What’s happening
Lucid has issued a recall for 1,117 Air sedans over displays that may go dark.
Why it matters
Not only does losing a display fall afoul of federal regulations, it prevents owners from accessing vital vehicle information while driving.
It doesn’t matter if an automaker is big or small — when it comes to recalls, both are equally capable of picking a bouquet of oopsie daisies. This latest recall comes by way of a small California-based automaker that builds some seriously impressive electric cars.
Lucid Motors has issued a recall for 1,117 examples of the 2022 Air electric sedan. The recalled vehicles have production dates between Oct. 22, 2021, and May 4, 2022.
The issue stems from behind the firewall. A wiring harness for the central and driver-side displays may be too close to a steering shaft, which could chafe the harness and damage the wiring. If that happens, the driver could lose the digital gauge cluster and central screen, which would put the vehicle in violation of federal safety standards. Thankfully, the automaker has no evidence of the issue occurring with customer cars or vehicles still in Lucid’s possession, and the company believes fewer than 1% of affected vehicles will actually face this problem.
According to the recall notification documents filed with NHTSA, Lucid discovered the issue on a vehicle at its headquarters. From there, the company looked at every other Air sedan on the premises and began correcting the issue. Lucid is currently working with its harness supplier, Aptiv, to remedy the issue by replacing the part in question with wiring of a shorter length. Every vehicle produced after May 4, 2022, contains the countermeasure, which involves better securing the harness.
Lucid will perform the exact same countermeasure on the vehicles subject to the recall. After inspecting the harness for any chafing, the automaker will secure any additional length of harness that could come in contact with the steering intermediate shaft. If a harness is already chafed, it will be replaced and secured properly.
According to Lucid, anyone who paid for this fix out of pocket will be reimbursed, and owners of recalled vehicles will be notified by mail beginning in late June. However, a spokesperson for Lucid told CNET Cars that all potentially affected customers have been notified by email, as well.
