Much like a real-life sea, the Fisker Ocean’s begin has been rocky. The crossover launched to a number of failed flip makes an attempt, solely to be beset by points round little issues like “moving the car.” Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating points across the Ocean’s potential to not transfer.
A sequence of complaints despatched to NHTSA revolve round “unintentional vehicle movement,” in accordance with Reuters. Those 4 particular person complaints have now led to an investigation surrounding 4,000 autos — all regarding their potential to shift between gears. From Reuters:
The NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation acquired 4 complaints “alleging unintended vehicle movement” associated to the 2023 Ocean mannequin.
The complaints alleged an incapacity to shift into the park mode or into the meant gear, which might end in an unintended automobile motion, the U.S. auto security company added.
One of the complaints alleged an harm, the NHTSA stated.
The story of a defective or imprecise shifter resulting in harm isn’t a brand new one. It’s the identical scenario that killed Anton Yelchin — a shifter that made drivers suppose they’d put the automotive in park with out ever really doing so. While that concern occurred as digital shifters have been simply rising to the mainstream, this Ocean downside could also be related.
The Ocean makes use of a stalk-mounted shifter, which whereas smaller than any SUV or truck’s implementation, must be at the very least conceptually intelligible to most drivers. Whether the difficulty right here stems from the shifter itself, a deceptive gear indicator on the sprint, or one thing inside the drive unit stays to be seen.
The NHTSA investigation ought to shed extra mild on the difficulty — if one exists — however homeowners can mitigate any threat by double-checking their gear place earlier than stepping out of the automotive. Better secure than sorry.
Source: jalopnik.com