You most likely remember the much talked about incident with Consumer Report’s Fisker Karma sedan that broke down only a few days after the magazine purchased a brand new example from a dealer for $107,850 (€82,500) during routine speedometer calibration runs on the company’s test track.
Now, Fisker is trying to counter the bad publicity through a letter sent to customers by its newly appointed CEO and former executive at General Motors and Chrysler, Tom LaSorda.
Fisker’s CEO stated in the letter that the Karma shut down during the drive to protect itself from further damage.
“It is important to understand that despite widespread publicity of a service issue with a car belonging to Consumer Reports last week, Karma performed exactly as it was designed to,” said LaSorda.
“The on-board diagnostics detected a fault and entered a protection mode that shut the car down to protect other components. We are sorry for the inconvenience this caused the customer, but we focused on getting the car back to them as swiftly as possible,” he added.
As it turns out, the problem involved the battery and the inverter cable, both of which were replaced and the car was returned to Consumer Reports on Monday, about a week after the Karma died on them.
“We now have a brand-new lithium-ion drive battery pack provided under warranty, though likely costing as much as a small, fuel-efficient car,” Consumer Reports wrote on a blog post.
In the letter to Fisker’s clients dated March 13, LaSorda said that the company has assembled a special “SWAT team” of 50 engineers and other consultants that will pinpoint and solve any problems experienced by Karma owners.
He also stated that the company is trying out new software. “As soon as this procedure is complete we will send updated software out,” he said.
Story References: Reuters & Consumer Reports
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