun too long the door on the side facing the sun gets so hot the sensor malfunctions or gets false positives. You might remember that the FWD would only fail on one side of your car. That was the side that got too hot.

 

[johnse]

Re:21 microphone

Others have observed the same. It's been mentioned this is improved in version 3.3.1.

 

[9point81]

Lucid Gravity Day 3 – More Discoveries

Today was a new day, and I only drove the Gravity twice for about 30 minutes each time. Even with limited use, I discovered a few more issues and updates worth sharing.

21. Major Microphone Problem: There seems to be a serious microphone issue in the Gravity. I tested this with two different phones, and both had the same result. During calls, the other person’s voice comes through crystal clear on my end, but they can barely hear me. They say my voice sounds faint, distant, and muffled , almost like I’m speaking from another room. This makes it nearly impossible to hold a phone conversation while driving. I don’t know if this can be fixed through software or if it’s a hardware defect, but I’ve added it to my list of technical concerns. I’d like to know if other Gravity owners are experiencing the same thing.

22. Delivery Issues Noticed Later....As I spend more time with the car, I’ve started to notice flaws that slipped through delivery.
These include:

• The right rear window shade doesn’t close fully , it gets stuck halfway.
• The driver’s door handle feels loose, almost like it could come off in my hand. It also makes a creaking sound when pulled.
• While parking, I once saw a red steering warning with a message telling me to book service. It disappeared quickly, but it was alarming. Hopefully it doesn’t come back.
• I noticed dark marks inside both headlights, especially visible while turning at night. I checked outside the car and saw nothing, so it seems to be inside the headlights themselves.

All of these are now on my list for when I eventually bring the car in for service.

23. Updates on Previous Issues

• I managed to turn off the constant face-tracking warnings. No more “WATCH THE ROAD” alerts, so yes, there is a fix.
• Thanks to replies here, I also found the screen brightness control. It isn’t automatic, but at least I can manually dim it at night, which already makes a huge difference.

24. Growing Appreciation...... Every day I drive this car, I like it more. It is unbelievably quiet, comfortable, and smooth. Truly a pleasure.

For the microphone problem for calls, most of us have had that and the new update just pushed this week appears to have fixed it by most reports. I'll test it out when I get home in a few weeks for myself.
A lot of those errors are false alerts and the new update should address most of them. Feel free to ignore them for now or call service as you will if you feel it is concerning to you.

The dark marks on the headlights, OMG I thought I was the only one who noticed that! It appears to be part of the design and I just don't know why.

 

[Bus Driver]

The dark marks on the headlights, OMG I thought I was the only one who noticed that! It appears to be part of the design and I just don't know why.

Oh, I know why - it was explained to me by my delivery specialist when I took delivery of my Air GT. Those rectangular black blocks are built in to prevent blinding oncoming drivers with our very bright headlights. Sitting at a red traffic light in the evening, I've had motorists across the intersection flash me with their high beams, trying to tell me that my high beams are on. They're not, of course, but our headlights really are that bright, even with those protectors.

 

[DeaneG]

From 2022:

C

RESOLVED Thread 'Headlight dark spots'

Jun 27, 2022

Has anybody else noticed the dark spots at night when the headlights are on. First time I noticed it I was driving down my dark winding road and I could see the spots in front of me. And every time I would turn the dark shadows gave the impression there was something moving. I attached two pictures of my car right in front of my garage door where you can see the dark spot.

• changenow
• Replies: 35
• Forum: Air: Interior & Exterior

 

[Thierry]

These are just the issues I noticed on the very first day as a longtime Tesla driver experiencing the Lucid Gravity. Please leave a comment if you’d like me to continue sharing updates. Also, if you know of any fixes or workarounds for these problems, share them below.

Many of these points are either related to software bugs or to the fact you're not yet familiar with all the settings (i.e. being aware of the brightness slider).
I was also an early Tesla adopter (S,X,Y,M) and I recall having many software issues with the S after delivery. It's not fun but it should be expected.
I think Lucid will eventually catch up with Tesla when it comes to software but Tesla will never match the quality of Lucid cars. The only thing in my Gravity that reminds me of my Teslas is the issue with the back seat; because that's more in line with my experience with Tesla (poor paint job, bad panel assembly, etc.)

As a side note, by the time CarPlay becomes available in the Gravity it will still not be available in Teslas...

 

[borski]

Oh, I know why - it was explained to me by my delivery specialist when I took delivery of my Air GT. Those rectangular black blocks are built in to prevent blinding oncoming drivers with our very bright headlights. Sitting at a red traffic light in the evening, I've had motorists across the intersection flash me with their high beams, trying to tell me that my high beams are on. They're not, of course, but our headlights really are that bright, even with those protectors.

Same thing on the Air; but if you’re getting flashed by other drivers and your high beams aren’t on, your headlights may be misaligned and it’s with having service check.

 

[socktucker]

Oh the wipers in the Tesla are crazy bad!

I own TWO 2023 Teslas and the wipers are garbage on both.

 

[socktucker]

You lost me at "finally took delivery."

The thread title alone was pretty uh…I mean I think most of us here have or had Teslas too and our own “journey” to Lucid…

They do. It’s entirely possible not enough owners wanted them. There are plenty of third party mat companies, too.

You’re welcome to like your Tesla, lol, but floor mats are not the example you want them to be.

Tesla won’t install lidar or ultrasound on your Model 3 either, despite *many* owners wanting parking sensors back, at a minimum. That’s a real example of not listening to your customer base

how about when Tesla forced an update to install Elon’s GrokAI girlfriend in our cars, assigned it to the only assignable button-then removed our ability to disable it. And if you ask it to disable itself, it’s starts arguing with you. It’s total horse shit.

 

[Brian_N]

Lucid Gravity Day 4 – Everyday Usability Issues​

My wife and I have both been using the Gravity daily, switching back and forth between us. The more we use it, the more small but frustrating usability problems we’re discovering.

27. Key Fob and Key Cards – Still No Phone as Key​

The car came with one key fob and two key cards. Since the Gravity still doesn’t support phone-as-key, we constantly have to scan the card to unlock the car. I paired the key fob to my wife, but every time I get in, I still have to switch to my own profile. As I’ve said before, this switch process takes about 30 seconds — which feels unnecessarily long.

28. Strange and Incorrect Alerts​

• I often get alerts saying the car “cannot detect my face,” even though I’m looking straight ahead at the road.
• While driving, the car sometimes gives a “rear door open” warning even though all doors are fully closed.
• In hot weather, when I try to remotely start the A/C, it often refuses with the message “windows are open,” even though they’re actually closed.

29. Climate Control App Problems​

I frequently try to turn on the A/C through the Lucid app, but most of the time it doesn’t work at all.

30. Lucid App Display Errors​

There are two major issues I’ve noticed in the app:

1. My car is currently running software version 3.3.1, but the Lucid app still shows 3.2.2 and says the software is up to date.
2. The app prominently shows the “Charge Limit” number (80% or 100%) right at the top next to “Charging.” At first glance, it looks like the current battery percentage, which is misleading. I only realized today that it wasn’t showing remaining charge but the set charge limit. This is very confusing design.

31. Navigation Cancels After Profile Switch​

Here’s another daily frustration: my wife will start a trip with navigation, then pick me up from work. When I switch to my profile, the navigation she set up completely disappears. In Tesla, this type of small but important detail is handled much more smoothly. Profiles are simple, intuitive, and practical. Lucid really needs to fix these basic software oversights.

Each day I’m enjoying the comfort and quietness of the Gravity, but these small usability issues really stand out in daily driving. I hope Lucid prioritizes resolving them soon, because they impact the experience more than they should.

 

[borski]

My wife and I have both been using the Gravity daily, switching back and forth between us. The more we use it, the more small but frustrating usability problems we’re discovering.

27. Key Fob and Key Cards – Still No Phone as Key​

The car came with one key fob and two key cards. Since the Gravity still doesn’t support phone-as-key, we constantly have to scan the card to unlock the car. I paired the key fob to my wife, but every time I get in, I still have to switch to my own profile. As I’ve said before, this switch process takes about 30 seconds — which feels unnecessarily long.

Service will give you a second fob. If you unlink the fob from your wife’s profile, it’ll just load the guest profile.

28. Strange and Incorrect Alerts​

• I often get alerts saying the car “cannot detect my face,” even though I’m looking straight ahead at the road.

Your hand is blocking the camera. That’s not an inaccurate alert; if you drive with your hand at the top of the wheel, the camera cannot detect your face. If you move your hand to the sides or bottom, it works fine.

• While driving, the car sometimes gives a “rear door open” warning even though all doors are fully closed.

This should not be happening. Have service check this.

• In hot weather, when I try to remotely start the A/C, it often refuses with the message “windows are open,” even though they’re actually closed.

Are you sure? You can open the windows with the app now, so you should double check you haven’t accidentally cracked the windows. Otherwise, probably a bug. I haven’t seen this one.

29. Climate Control App Problems​

I frequently try to turn on the A/C through the Lucid app, but most of the time it doesn’t work at all.

With what error? I do this regularly on both cars.

30. Lucid App Display Errors​

There are two major issues I’ve noticed in the app:

1. My car is currently running software version 3.3.1, but the Lucid app still shows 3.2.2 and says the software is up to date.

You should call customer service; they may need to repush the update. Mine accurately reflects the version in my app.

 

[borski]

1. The app prominently shows the “Charge Limit” number (80% or 100%) right at the top next to “Charging.” At first glance, it looks like the current battery percentage, which is misleading. I only realized today that it wasn’t showing remaining charge but the set charge limit. This is very confusing design.

You can switch between the charging (aka “plugged in”) view and the normal view at the top right of the app.

31. Navigation Cancels After Profile Switch​

Here’s another daily frustration: my wife will start a trip with navigation, then pick me up from work. When I switch to my profile, the navigation she set up completely disappears. In Tesla, this type of small but important detail is handled much more smoothly. Profiles are simple, intuitive, and practical. Lucid really needs to fix these basic software oversights.

Yeah, this annoyed me yesterday actually; but only because we are on a long road trip. 95% of the time, we’re driving around town, and don’t need or care about nav as we’re not switching profiles.

Each day I’m enjoying the comfort and quietness of the Gravity, but these small usability issues really stand out in daily driving. I hope Lucid prioritizes resolving them soon, because they impact the experience more than they should.

These minor issues don’t bother me very much because: a) I know they’ll get fixed, and, b) every car has minor issues. I still find myself loving the car, which is what matters at the end of the day.

 

[socktucker]

What did you have for dinner

 

[DeaneG]

31. Navigation Cancels After Profile Switch

I agree it annoying to have to re-enter a route when initially switching profiles (drivers) on long road trips.

Both our Air and our Volvo EV have this same behavior. Our workaround on lengthy road trips is to build a trip plan on Google maps on the desktop, then email it to both our phones. We can then send the complete trip plan independently to the car before setting out, or on the first driver switch. On switching profiles (drivers) back and forth, each (identical) programmed route stays with the profile and continues where it left off. I think you need to edit the next driver's route to delete intermediate destinations that were already reached under the previous driver's profile, but don't remember exactly.

Incidentally, Homelink (garage door openers) also used to be locked to a profile, so you needed to program everything twice. Lucid revised this last year to make Homelink programming independent of the current profile. I hope they do the same with nav routing, though I think that having independent nav history and favorites locked to a profile is useful. Not an easy question where to stop.