The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation right into a Lucid Motors windshield defroster recall from January, saying it’s “involved” the corporate’s over-the-air replace answer doesn’t go far sufficient to repair the issue. Lucid, in the meantime, instructed TechCrunch that the company “understates the treatment being supplied.”

The probe comes as some automakers are more and more counting on software program updates to repair issues that might usually require a go to to a dealership or service middle. Whereas the investigation will not be as high-stakes as, say, the one the company has opened into Tesla’s issues with its Autopilot driver-assistance system, it reveals NHTSA is paying shut consideration to what automakers suppose over-the-air updates ought to — and shouldn’t — be used for. 

The recall entails 2,042 Lucid Air sedans constructed with a excessive voltage coolant heater from provider Webasto AG that, when it fails, removes the flexibility to defrost the windshield. Lucid’s answer for the recall was to ship an over-the-air replace that might establish which vehicles had the half and reactively warn the driving force if it fails.

NHTSA’s Workplace of Defects Investigation now says it’s “involved that by solely offering a notification to drivers that their windshield defroster will not be working, Lucid places the driving force in a scenario the place they might expertise the failure throughout the identical drive cycle as they obtain the notification.” This might hypothetically trigger drivers to search out out the characteristic is unavailable in the intervening time they should defrost their windshield — that means they might additionally not have the ability to request a free alternative half till after a failure.

The company notes that Jaguar Land Rover took a extra proactive strategy with its electrical SUV, the I-Tempo, which briefly used this similar heater from Webasto. Jaguar introduced in 2023 that it will alert all 668 affected house owners and substitute the half without cost.

Lucid is framing its strategy as revolutionary, although. The corporate mentioned the over-the-air replace launched a “diagnostic software program characteristic” that actively displays the heater for faults, and it “intends to show that the evaluation underlying this strategy is sound and that buyer security is assured.” The corporate additionally mentioned it’s alerting all affected house owners electronically and by mail, in order that they received’t discover out after a failure, as NHTSA suggests.