Fisker Automotive, the U.S. pioneer of extended-range luxury battery-electric cars, refuted allegations in Autobild, the German auto magazine, that its Karma model represented a higher fire risk than any other automobile.
Since deliveries of the Karma were launched last year, none of the vehicles in daily use on the roads of North America and Europe has caught fire due to faults with the battery or other engine components.
In one incident in Texas, a Karma was one of three vehicles damaged in a garage fire. The precise ignition source for that fire has yet to be determined. No official report has identified the Karma as the cause of the garage fire.
Independent fire investigators, moreover, have established that the Karma battery, which was fully intact and operating after the incident, was not the cause.
In an unrelated vehicle recall last December, Fisker completed hose clamp replacements with no reported safety incidents either before or since. The recall involved 260 Karma models, representing a tiny proportion of the total 5.2 million vehicles recalled in the US in the first half of this year to rectify potential safety issues.
Fisker has asked Autobild to correct its erroneous report.