The Lucid Air’s rear seat heater could get so hot that it chars the surface, but the problem can be solved with a simple software update
October 26, 2023 at 15:00
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If you own a Lucid Air and might be carrying any passengers in the rear seat, you may want to ensure that its software is up to date. That’s because a design quirk could allow the seat heaters at the back to overheat to the point where they could burn you.
Lucid first became aware of the issue on August 1 when a customer reported that their rear seat had become charred. It opened an investigation into the issue, and received three more complaints from customers, including one in which the owner said that they burned their finger while touching the damaged seat to see what was happening.
In its investigation, Lucid found that certain software versions turned off active temperature monitoring for the rear seat heater in certain cases when the car wasn’t driving. While that’s an unusual choice for any vehicle, it would seem to be a particular problem for an EV, in which passengers are likelier to be waiting while the car isn’t driving because of charging times.
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Lucid says that the problem is most likely to affect non-driving vehicles when the rear seat heater is on, the seatbelt is buckled, and pressure is applied. That could occur when someone hasn’t left a parked vehicle, or when a child seat is in place.
Fortunately, the solution is pretty simple. Lucid has stopped using the software version that allows the seat heater to be on unmonitored, and has sent out software updates in an attempt to remove it from customer vehicles.
In an attempt to encourage drivers to update their software, and to reflect the fact that this issue poses a risk to the safety of Air occupants, Lucid is launching a recall. It says that, as part of the campaign, it will reimburse any owners who incurred costs as a result of the issue.
A total of 1,267 vehicles are affected by this defect, and if you want to check if your Air is one of them, you can check your software version. The bad versions are 2.1.0 to 2.1.20. If you have software version 2.1.26 or later, you should be good.
