- Fisker, the bankrupt company behind the Ocean electric crossover, doesn't have money for the labor costs associated with two recalls.
- In a letter sent to owners, it said it would try to make the spare parts available to authorized service centers.
- Owners will be notified by the end of the month with information about where they can take their EVs to be inspected and repaired.
The Fisker Ocean saga continues. Owners of the ill-fated battery-powered SUV will have to pay for some of the recall costs out of pocket, as the bankrupt California-based company admitted in a message sent to customers and reported on by Autoevolution.
In the letter, the automaker says the Ocean EV is subject to five recalls–three of them are software-related and will be resolved through free over-the-air updates. The other two, however, are hardware issues that require new spare parts and a visit to a service center.
One has to do with the outer door handles which could stick and fail to open and the other with the cabin electric water pump which can cause a loss of drive power. Fisker said the parts will be made available at no cost, but that the labor fees will have to be paid by the customers.
Here’s what the company had to say regarding the labor costs:
Regarding the recalls that require physical inspections and potential repairs, Fisker will provide the necessary parts at no cost to you. However, due to Fisker's current financial situation under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Fisker is only able to cover the cost of the parts required to address these issues.
Please note that the labor costs associated with the inspection and repair process will need to be covered by you, the vehicle owner. We understand that this may be an additional burden, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Our priority remains your safety and the continued reliability of your vehicle, and we are working diligently to make the process as smooth as possible despite the current challenges.
However bad that may sound, there’s another problem. Even though Fisker said it would provide the parts, these don’t actually exist–to the best of our knowledge. As we uncovered in previous reports about Fisker’s state and the struggles that Ocean EV owners had to go through before and after the Chapter 11 filing, company employees sometimes traveled to Magna’s facility in Austria, where the Ocean was assembled, to get whatever parts would be available and ship them back to the U.S. in personal luggage.
Other reports suggested that Fisker owners would strip parts from unsold cars to try and fill the spare parts shortage this side of the ocean. In at least one case, a Fisker Ocean EV was reported to be totaled by an insurance company because the repair shop that was tasked with mending it couldn’t find a sub-$100 door hinge anywhere.
In its defense, Fisker said it is “working to ensure that all necessary parts are available to authorized service providers by the end of September 2024” and that customers will get an email with a list of authorized repair shops where their vehicles could be inspected and repaired.
The used car market is flooded with cheap, sub-$25,000 Ocean EVs, some of them with fewer than 10,000 miles on the odometer. Others are brand new and have been sitting on dealer lots for months, with prospective customers understandably deterred by the shortage of spare parts and a scant service network. In total, Magna built approximately 11,000 Ocean EVs for Fisker before shutting down production.
