Oh, those poor souls who saw the rebirth of the old Fisker Karma and, entranced by its looks, bought a 2018 Karma Revero without doing a quick Google search—you know, to read a bit about it, maybe. It’s now on its second major U.S. safety recall in less than two months, this time for a side-impact protection issue.
Don’t point fingers or give those Revero buyers a proud “I told you so,” though. Researching vehicles before buying them, after all, is a cumbersome task with few returns. It takes a ridiculous five seconds to type “Karma Revero” into a search bar, and, on top of that, the first indication that this car might have a few issues doesn’t come until a full five results down on Google. Exhausting.
Even then, it’s not like that bottom-relegated, hard-to-find search result is some kind of flashing warning sign or anything.
Anyway, now that we’re clear on that, the Revero is back on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recent recalls list thanks to the potential for a split in the metal on the intrusion bars on left front doors, which, in simple terms, lessens the ability for the Revero to protect passengers in side impacts. That also means it might not meet a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for impact protection—a thing cars have to do—and has been put on another stop sale until the issue is fixed.
Documents filed with the NHTSA say the recall involves a potential 295 Reveros, but that the estimated number with a defect is 2 percent. It spans 2018 models built between May 2017 and December 2018, and, as of last month, Karma said it hadn’t gotten any reports, warranty claims or heard of any injuries or deaths related to the problem.
Karma outlined the inspection and fix process here, and said the planned time frame for owner notification is July 12 through July 31. Dealers were notified on May 31, according to the recall documents.
This isn’t new, though. The 2018 Revero currently has four safety recalls in the NHTSA records, and at this point, people who own a 2018 Revero are probably getting more frequent communication from recall campaigns than from family and friends combined. In April, Karma issued a recall and stop-sale notice on 231 Reveros from the 2018 model year, in which an estimated 100 percent of the recalled vehicles had rollover sensors that weren’t enabled. That also, naturally, broke a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard.
But, look, how was anyone supposed to know this would happen? It’s not like people have said anything about a “history of faults” or whatever, and it’s not like this information is readily available. Give those owners a break, and while you’re at it, give Karma a break, too.