The closest rival for the Model S electric sedan has been hit with a safety recall. According to Lucid, certain vehicles feature Webasto-supplied coolant heaters with aluminum and zirconium oxide coatings that are prone to delamination and cracking from the heating elements. In this event, drivers will experience a loss of cabin heating capability and – more importantly for the folks at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – a loss of windshield defrosting capability.
A car whose windshield can't be defrosted and poses an unreasonable risk to the safety of the driver, occupants, and other traffic participants. The Webasto-supplied coolant heaters bear part numbers P11-M20101-00 and P11-M20101-01, and these high-voltage coolant heaters were also used by the Jaguar I-Pace through January 2022. In Jaguar's case, the part numbers are L8B2-18K590-AA and L8B2-18K590-AB.
Back in February 2023, the Jaguar Land Rover-owned marque switched to redesigned heaters that aren't prone to delamination. The British marque recalled no fewer than 668 vehicles over said issue back in July 2023, namely 2021 to 2022 models produced from June 2020 through January 2022.
Over at Lucid, the American company removed suspect high-voltage coolant heaters from inventory in October 2023. Since then, Lucid has exclusively used the redesigned heaters that Webasto started manufacturing in February 2023.
The California-based automaker is recalling 2,042 examples of the Air electric sedan, with suspect vehicles assembled between November 10, 2021 and June 11, 2023 for the 2022 and 2023 model years. The first complaint alleging a loss of cabin heat was filed in March 2022, yet Webasto didn't inform Lucid about the delamination condition until January 2023. Worse still for the supplier, Webasto failed to notify Lucid about Jaguar's safety recall.
Photo: Lucid
Lucid's first warranty claim over HVCH failure was received in November 2022, and the most recent in June 2023. The following month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration informed Lucid of the aforementioned Jaguar I-Pace recall, highlighting the similarity in design between the HVCHs of the I-Pace and those of the Lucid Air.
It took Lucid until January 2024 to determine that a loss of defrost capability presents a huge safety risk. As for the remedy, Lucid will kick things off with an over-the-air software update designed to identify and warn the owner of a failed high-voltage coolant heater. In the event of a failure, any given vehicle produced with a suspect heater will have its failed heater replaced by Lucid at no cost to the owner.
In the meantime, owners are recommended to contact Lucid at 1-888-995-8243 or the federal watchdog at 1-888-327-4236 for more information. Alternatively, owners can determine whether their zero-emission sedans are recalled or not by running the 17-character VIN on the NHTSA's website.
In related news, Lucid manufactured 8,428 vehicles and delivered 6,001 examples of the Air last year. The Model S-rivaling sedan is advertised with a starting price of $74,900 after the $7,500 Air Credit for the rear-drive Pure specification, which offers 430 horsepower, 419 miles (674 kilometers) of range, and a 0-60 acceleration of 4.5 seconds.
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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