FAIL! CR Magazine's Fisker Karma Goes DOA Prior To The 200 Mile Mark

Our Fisker Karma cost us $107,850. It is super sleek, high-tech—and now it’s broken.

We have owned our car for just a few days; it has less than 200 miles on its odometer. While doing speedometer calibration runs on our test track (a procedure we do for every test car before putting it in service by driving the car at a constant 65 mph between two measured points), the dashboard flashed a message and sounded a “bing“ showing a major fault. Our technician got the car off the track and put it into Park to go through the owner’s manual to interpret the warning. At that point, the transmission went into Neutral and wouldn’t engage any gear through its electronic shifter except Park and Neutral.

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Caraficionado - 3/9/2012 10:48:21 AM

+6 Boost

Oh-oh

Designer1 - 3/9/2012 11:30:03 AM

0 Boost

wow, this got to be a record breaker! I wonder if GM/Ford/Chrysler has anything to do with building this car? It looks like the same bad quality.

AlleVier - 3/9/2012 1:15:03 PM

0 Boost

I know the petro-heads are basking in schadenfreude, but this is unsurprising for a low-volume, new-tech car and is certainly not damning of electric propulsion any more than Ferrari fires are damning of internal combustion engines. Consumer Reports had favorable reliability assessments for the Volt and the Leaf, so this is certainly nothing more than some poor quality-control by a marginal manufacturer and its suppliers.

Honestly, I'm a little puzzled as to why Consumer Reports even bought this for testing given that 400 or so have been produced. (Well, not puzzled; I'm sure it was to add spice to an otherwise dull publication.) In another article, they suggested that its because it was deemed "mainstream", but that seems a stretch. Regardless, there wasn't going to be anything they could tell anyone that they shouldn't have already known: let the buyer beware with exotic, low-volume products from unknown, marginally-funded manufacturers.

AlleVier - 3/9/2012 1:15:30 PM

+1 Boost

"petrol-heads"

Larrybel2000 - 3/10/2012 8:32:37 AM

+1 Boost

Maybe if we throw them another half a billion dollars they can work out the kinks. Losers.

coltonbrav - 3/11/2012 10:08:58 PM

0 Boost

Damn, that's a stunning car! A couple of my NHL buddies bought one, I like them. Hope they get it fixed soon and can finish their write up, I know its gotten amazing reviews everywhere else, including Top Gear Car of the Year. Way to go US...