Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Hurricane Sandy destroys 16 Fisker Karmas at port with water and fire

Even before Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the US, there was no doubt the storm would wreak havoc for automakers (especially luxury brands) in the Northeast, but it looks like Fisker may have taken the biggest, most spectacular hit.

According to Jalopnik, 16 Fisker Karma models waiting to be shipped off to dealers at Port Newark were flooded during the storm surge, and while it isn't clear how it happened, some of the cars ended up catching on fire.

This isn't the first (or second) time a Fisker Karma has caught fire, but it is a different scenario that led to the fires. While the first two instances may have been related to a hot engine compartment, the storm-damaged Karmas were sitting in a lot full of other cars when they were flooded with sea water. Since none of the vehicles were being charged and it's unlikely that any had recently been driven, the best guess of a cause for these fires is some sort of short caused by the batteries coming in contact with salt water.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/10/31/h...ith-water-and/

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

This company can't catch a break hah

edgeucated

iTrader: (4)

LOL this is pretty funny. At least with that much water around, it can't really burn down

KillaIS250

iTrader: (1)

Actually they can...and they did...lol

http://updates.jalopnik.com/post/346...aught-fire-and

spwolf

yes, it is horrible... bad engineering, period. They just didnt do a lot of fail safes in this car.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

lol and they still caught on fire

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

With or without the Hurricane, they would've burn anyways

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Remember the 16 Fisker Karma plug-in hybrids that were burnt in the wake of Superstorm Sandy? They're not the only bad news for the luxury green automaker: more than 300 Karmas, worth over $30 million, were sitting at Port Newark when it flooded and got destroyed. In all, over 10,000 vehicles were damaged at the port when the waters rose. In other words: fire bad, water really bad.

Reuters is reporting that the Karma shipment was insured and Fisker spokesman Roger Ormisher said the company expects "no impact from a business or a financial point of view." He also said that Fisker will be able to meet US demand despite losing the 300 vehicles.

As for the fire – which started in one car and then spread to nearby vehicles – Fisker has issued a statement saying that it was a problem with a low‑voltage Vehicle Control Unit, "a standard component found in many types of vehicles and is powered by a typical 12V car battery," in a Karma. Because the cars were "submerged under five to eight feet of seawater for several hours," salt in the water corroded the VCU, Fisker said. The Karma's advanced lithium-ion batteries did not play a role in causing the fire.

http://green.autoblog.com/2012/11/07...t-port-newark/