- U.S. safety regulators are opening a preliminary probe into faulty brakes on the 2023 Fisker Ocean connected to three injuries.
- NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has received eight reports of 2023 Ocean SUVs unnecessarily applying the brakes.
- In some cases the brake force applied was partial and brief, in others its was a full blown emergency stop.
Just when you think things can’t go more wrong for Fisker, here come the feds to twist the knife a little further. Rounding out a week in which Fisker’s Austrian unit filed for bankruptcy and the automaker was sued by an engineering firm working on the Pear, U.S. safety regulators have now announced an official probe into defective brakes on the Ocean SUV.
The NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) says it has received eight reports of 2023-model Oceans unnecessarily activating their automatic emergency braking (AEB) system, and three of those reports claim the problem resulted in an injury.
Related: Fisker Sued Again, Now By Engineering Firm Working On Pear And Alaska
AEB is designed to detect pedestrians and other cars in a vehicle’s path and apply the brakes to avoid a collision if it looks like the driver hasn’t spotted the hazard. But in this case the Oceans’ AEB seems to be firing when no hazard is present and without giving any warning to the driver.
Some of the reports received by the ODI say the unwanted braking force applied was only brief and partial, causing the SUV to slow down rapidly. But in other cases drivers say their Oceans applied maximum braking force, effectively performing an emergency stop in the middle of their driving lane.
The ‘Preliminary Evaluation’ opened this week by the ODI will determine the scope and severity of the problem, and it’s possible that investigators may conclude that no further action should be taken. But they might decide that more in-depth testing is needed, which could result in a recall of the 6,813 SUVs believed to be potentially affected.
ODI boffins are already looking into 2023 Oceans for an entirely different matter after receiving 14 complaints from drivers who say they’ve been unable to open either the front or rear doors.