- Fisker Ocean owners won't have to pay for recall costs out of pocket, after all.
- The automaker's final bankruptcy liquidation plan was approved last week by a Delaware judge.
- The revised plan states Fisker's estate will foot the bill for parts and labor.
Fisker Ocean owners get to hear some well-needed good news: recall costs, both for parts and labor, will be covered by the automaker. The decision is part of Fisker’s final bankruptcy liquidation plan, which was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Thomas Horan in Delaware last week after several filings, hearings and closed-door meetings between Fisker, the Fisker Owners Association (FOA) and American Lease, the New York-based company that agreed to buy the remaining inventory of roughly 3,000 Ocean EVs.
The Austrian-built electric crossover, Fisker’s sole model to be sold before it declared bankruptcy in June, is subject to five recalls in the United States, two of which require spare parts (the other three are software-related and will be resolved through free over-the-air updates).
Last month, the California-based startup said on its website that it would provide the spare parts for the two hardware-related recalls–one for faulty outer door handles and the other for a faulty water pump that could cause a loss of drive power. The labor costs, however, were to be covered by the owners.
Gallery: 2023 Fisker Ocean
Then, a few days later, Fisker backtracked and said that it would, in fact, cover all costs. But then it changed its mind again and said that customers would have to foot the bill for recall repairs. This didn’t sit well with the U.S. Department of Justice, which filed a complaint with the bankruptcy court–that has now been resolved.
The approved liquidation plan also states that the entire fleet of Fisker Ocean EVs will remain connected to the cloud for five years. That’s because buyer American Lease agreed to pay an additional $2.5 million to keep the servers plugged in, in addition to the $46 million paid for the remaining inventory. This means owners across the world will get to keep using features like preconditioning the interior temperature through the smartphone app.
The Fisker Owners Association, a volunteer-based entity, said it also secured control of the Ocean’s core software, the Fisker After Sales Tool (FAST) diagnostic software, an engineering help desk and the capability to phase out or upgrade outdated features.
