Fisker Ocean door failure investigation may result in recall to add to EV company's woes

Fisker's Ocean SUV has come under fire of late, with some reviewers even calling it the worst car they've ever reviewed. For the most part, much of the blame has been pinned on incomplete and buggy software, which Fisker allegedly mostly fixed with the 2.0 software update it is currently rolling out.

However, 14 recent complaints to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have resulted in a preliminary investigation [PDF] by the US federal agency that may result in a recall, depending on the findings.

It seems as though there may be different issues causing the door latch failure, since some reports cite a dead 12 V battery, while others talk of random failures that even Fisker has been unable to fix. The issue also appears to affect both the front and rear doors indiscriminately. One of the complaints logged on the NHTSA's Fisker Ocean page reads:

On Monday March 25th the 12v died with my whole family in the car my wife and two kids couldn't open any of the doors or trunk and there's no emergency latch to get out of the vehicle we were stuck in the vehicle for 2 hours before assistance came for us.

Another complaint claims that Fisker has already sent out technicians to repair the issue, which started appearing in September 2023, to no avail.

Passenger Door Unlock fails, and passenger is stuck in the cabin and unable to open door - I have reported this to Fisker multiple times since my vehicle was delivered in September 2023, and despite three mobile technician visits, the problem persists.

This news comes just days after Fisker dramatically cut prices and started sending its technicians out to customers to update the software on Ocean SUVs already out in the wild, hoping to solve the numerous problems faced by users of the EV.

With the price cuts, the Fisker Ocean went from being an expensive luxury electric SUV to staunch price competition for the Tesla Model 3 and upcoming $25,000 Model 2.

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