A Report Claims Fisker Used Pre-Production Parts To Fix Customer Cars. That May Or May Not Be A Big Deal

How would you feel if your car had pre-production parts on it? While some car enthusiasts might be stoked to rock the equivalent of a medallion from new car development hell, mainstream consumers would likely be less than stoked. Normally, these parts are all sent through the crusher, but fixing customer cars with parts from pre-production cars is allegedly something that’s been happening over at Fisker.

Yes, Fisker has seen a rough go of it over the past few months. From the viral Marques Brownlee review of an Ocean crossover with early software to being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange, it’s faced setback after setback, and new allegations are only the latest in the chain.

On Wednesday, Business Insider published a report claiming that Fisker used parts from existing production and pre-production cars to fix issues with customer units of the Ocean crossover. As per the outlet:

In response to a backlog of customer-service requests and a shortage of available parts, Fisker technicians have stripped parts off what some have called “donor cars,” which include Fisker Ocean preproduction and production vehicles that are sitting in the company’s facility in La Palma, California, three current and five former Fisker employees said. The workers spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about company affairs. Business Insider also viewed several photos of Fisker Ocean cars with missing parts that sources say were used for customer vehicles.

Alright, there are two allegations to unpack here, so let’s start with the more challenging one. Pre-production cars and pre-production parts can be a bundle of snakes when it comes to liability. If those vehicles aren’t homologated, opening their use or their parts up to the public could theoretically result in a lawsuit should a non-production-spec part cause a crash. However, there are some parts that may be more acceptable to swap out than others depending on the level of risk involved.

For instance, a little trim piece that covers a window shut line, a plastic panel in the cargo area, or a piece of cupholder trim shouldn’t be a safety-critical component. Those sort of items aren’t in the paths of airbags, responsible for controlling critical safety systems, or chassis bits … so if they look like the respective parts from customer-spec cars and are in better condition, how many owners would say no?

At the same time, if an externally-supplied part on a pre-production car was already in production when the Ocean was in pre-production testing, and that part is both identical to the one on a production car and in good enough shape to appear new, why not use it to get a car on the road? In the short term, it seems like the more desirable option than waiting months for identical new parts to come in.

When parts for production-spec cars are in short supply or a customer is in a rush, parts get pulled from new vehicles in inventory all the time. It’s just one of those things that happens in the business, whether with startups or established brands. The main difference between this and pulling parts off pre-production cars? Liability is near-null, and some degree of disclosure typically occurs. In that respect, if Fisker were to swap defective parts on customer cars out with new vehicles it has lying around and tell customers about it, the firm would be doing nothing wrong. Indeed, Business Insider did find an owner who claims Fisker disclosed the option of a parts switcheroo with a car in inventory to fix a cosmetic fault.

Patrick Burrell, a Fisker Ocean owner in California, said he was told by a Fisker employee that the company would fix a minor paint and trim issue with his car by using a part that was taken off one of Fisker’s other cars, but the repair has yet to be complete. Business Insider viewed an email exchange between a Fisker employee and Burrell that showed the employee offered to fix Burrell’s car using a part from another Fisker car.

“These trim pieces are being pulled off a brand-new vehicle so they are basically brand new,” the worker said in a later email to the customer.

In the case of this particular claim, it seems like no harm, no foul. However, there are still lingering questions on whether or not pre-production parts were swapped onto customer cars, what those alleged parts were, and whether or not customers were notified should such procedures have taken place.

We reached out to Fisker for comment and received the statement that “parts from prototype/preproduction vehicles have never been used for customer vehicles.”

As it stands, making cars is hard. The next few years will be a real crunch time for established manufacturers and startups alike, and not every firm will survive. Given Fisker’s current challenges, let’s see if the automaker makes it out of the muck. It has some great ideas, now it’s just a matter of execution.

(Photo credits: Fisker)

Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.

• The Fisker Ocean Is Way Better Than You Think It Is

• The Fisker Mansion Is Worth More Than The Fisker Car Company

• Marques Brownlee Still Wouldn’t Buy The ‘Fixed’ Fisker Ocean 2.0

• The Fisker Ocean EV Just Got A Humongous Price Drop Of Up To $24,000, Now Starts At Just $25,000

• Don’t Blame Marques Brownlee (Or Any Journo) If Fisker Goes Bankrupt

Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.