After a rather abysmal third quarter in terms of production figures, Lucid has been hit with yet another safety recall. On this occasion, the EV manufacturer from California determined that certain Air vehicles may lack active temperature monitoring and control for the rear seat heaters.
In other words, the heated rear seats may overheat due to iffy software. Controlled by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the American company became aware of this problem in August 2023 after a customer experienced rear seat charring. Through September 2023, three other customer vehicles experienced either charring or discoloration due to the overheating condition.
As per documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one customer burned one of their fingers by touching the discolored leather upholstery. Given these circumstances, Lucid promptly decided to escalate this matter to the Product Safety Executive Council. You know, the guys who determine whether a given condition should be remedied by recall or not.
Software versions 2.1.0 through 2.1.20 don’t monitor and control the rear seat temperature properly (in certain situations and vehicle modes, that is). The remedy comes in the form of software version 2.1.26 and later. Owners are urged to update to 2.1.26 or newer versions as soon as possible.
Affected owners will be informed by first-class mail on or about December 11. Lucid Customer Care and service centers will be much obliged to assist anyone in updating their vehicles to the latest software version. Lucid says that electric sedans produced since September 9 run newer versions.
Photo: Lucid
Recall number 23V-708 comprises 1,267 vehicles built at Casa Grande in Arizona between November 10, 2021 and August 31, 2023. Owners who replaced the rear seats due to charring and/or discoloration are eligible for reimbursement. Said owners may contact Lucid Customer Care at either 1-888-99-LUCID or 1-888-995-8243.
23V-708 is the eighth recall of the 2022 Lucid Air and the fifth for the 2023 model. Prior to said recall, the electric sedan was called back over windshield wipers that may fail, software that may not display the warning message for a loss of power, a rearview camera image that may not display, electric motors shutting down unexpectedly, detaching front tow eye brackets, disabled display screens, as well as front strut damper snap rings that may go kaput.
Rather than blaming Lucid for all of them, it’s worth remembering that Lucid is a relatively new and somewhat inexperienced automaker. On the other hand, also remember that Tesla still experiences rather shocking quality- and software-related issues after surviving manufacturing hell with the production ramp-up of the D-segment Model 3.
At press time, Lucid’s zero-emission sedan can be had in four distinct flavors, those being the Pure, Touring, Grand Touring, and the no-nonsense Sapphire with tri-motor muscle. Pricing ranges between $77,400 for the Pure RWD and $249,000 for the performance-oriented Sapphire. Come November 16, the automaker’s lineup will welcome the Gravity sport utility vehicle. Of course, the newcomer shares its underpinnings with the Air.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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