Fisker Air Bags: Inflator Module

Fisker is recalling about 811 vehicles over a problem with the air bags. An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Campaign
17V004000
Manufacturer
Karma Automotive LLC
Reported
6 January 2017
Vehicles
811
Built between
Jun 2011 – Jul 2012
Models
1
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
NHTSA investigation
Owners notified
8 September 2017
Repaired
78%
Unrepaired
175

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between June 2011 and July 2012. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2012 Fisker KarmaBuilt June 2011 to July 2012

Repair progress

175 of 811 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q1 2020.

78% repaired — 636 of 811 reported

Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.

What the defect is

Karma Automotive LLC (Karma) is recalling certain 2012 Fisker Karma vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may rupture due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.

What could happen

An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

What gets fixed

Karma will notify owners, and dealers will replace the air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began on September 8, 2017.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtJune 2011 to July 2012
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA6 January 2017
  3. Owners notified8 September 2017
  4. Latest repair reportQ1 2020 — 78% repaired

Your rights

A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.

That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 6 January 2017.

To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.

Manufacturer contact

Karma Automotive Client Services Team can be reached at clientservices@karmaautomotive.com or by calling 1-855-288-6109. Karma's number for this recall is 5.84.17.001.01.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
5.84.17.001.01
Recalling manufacturer
Karma Automotive LLC
Recall initiated by
ODI

Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Additional 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 your own vehicle

This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.

A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.

Same component

Same brand