I'll phone them tomorrow and ask them where my car is because I've been waiting weeks for it now since I "paid" them
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Fisker ocean - UK forum
- Thread starter spdpsba
- Start date
Sean.
Active Member
I think we’re on the Fisker email list because we expressed some interest / had a reservation down at one time. Glad I got out when I did.
The “£150 from WBAC” chap is over at SpeakEV. He is holding his own at the moment but I expect is going through a lot of torment that he’s not openly shouting about. Very stiff upper lip about the whole thing.
stonecoldrmw
Member
Yep - that was me. Thought it would be good fun to come back here and give you guys an update on my Fisker ownership experience. This is going to be a long read - stick around!
TL;DR - Trying to hand the car back before they run out of cash!
First 4-5 weeks of ownership was fairly standard. No major issues other than the ones that earlier owners had already documented, just light buggy stuff.
But as time went on, more and more things began to creep in and really start bugging me. Pun intended.
There have been a few big things though, that made me really question the car and the software. One thing I will say, is that the car is well built. Aside from the aero flaps on the rea wheel arches, the car itself is beautifully made and well put together. What you would expect from a Magna Steyr built car.
Anyway, this here is the list of points that I've raised both to Fisker and Santander (my finance house). I've added some additional context on some of them for you too.
- Regenerative braking frequently 'drops out' whilst braking underload, causing a significant shift in the required brake pressure due to the car lurching forward unexpectedly. This has been frightening on occasion and has members of my family scared to drive in the car with me. Having owned a Tesla Model 3 prior to this car, I can say that in 4 years of ownership, that this has never happened to me before. This will cause an incident one day if not properly resolved. I am aware that I'm not the only owner that this has happened to.
- Essentially what happens is when you release the accelerator pedal and you start regen, if the car goes over a bump in the road, or a recessed manhole cover, pothole, etc, then the car releases the regen meaning that the car is free wheeling instead of braking and as such you then have to react quickly and apply a load of emergency extra pressure. Happened to me couple weeks ago and nearly lost the car in a ditch! No I wasn't speeding excessively, just following the path and speed of the road.
- The climate control defaults to 'HI' or full fan speed, most of the time I get in to the vehicle
- This happens almost every time i get in to the vehicle.
- The radio stops working every couple of weeks. This requires an Infotainment system reset to get it working again
- Still happening.
- Rear camera stops working when reversing - this has happened on several occasions. I have also had the camera and 3d imaging stop entirely and this required a full infotainment reset and deep sleep to resolve. Very intermittent fault. No rhyme or reason to it.
- Clock tells the wrong time and can't be changed
- Apparently this is an inherent system issue. The only reason its showing the correct time now is due to BST.
- Right hand side rear passenger light comes on intermittently with no interaction. Requires intervention to turn off, only for it to come on again on its own.
- Still happening, when I spoke to a tech about this, he said they don't know what causes it.
- Various warning symbols and alerts constantly going off when driving the car in rain or fog. ADAS/Radar/Camera system, etc
- Constant. Was supposed to be resolved with Software 2.0 (which i now have) however they still go off.
- Driver awareness alert comes on and goes to red alert despite the fact that I'm driving the car normally with no attention issues. This is happening more frequently and is very distracting.
- This is horrendous when it goes off. Like an arcade machine when you win the jackpot, only it's your car and the dashboard is singing at you at the top of its voice. There is an option to turn this off - which is almost completely irrelevant as the car turns it back on and off at will, on it's own.
- Over The Air updates not working. Waited a long while for 2.0 to land at my vehicle. Still waiting for the second part of 2.0. No difference to the performance of the vehicle/software.
- See the rest of the post for details.
- California Mode not working properly - intermittent faults occurring with this - mostly the roof or the left rear window failing to open.
- Still happening. In fact I would say it's happened more now, since the tech visit - read on below.
- Airflow flaps on the rear wheel arches both tore off within 2 months of ownership. Tech who visited me (Dan) for a Limo mode fault in January said that I would be contacted for the replacement of these as they were all supposed to be replaced retrospectively. Heard nothing since.
- Occasional issue with the boot not opening/closing - intermittent issue.
Final point, I was on the school run and had to do an emergency stop. Went to pull off again and the car went in to a meltdown. Flashing screen, gear selection but no drive or reverse. Put it in park. reselect gears, nothing. All the while, I have parents and kids walking by, people queuing in cars behind me cos I'm just stuck in the middle of the road. Eventually, I got out of the car, locked it, waited for about 30 secs and then got back in to the car and it seemed to work. This whole process lasted about 2-3 minutes. Luckily I was in a residential estate, but imagine if that had been on a motorway, or a busy intersection.
So I'd raised all of the above to Fisker and Santander. I chased up with Fisker and almost immediately got a booking for a tech to come out and address the car. To be fair to the techs, they've all been super helpful and really good people. They've also been fairly honest with their situation.
Fast forward to the end of the visit and supposedly, I now have 2.0 software meaning all of the buggy stuff above, should now be resolved....
In short, I have experienced 90% of all of the above again since that point and so I'm in the midst of trying to force Fisker to take the car back. I'm inside the first 6 months and have engaged Santander who are working with me on the process. I also have Forza Finance pushing Fisker too as they are the broker who I went through. I'm aware of a few people who had the Ocean and I know at least one, who managed to hand his back and receive a full refund. He did it by issuing a statutory demand against them - so I've done the same. Deadline is Friday 17th May.
In the immediate short term, I have an independent inspection scheduled for today, requested by Santander. My understanding is that pending the outcome of this inspection, will determine Santander's stance.
It's been such a disappointment to go from being excited for the first real difference making EV (recycled materials, nice design, longest range SUV, etc) to having such a disappointing ownership ownership experience.
Couple that with Henrik not being the right man for the CEO job, sticking his wife in there as CFO (by all accounts she couldn't manage her way out of a paper bag, let alone manage the finances of a huge EV startup) and we're a big in trouble.
The problem with the car is that they rushed it out to try and get some funds in because they were losing money left right and centre. The software wasn't finished and as such, the ownership experience has been almost abysmal. Such a shame.
Will update again soon!
Last edited:
stonecoldrmw
Member
Agreed - But I think this is why Santander want the inspection, especially because I'm 5k miles deep and 5 months in.
stonecoldrmw
Member
Actually - just remembered, there's more...!
Bluetooth connectivity has a mind of it's own at the moment. Caught a vid last week of the bluetooth being off (i hadn't turned it off) so then when i go to turn it on and then select phone, the car then says you need to turn on bluetooth.. which i just did. Repeat cycle.
Spotify started being glitchy too - full infotainment reset required to get that to work.
This is the best one... Had been travelling for a couple of hours (started with 100%. Satnav said I would arrive with around 70-odd %. stopped at services about half way. Got back in the car and for the rest of the journey, the arrival range prediction was going up. By the time i got to the destination, the car showed my as expected arrival SOC to be 96%, despite another display showing 54%. Linked to this was the massive drop in range I noted for that days journey. Not sure why it was much lower on that day. I ended up getting about 250 when it should be been much nearer the 320 mark. No difference in driving and it was a much warmer day.
During that same trip, the infotainment just blacked out for a good 5 mins - no intervention.
lastly, journey home was 2 hrs 20 mins - driven non-stop. Display said I had done 44.6 miles.
Bluetooth connectivity has a mind of it's own at the moment. Caught a vid last week of the bluetooth being off (i hadn't turned it off) so then when i go to turn it on and then select phone, the car then says you need to turn on bluetooth.. which i just did. Repeat cycle.
Spotify started being glitchy too - full infotainment reset required to get that to work.
This is the best one... Had been travelling for a couple of hours (started with 100%. Satnav said I would arrive with around 70-odd %. stopped at services about half way. Got back in the car and for the rest of the journey, the arrival range prediction was going up. By the time i got to the destination, the car showed my as expected arrival SOC to be 96%, despite another display showing 54%. Linked to this was the massive drop in range I noted for that days journey. Not sure why it was much lower on that day. I ended up getting about 250 when it should be been much nearer the 320 mark. No difference in driving and it was a much warmer day.
During that same trip, the infotainment just blacked out for a good 5 mins - no intervention.
lastly, journey home was 2 hrs 20 mins - driven non-stop. Display said I had done 44.6 miles.
stonecoldrmw
Member
That for me is why it's alarming.
My M3P was brilliant for regen braking. Harness everything. Never experienced anything like that so when it happened and then happens all the time, it's bad, scary, alarming, frustrating and frightening dependent on when it does happen. I'm constantly having to micromanage where I'm positioning the car on the road to avoid it happening and sometimes, it's just not possible to avoid it or happens unexpectedly.
It's dangerous.
Thanks for returning with the update @stonecoldrmw.
On paper, the Fisker Ocean has/had a lot going for it, it's a real shame the execution hasn't been good enough coupled with the chaos in the C-Suite.
I hope that you can return the car without financial penalty and that you find an alternative car that meets your needs without too much hassle, soon.
On paper, the Fisker Ocean has/had a lot going for it, it's a real shame the execution hasn't been good enough coupled with the chaos in the C-Suite.
I hope that you can return the car without financial penalty and that you find an alternative car that meets your needs without too much hassle, soon.
pdk42
Active Member
I spotted a thread on FB (Fisker Owners group) where people were talking of buying remaining stock at crazy knock-down prices - under £25k for the Extreme for example. But I think they’re mad given that it’s almost certain Fisker will fold very soon. Not only will the bugs above never get fixed, but once the end arrives, the cloud servers will go, the car airtime connectivity will expire, and access to spares and technical expertise will evaporate. Maybe you could get an Extreme for £25k, but it could turn into a 2.5 tonne paperweight very quickly with virtually zero residual value.
It’s all a real pity since they got very close to making a success of it.
It’s all a real pity since they got very close to making a success of it.
stonecoldrmw
Member
I've seen that thread. If Fisker make it, then that's an absolute bargain. However I don't think they will, at least not in their current guise.
Interestingly, of all the staff that have been let go, it's mainly sales, some tech and marketing etc. When I spoke to the tech a couple weeks back, he said that the software team are still fully in place and working on future updates. He said, that 3.0 was being tested in MK that week so it seems that some progress is still being made albeit small. But if the roll out of 2.0 is anything to be judged by then it will be an absolute age before it comes out (if).
I've heard that the techs have been using and cannibalising inventory cars for parts so there's possibility still an avenue there to be explored but I'd imagine that they will quite quickly become uninsurable.
Hope springs eternal. Basically the value is wheel's, tyres and battery, maybe selling the motor off to a conversion garage. Dicey beyond that.
stonecoldrmw
Member
So, had the inspection today. Few of the gremlins appeared but by and large the car behaved itself for the most part, which was slightly disappointing. But alas, it was what it was. Now we wait.
Just to say on this but that sounds extremely like my Lotus Eletre experience. That was a pre-reg car from the dealer so Lotus weren't the ones that would need to take it back, the dealer was and they point blank refused. It was only after getting the finance company involved, having an inspection that when the dealer got that shared with them they changed their tune.
I hope your inspection went OK, I recorded a ton of videos and documented everything to share with him. I never did see the report but whatever he wrote did the job. The key items really are the safety issues so for instance the fact I paid ~£3k extra for the upgraded stereo that had I think 3 subwoofers, all of which didn't work wasn't important. But items like Matrix headlights that specifically seemed like they'd blank out the road and only shine directly into other drivers retina's where more important.
I'm really happy I got my money back and I hope you do as well. It was an utter slog to do so. I'm really concerned at this point about the cars I pick because they are so software driven and most of these new EV companies are absolutely awful at writing this software. Hence why I went for another Tesla for me.
The only other option would be an ICE with less tech but also from a company that had been improving their software slowly over a long time like a German car company. I did almost order a BMW X7 but I've decided to stick with my Tesla Model 3 Highland LR order. I can review this again in about a year when my wife's lease will have just 6 months left as can always give her the Model 3 and order myself something new again. I feel like I need a year to recover from the Lotus experience and see what happens in the car market.
Ah you posted while I was writing about this.
I was worried about that myself when I had my Eletre inspection, in fact it was maybe a bit worse than normal which was great. I did record a lot of videos of evidence and shared all of them with the tech plus gave a document with all the issues and either links to the videos or photos of the problem where I could get them.
Will keep my fingers crossed, the key is any issues that are a safety issue. Other issues sadly they don't take as seriously which boggles my mind as you are still paying money for things that don't work, even if not all of those might cause an accident. It's like buying a 4K TV that only displays in black and white but because it won't potentially kill you they aren't interested that you aren't getting what you paid for.
stonecoldrmw
Member
This is exactly my worry.
I've paid £60k for a car that has features that don't work properly, let alone those that it's supposed to have but doesn't because they launched the car without them to get them out there, relying on 'OTA' updates to deliver that functionality. I want the car to be safe and the regen issue where it drops out under load, is the one i really needed him to experience. Thanks to the slow old git in front I wasn't able to show him exactly what its like when it does it at 50-60mph. It still did it but it was far lower speeds so the impact is marginally unperceivable. Just hope his diagnostic machine picked it up.
Fingers crossed for you mate. We try and give these other companies a chance but didn't quite clock how much of a risk that might be. I won't be an early adopter of a new car, from a new car company ever again. Yes Lotus has been around for a long time but the Eletre is the first car from their Chinese arm that is effectively a new company, just using the brand name.
pdk42
Active Member
When I bought my Model 3 in 2019, I was very nervous about it. New company, small player, lots of new tech etc. But despite some minor software glitches, it all worked out fine and Tesla have continued to lead, by a huge margin, the rest of the market in software; whether that be features, quality, back-end reliability, performance, ability to roll out changes, UI, or many other things. Many of us here beat them up, but they do many things much better than the rest.
This was brought home to me during our experience with my wife’s ID3 - decent hardware engineering, but the software was (and still is) atrocious. Like Fisker, VW’s launch of the ID3 was rushed, especially in terms of the software (car and back-end). The car’s software in particular was way short of being stable enough for the mass market. But unlike Fisker they had the size and resources to get through it.
This was brought home to me during our experience with my wife’s ID3 - decent hardware engineering, but the software was (and still is) atrocious. Like Fisker, VW’s launch of the ID3 was rushed, especially in terms of the software (car and back-end). The car’s software in particular was way short of being stable enough for the mass market. But unlike Fisker they had the size and resources to get through it.
To be fair in 2019 Tesla had been selling the Model S and X for a while plus Model 3 also in the US. A risk still they had production hell and could have folded but the software even back then was pretty good as many years of development.
It's kind of amazing really. You have the legacy auto makers that know how to screw a car together but everything has been out sourced plus their software is quite basic in comparison. However other than maybe new VW software, it generally works. BMW, Mercedes and so on ship cars and the features in them all work, just they don't update much either.
On the other hand you have these new tech born car companies, trying to do it all in house. Maybe not as well screwed together but the software is more swish. However a lot of ship with software that's super buggy, lots of features missing.
I actually feel like Tesla is one of only a few safe bets these days. Sure the wipers can be crap but generally both the software and hardware is good. I'd still love a higher end one but sadly being RHD means we miss out on a lot of cool cars now.
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