[orthodoc62]

My fisker came to a complete standstill and death while driving on a very busy road completely out of the blue. I have had my car for 2 yrs and two months 11000 miles and drive it every day.

Routinely driving back home at 40 mph I get a sudden warning of emergency system brake applied and within three seconds the car is dead. Everything is locked down and the car comes to complete standstill in the middle of the road at an intersection.
Cannot unlock the door, hazard lights don't come on, stuck in the middle of a busy road with cars screaming by at 40 to 60 mph. Interestingly the headlights and windshield wiper is still on. It was raining significantly that day.

Suffice it to say there is nothing more harrowing than sitting like a dead duck in the middle of a busy road with no way to get out of the car, no way to move the car out of harms way and no way to put on hazard lights.

Eventually found the manual ring to unlock the door, got out of harms way waiting for the car to be towed away.

Without being dramatic, If this had happened on a freeway, I am not sure I would be alive right now!!!!!

Has anyone has this experience and how can one avoid something like this in the future???

 

[smggsm]

im sorry to hear that . if IT WAS RAINING possible Water leaked to the CIU
apparently common problem j
http://www.fiskerbuzz.com/forums/27-fisker-karma-modifications/8026-ciu-why-not-relocate.html

 

[SoCalGuy]

Wow - sorry to hear that. It is surprising given the length of time and mileage you've had your car. Hopefully you're able to find out what happened.

 

[Sandy Eggo]

You're not being dramatic...that's scary as **** and you're lucky that you didn't get hurt.

If you never had your windshield properly sealed, it's highly likely that rain has made it into your CIU module (and other places unknown) to wreak havoc on your car. I recommend speaking with Lormax or Harleyguy asap.

 

[smoothoperator]

12v/low voltage/APM issue methinks. What is the vin?

 

[Antonin]

Please keep us informed what was diagnosed as cause for this. I think now everybody will have second thoughts about driving on the freeway in the rain...

 

[msajidkhan]

I think about a situation like this every day. When you are driving and people looking and admiring and then all of the sudden your car is dead in the middle of the road, people passing by and getting upset for blocking their road while you are sitting in a fancy good looking car..... Well thanks God you are not hurt. That's the brighter side of this incident. Please keep us posted on what was the issue and what was the fix...

 

[souza3]

and if you didn't have the manual rings replaced (they were a recall item) be VERY thankful that they actually worked and you were able to get out of the car! Glad you're ok and good luck to you. Hope your karma makes a speedy recovery!

 

[Harleyguy]

The CIU won't cause this problem ! If the car goes into a critical shutdown he can be many things lose of 12 Volts is where I would start . If you can get the car into ready mode and have access to a volt / ohm meter the APM is located new the Brake Master it has a red cover on it . You need to,check the voltage output at the nut under the cover and ground you don't even need to remove the cover . Also it's a 12 volt circuit so you won't harm yourself only cables that are orange under the hood are a high Voltage .

 

[Fisker_Fan]

Agreed. CIU is really a passive unit and informational unit. It doesn't at all have any input to the powertrain components. It is purposely designed that way for most automotive components.

If you are saying the hazard lights won't come on, and the door can't unlock. I will also look into the VCM. Hopefully you're VCM is not water damaged through the rain.

Could you describe in more detail exactly what happened? Did the car engage the brake? or did you just feel the car slowly down really really quickly? The reason i ask, i can't think of any reason why the car would automatically engage the actual electronic park brake. However, if the HV contactors open while the car is in motion, the HV motor will lose power instantaneously, and the car WOULD stop rather quickly because the motor can't freely spin.
The contactors are kept closed by the 12 volt system, so a sudden lost of 12 volt system would open up the contactor to lose all HV power source.

Did you lose touch screen display? cluster displays? audio? dome lights?

 

[Weird Fishes]

Hey, Orthodoc62...I'm wondering if you ever discovered the problem that shut down your Karma in the middle of a busy intersection? Please, keep us informed! (And best of luck to you.)

 

[Ira]

Wangxiang puts up a website after spending $100's of millions to buy A123 and FA, and there are doubters out there about their sincerity.

Then someone from out of the blue makes a single post about a dead Karma and all of you good people show great concern, asking for more info and wishing him well. Normally, that's how it should be. Trouble is we don't hear back.

If it were me, I wouldn't blow off these well-wishers. If the story is true give us an update. If not, wait for April Fool's for a post like that.