I decided to read the NHTSA complaints for other EVs. Ioniq 5s roll away even though you thought park was engaged, and Taycans have an insane number of failures, and Rivian has a crash where the car auto-braking and regular brakes failed. I think what we’re learning is that EVs in general are in their early days of reliability.
Cars are monstrously complex pieces of engineering, whether EV or ICE. In my personal experience, new models introduced by long-established automakers are prone to high rates of issues and failures.
Among the entirely new models or first year of a next-generation model, here is my own experience:
1997 C5 Corvette -- warped rear brake discs, steering tie rod fell off, driver window leaked during rains, car went into limp mode repeatedly (once in the far left land of I-95 during rush hour). I left the car on the side of the road, called a tow truck, and never got back in it again.
2000 Jaguar S-Type -- constant screen blackouts, transmission failure. Lemon-lawed the car.
2003 Audi S6 -- the GM OnStar system that Audi used in the car caused the battery to drain overnight. Numerous attempts by Audi to address the problem failed, and I had to keep jumper cables in the car. Traded it after less than a year.
2004 Mercedes SL55 AMG -- numerous minor failures (window motors, gear shift linkage, leaking trunk gasket, seat heaters); brake-by-wire system failed twice, once also losing back-up braking, causing me to roll out of a parking garage into traffic until I hit a curb that stopped me. Second replacement of the system also took out the alternator. MB took the system out of production the next year.
2008 Audi R8 -- suspension sensors failed on the drive home from the dealer.
2011 Honda Odyssey -- windshield had warpage down the passenger side that noticeably distorted images, transmission had faulty shift algorithm that took Honda over a year to address.
2015 Tesla Model S P90D -- numerous software failures, replaced four driver door handles, replaced MCU screen, battery weld joint broke which took out both the battery pack and the rear drive unit (motor/inverter).
I have long been an "early adopter" of new models and long ago learned to expect more problems with them, no matter who the manufacturer. My own experience with a very early Lucid Air (no. 154) has been about par for the course. However, unlike the Corvette, Jaguar, and Audi S6 -- all of which I dumped within a year for unresolvable problems -- every issue with the Lucid has been addressed. The only problem(s) that took a while to address were software related, and virtually all of those problems have disappeared with the advent of UX 2.0.
We are nearing the one-year mark and 13,000 miles with the Lucid. It has actually improved over the course of that time and remains the best balance of performance, comfort, and driving pleasure I've ever owned.
