More bad news for Fisker, Karma breaks down during test drive

A trial of the car for Consumer Reports ends shortly after it starts when the car stopped and wouldn’t restart during the magazine’s test drive.

The test drive ended with Fisker’s $100,000 car on the back of a wrecker being towed back to the dealership. Consumer Reports says it is the first time in memory that a car they’ve been trying out has become undriveable before it even started the real test drive.  The magazine’s test driver was simply calibrating the speedometer on the car by driving it at 65 miles per hour when a warning light appeared on the dashboard.

There was apparently a problem with the car’s battery, but for an electric hybrid car that is supposed to help wean drivers off of gasoline, a battery problem is a major issue.  The brief test drive is retold in a blog posted on the magazine’s website.

According to the web forum FiskerBuzz.com, the car company sent an email to Karma owners alerting them of the car’s failure during the Consumer Reports test drive.  In the email, the company’s director of customer services says Fisker engineers are working to diagnose the problem, fix it and return it to Consumer Reports.  “As a new company introducing a new technology into the marketplace, customer satisfaction and a quick and thorough response to any issue is our primary focus,” says Josh Battie in the email.

The incident is the latest black eye for Fisker.  While the luxury Karma has been getting praise from some high profile owners, including pop singer Justin Beiber, the company has had trouble getting production started on it’s more moderately priced Nina, scheduled to be built in Delaware.