2022-2026 Lucid Air Recall: Park Outside: Exterior Lighting Circuit May Cause Fire

An eFuse is a fuse made of software. Instead of a metal strip that melts, a chip watches the current on a circuit and cuts power when the number climbs too high. The threshold is a value someone wrote down, which means it can be wrong, and it can be changed later without anyone opening the hood.

On 27,185 Lucid Air sedans built between October 2021 and July 2026, the eFuse threshold protecting the low-voltage exterior lighting circuits was set too high. Lucid filed campaign 26V540000 with NHTSA on August 20, 2026 and told owners to park outside and away from structures until the fix is installed.

The fix had already shipped. Software version 2.10.0 went out over the air in July 2026, a month before the recall existed on paper. By the time Lucid prepared the Part 573 report, 20,719 owners had taken it and 6,466 had not.

The Issue

Lucid's own language: the software logic for the low-voltage exterior lighting circuits "may provide insufficient overcurrent protection by allowing continued circuit energization at an excess amperage level."

The threshold was set high enough that a circuit drawing more current than it should could keep drawing it. Retry logic made that worse. When the eFuse did trip, the software allowed the faulted circuit to be re-energized more than once inside the same key cycle, so a circuit that had already faulted got sent back into service rather than staying down.

A wire carrying more amperage than its gauge is rated for converts the excess into heat. Insulation degrades, the harness chars, and the result is smoke in the mild case and fire in the bad one. Losing a front lamp or the center high-mounted stop lamp is the secondary consequence, and it is the one NHTSA cites as a crash risk.

Version 2.10.0 addressed both halves. It lowered the eFuse amperage threshold and disabled the retry behavior. Lucid then ran the lowered threshold in the field and determined it provides adequate protection.

Affected Models

Model	Model years	Production dates	Units	Status at filing
Lucid Air	2022-2026	Oct 11, 2021 - Jul 27, 2026	27,185	20,719 updated / 6,466 not

Every Air built through July 27, 2026 is in the population, which is close to the entire production run of the car. The Lucid Gravity is not included. Lucid puts the estimated percentage with the defect at 100 percent, meaning the software was on all of them rather than a subset.

6,466 of those cars were still running software older than 2.10.0 when the report was filed. The park-outside advisory is written for them.

Chronology and Investigation

The record starts in June 2023, when a Lucid-owned 2023 Air caught fire in its front left corner. Lucid brought in a third-party expert, who could not establish a definitive root cause but could not rule out the front combination lamp either. The file stayed open without an answer.

A third fire, in March 2025, involved a 2022 Air and likely started in the front left light blade controller. Then in May 2026 a customer reported a fire in the left front corner of a 2024 Air, and Lucid's Product Safety Working Group opened a formal review. Counting back across three years, the group found three fire events involving front lighting.

The review turned up a second pattern. Between October 2025 and April 2026, four customers reported smoke, and the source in each case was the center high-mounted stop lamp circuit overheating. Lucid identified another 33 warranty reports of damage to the CHMSL wire harness that could be related to the same mechanism.

Engineers reviewed design schematics and current data and found gaps in the overcurrent protection strategy across several low-voltage exterior lighting circuits. Lucid had tightened this area before, expanding soft blow protection across the low-voltage junction box and addressing saturated current readings, without closing the gaps that mattered here.

Software 2.10.0 was released in July 2026 while the investigation was still running. On August 13, 2026 the Product Safety Executive Council determined a safety-related defect existed and designated 2.10.0 as the remedy. The campaign was filed a week later.

Reported Incidents

Three vehicle fires over three years, all involving front lighting. Four smoke reports traced to the center brake light circuit between October 2025 and April 2026. Thirty-three warranty claims for CHMSL harness damage that Lucid describes as possibly related.

Lucid's filing reports no injuries and no crashes. Two of the three fires were in customer vehicles; the first was in a car Lucid owned.

What Owners Should Do

Check the software version first. Anything numbered 2.10.0 or higher already carries the remedy, and Lucid has determined those vehicles are adequately protected. That covers roughly three quarters of the fleet.

If the car is on an older build, install the update now rather than waiting for the letter, and park it outside and away from structures until it is done. That advisory is in the Part 573 report as a formal consumer advisory, not as a suggestion. There is no do-not-drive order attached.

Owner letters mail October 16, 2026, and go to owners of vehicles that still have not updated. Lucid's number for the recall is SR-26-06-0, and Customer Care is 1-888-995-8243. The update costs nothing.

Symptoms to Watch For Before the Circuit Overheats

Lucid documented the warning signs in the Part 573 report, and the field history points at two specific locations on the car.

Smoke, from anywhere. Listed first by Lucid. Four owners reported it before this became a recall, and the reports were what turned a stalled fire investigation into a root cause.

A burning odor with no obvious source. Overheating insulation smells before it produces visible smoke. In a car with no engine bay heat and no exhaust, an unexplained hot-plastic smell has few innocent explanations.

Exterior lighting telltales. A warning about a lamp malfunction can mean the eFuse has cut a circuit that is drawing too much current. Treat a lighting fault on a pre-2.10.0 car as the protection doing its job.

Trouble at the front left corner or the center brake light. All three fires in the record started at the front left, and the smoke reports traced back to the CHMSL circuit without exception. A front combination lamp or a center brake light behaving oddly on an older software build is the pattern Lucid documented.

How Long Will the Recall Repair Take?

There is no shop visit. The remedy is an over-the-air update, so the whole thing takes as long as any Lucid software install, typically 30 to 60 minutes with the car parked, awake and on wifi or cellular. Owners who cannot get the update to land can call Customer Care for help rather than booking service.

An update that installs itself is how 20,719 vehicles were remedied before the recall was announced. It is also how the remaining 6,466 slipped through: an over-the-air fix reaches nobody who has been declining updates, and those are the cars parked in garages tonight.

Bottom Line

Lucid found a fire risk it had been chasing since 2023, shipped a fix in July, and filed the recall in August once the safety council put a formal defect determination behind it. Owners who keep their software current were protected before they heard the word recall.

For the roughly 6,500 who are not current, this is a same-day item. Open the app, check the version, install anything below 2.10.0, and keep the car out of the garage until it reads 2.10.0 or later.

Find your Lucid Air recall information: https://lucidmotors.com/recalls