- Lucid is issuing a recall for more than 27,000 Air sedans.
- According to the NHTSA filing, an improperly-protected circuit could draw too much power and result in a fire.
- The fix is easy—just an OTA update.
Lucid is recalling thousands of its flagship Air electric sedans, warning owners to park vehicles away from structures over a potential fire risk.
According to the automaker’s filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall affects approximately 27,185 Lucid Airs built between 2022 and 2026. The culprit? An improperly protected wiring circuit that could overheat.
Photo by: Lucid Motors
Now, this isn’t the car’s high voltage traction battery that poses the risk. Instead, it’s the car’s low-voltage electrical system.
Most cars backed by an old-school electrical system have traditional fuse that “pops” or fails open when a circuit has too much current flowing through it. Lucid instead uses a software-controlled eFuse that is responsible for detecting and protecting against overcurrent events.
In a normal circumstance, the eFuse should shut down a circuit that draws too much current. However, the lack of protection means that the circuit could remain energized and potentially become overheated—that means melting, smoke, or potentially a fire in the worst-case scenario.
What makes this significant for Lucid is that it’s the automaker’s largest recall to date. For most car companies, 27,000 vehicles isn’t exactly massive—but that’s not the case for Lucid. The Saudi-backed car company sold 15,841 cars last year.
It’s also the fourth recall for the Air this year. Lucid issued a recall in May for 2,039 cars for faulty drive unit inverters, as well as a recall in March for 3,627 cars with improperly secured half-shaft bolts that could disconnect from the drive unit. A larger recall for the rearview camera not displaying was also issued in January and affected 10,816 Airs.
The good news for Lucid (and the owners of affected cars) is that the fix is simply a software update. Lucid says that fix has also already been widely deployed. More than three-quarters of the affected cars—20,700—already have the software update with the fix.
