After having their shiny new Fisker Karma shut downcompletely after 200 miles on the odometer, Consumer Reports was finally ableto finish their testing and write a complete review on the vehicle. If you've ever had issues with your navigation unit or engine control module, you know how frustrating it is to try and solve weird electrical problems. Consumer Reports couldn't even begin testing on the Karma before battery issues bricked the car in their parking lot. Their summary after getting it back from the shop: not good.
While the design is lauded as “simply stunning,” thegasoline engine when activated is noticeably loud. Its heavy 5395 pound bodydoesn’t help the handling department, and the touch screen has a grayscale lookand requires so much menu flipping it “makes MyFord Touch look like a brilliantdesign.”During testing, after they got it back from the shop ofcourse, the speedometer and energy meter display disappeared when driving, ontop of having several other rogue warning indicators appear during the week.These included the ESC, ABS and brake warning lights. There is also anintermittent warning tone and light that indicates an overheating situation;the warning lamp illuminates, then instantly turns off.
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| Oh, were you using these? Sorry. |
What’s more troubling is that Consumer Report’s experiencewith the Karma is not isolated. Only 500 have been shipped and there arealready dozens of complaints in all available outlets, with a range ofsometimes mysterious issues.
One person couldn’t put their car into drive, tried toreboot the system several times to no avail, and had a technician come out anddo a hard reboot. While this finally enabled the car to get into drive, theperson then drove their kids to school and became stranded in the schoolparking lot with the same issue – even after a hard reboot, the car would not beput into gear.
One customer reported that their Karma required a completelynew differential with only 1000 miles on the odometer because of a worn-downcoupling between one of the motors and the wheels.
By far the most disturbing report is of a Karma owner that hadtheir vehicle shut down completely while driving 35mph – all of the lights onthe dash illuminated, the brakes would not work, and they had directionalcontrol of the vehicle only. While the other issues are indeed irritating andnot acceptable for any brand new vehicle, paying $108,000 for a death trap isoutrageous.
With all of this information pouring in, there are many whohave stood up for Fisker, saying that any brand new vehicle from a brand newmanufacturer with new technology is going to have birthing pains. They alsostate that in order to keep up with strict deadlines in order to receivefunding, some of the details in making the Fisker had to be rushed.
I don’t know about you, but funding or no funding I don’tfeel rushing to get something out the door is ever appropriate when lives areat stake. While I understand this is a new company, selling a vehicle that isnot completely developed is not only dangerous to consumers, but very damagingto the company’s image and future.
Hopefully Fisker will address these issues (there havealready been two recalls on the Karma), but either way no one could getme to purchase one of these buggy, albeit beautiful, deathtraps.
