5.84.17.001.01 – Passenger Frontal Air Bag Inflator May Explode – 2012 Fisker Karma

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March 6, 2019

Passenger Frontal Air Bag Inflator May Explode

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

 

NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V181

Manufacturer Karma Automotive LLC

Components AIR BAGS

Potential Number of Units Affected 472

 

Summary

Karma Automotive (Karma) is recalling certain 2012 Fisker Karma vehicles ever registered in the states of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.

These vehicles are equipped with air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules, used as original equipment or replacement equipment, that may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

 

Remedy

Karma has notified owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began March 25, 2019. Owners may contact Karma customer service at 1-855-288-6109. Karma’s number for this recall is 5.84.17.001.01.

 

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

 

Check for KARMA Recalls

 


IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL

Manufacturer1 Recall No.: 5.84.17.001.01

OWNER NOTIFICATION LETTER

Dear Mr. / Mrs. [CUSTOMER NAME],

This notice is sent to you in accordance with the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Karma Automotive LLC (“Karma”) has decided that a defect related to motor vehicle safety exists in certain Model Year (“MY”) 2012 Fisker vehicles. Due to propellant degradation occurring after prolonged exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling, the passenger airbag inflator may explode during a crash in which the frontal passenger airbag deploys. If an inflator explodes, sharp metal fragments could pass through the air bag cushion and into the vehicle interior at high speed, which could result in serious injury or death.

Karma and its dealers have agreed to provide a free replacement for the passenger inflators covered by the Takata recall that are installed in MY 2012 Fisker vehicles.

We are pleased to inform you that we now have the necessary parts to provide the free replacement to the owners of the vehicles nationwide. Please contact an authorized Karma dealer or service center immediately to schedule an appointment to have this important free repair performed as soon as possible. You can locate your nearest Karma dealer or service center at www.karmaautomotive.com and click at the locator icon, or you may call Karma toll free at (855) 288-6109 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.

It will take approximately 3.5 hours to replace the inflator in your vehicle, but the vehicle may need to be at the repair facility for a longer period of time.

If you no longer own the Fisker vehicle identified above, please complete and return the enclosed prepaid Information Change Card as soon as possible. This will enables us to update our records and notify the current owner.

Federal law requires that any vehicle lessor receiving this recall notice must forward a copy of this notice to the lessee within ten (10) days.

If Karma does not repair the defect free of charge and within a reasonable amount of time, you may notify the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590; or call the toll-free Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1 888 327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153); or go to https://www.safercar.gov.

If you have any questions regarding this campaign, please contact Karma’s Customer Service via email at clientservices@karmaautomotive.com or by calling Toll Free at (855) 288-6109 from 8 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.

We regret any inconvenience this process may cause, but your safety is very important to us.

Sincerely,

Ooost de Vries

VP Sales 8 Service

1 Karma Automotive LLC is not the manufacturer of the 2012 model year Fisker Karma vehicles.


1 Affected Product

Vehicle

MAKE MODEL YEAR
FISKER KARMA 2012

 


3 Associated Documents

Defect Notice 573 Report

RCLRPT-19V181-9054.PDF 214.153KB

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Recall Acknowledgement

RCAK-19V181-4204.pdf 245.855KB

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-19V181-3765.pdf 418.467KB

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Recall Quarterly Report #1, 2019-1

RCLQRT-19V181-6761.PDF 211.147KB

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Recall Quarterly Report #2, 2019-2

RCLQRT-19V181-6534.PDF 211.246KB

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Recall Quarterly Report #3, 2019-3

RCLQRT-19V181-6248.PDF 211.33KB

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Recall Quarterly Report #4, 2019-4

RCLQRT-19V181-3145.PDF 211.436KB

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Latest Recalls Documents

For the Latest and Most Recent Recalls Information Visit the link below…

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/documentList.xhtml?docId=19V181&docType=RCL

 


1 Associated Investigation

Air Bag Inflator Rupture
NHTSA ID: EA15001
Dated opened: February 24, 2015

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers. All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.

During the course of PE14-016, ODI determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by Takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers. Nonetheless, at ODI’s insistence, all 10 vehicle manufacturers initiated a regional recall within approximately two weeks of the opening of the investigation. The regions recalled initially included Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, areas with high absolute humidity and climatic conditions believed to be a significant factor in the inflator ruptures. As part of the recall actions, inflators removed from remedied vehicles are to be returned to Takata for testing.

Takata’s initial test results on passenger inflators from remedied vehicles indicated a much higher than anticipated rupture frequency for inflators returned from Florida. Accordingly ODI requested all 10 manufacturers expand the regional recalls for passenger inflators to include other geographic areas where high absolute humidity conditions exist, including the Gulf States and other coastal areas. Takata’s testing of the passenger inflators to date continues to indicate this geographic area as having the highest risk, with no ruptures occurring from inflators returned from outside the expanded recall regions. During PE14-016 four additional passenger inflator field events occurred, all in vehicles from the same expanded geographic region.

Also during PE14-016 four additional driver inflator field events occurred including two in vehicles from regions not known for high absolute humidity, specifically California and North Carolina. Accordingly, ODI requested all five of the affected vehicle manufacturers currently using the subject Takata driver inflators expand to nationwide recalls. Significantly, neither of the affected vehicle manufacturers or Takata provided any explanation to account for these two driver air bag inflator ruptures outside the area of high absolute humidity. Takata testing of returned driver inflators indicates a lower rupture frequency as compared to passenger inflator testing. All test ruptures reported by Takata to date have occurred on inflators returned from high absolute humidity areas.

The investigation now includes all manufacturers and vehicles known to be affected at this time. ODI’s investigation will focus on, among other things, root cause analysis, other potential defect consequences, identification of affected vehicles scope, and adequacy of the remedy.

The five ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification numbers: 10537899, 10568848, 10585224, 10605877, 10651492


 

 

 

 

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