Lucid Motors issues recall for some Lucid Air EVs over faulty instrument display wiring

Lucid Motors issued a recall notice for some of its luxury electric sedans for a faulty wiring harness connected to the instrument panel. The recall covers 1,117 model year 2022 Lucid Air sedans of all trim levels. The recall was first reported by Lucid Insider, a blog that covers the EV company.

The recall addresses the possibility that the “wired data connection to the instrument panel may not have been secured properly during assembly,” a spokesperson said in an email. “Lucid is not aware of any instances when these components have failed in a vehicle or caused an interruption to the instrument display panel.”

The extra-long wiring harness, which contains the ethernet wiring for the center and left driver displays, could be damaged by coming into contact with the steering column. Damaged wiring could result in “potential loss of data communications to the displays,” the company reports. “Loss of communication at these screens could interrupt updating of the speedometer, gear selection indicators, telltales and other in-vehicle notifications.”

The number of vehicles that are being recalled would seem to exceed the number that Lucid has delivered to its customers. In its fourth quarter 2021 earnings report, the company said it delivered 125 vehicles to customers by the year’s end. And in its most recent first quarter 2022 report, Lucid said it sent 360 vehicles to customers.

In a notice to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Lucid said it established a “clean point” for its manufacturing on May 4, 2022, after which point Lucid is assured that any “excess harness length” has been secured so as not to affect the instrument panel’s operation. “All Lucid vehicles manufactured prior to the clean point are potentially affected,” the company said. The company is in the process of ordering new wiring harnesses that don’t have excess length.

This is Lucid’s second recall. The first, which was issued in February, sought to address a potential suspension issue the automaker says is caused by “improper assembly by a supplier.”

Lucid has struggled to get cars off the factory floor amid supply chain woes and other disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last quarter, the Newark, California-based company announced it was revising down its annual production expectations to 12,000 vehicles from the original prediction of 20,000 vehicles.