Video summary

Lucid Is Buying My Car Back – More Problems!

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News and Commentary

Summary

The video creator says Lucid is buying back their car entirely after nearly 11 months, citing repeated software/feature failures and a point where the problems became unacceptable.

Why the buyback happened

  • Initial plan: Lease for 3 years, then decide later whether to buy it out or return it.
  • Triggering event: After a rough 400-mile weekend trip (4 days), they reached a “breaking point.”
  • What Lucid acknowledged: In a document referencing minimum rights under lemon law, Lucid frames the buyback as making the ownership experience right because their expectations (“excellent experience”) weren’t met.

Key problems reported (especially over one weekend)

They describe at least eight distinct issues in 4 days:

  1. Door handle malfunction: Rear doors sometimes wouldn’t open even when unlocked.
  2. Rear climate inconsistency: Rear vent temperatures differed by about 10°C despite identical settings.
  3. Reverse camera overlay glitch: The dynamic guidance lines failed to load.
  4. Apple CarPlay navigation failure:
    • CarPlay loaded, but navigation wouldn’t start.
    • Later, CarPlay wouldn’t fully load at all (spinning indefinitely).
  5. High-concern “stop mode” switching behavior:
    • The car had been set to Stop Mode = Hold (one-pedal behavior: releasing the accelerator fully stops the car).
    • The creator claims that while they were in/outside the car, the setting switched to Roll on its own.
    • Result: during a Park → Reverse workflow, releasing the brake caused the car to roll forward, then reverse only worked after quickly accelerating.
    • They express fear this could be dangerous on steep hills (example given: San Francisco).
  6. Rear AC temperature problem repeats (consistent issue).
  7. Incorrect speed limit display: In a 45 mph zone, the car showed 75 mph (inconsistently).
  8. Music playback interruptions: Music randomly pauses repeatedly and won’t resume without user intervention.

Additional ongoing complaints beyond the weekend

  • Audio system/speakers are unreliable: No sound sometimes, tinny audio at other times, sometimes only rear speakers play, and music pauses frequently.
  • Lucid app drains iPhone battery: Reported 46% battery usage in a day largely from background activity, contrasted with another GPS-tracking app using ~7% over ~5 hours.
  • Heated seats repeatedly turned off.
  • Vehicle “thinking” it’s plugged in: Mentioned an instance where it prevented putting the car into Drive/Reverse even with the phone connected.

Lucid’s proposed resolution—and why the creator declined replacing the Air

  • Lucid’s initial offer: Replace with a new Lucid Air and keep lease payments the same via a like-for-like replacement.
  • The creator says exact matching was practically impossible due to Lucid’s high number of build variants.
  • Final decision: Lucid instead buys back the car entirely, paying for payments made.

Why they declined replacing it with another Air

  1. Price increased: ~$865/month previously vs ~$1,130/month for the same terms (about +$265/month).
  2. Restarting the lease term: They don’t want another 3-year lease; shorter terms would raise payments further.
  3. Risk of repeating the same buggy software experience despite liking the car’s driving feel.

Replacement vehicle / loaner plan

  • Lucid provides a Lucid Gravity as a long-term loaner while the buyback process proceeds.
  • The creator says they’ll not rush a review; they plan to live with it first and then document findings later.

Response to “YouTubers get special treatment” comments

  • They acknowledge it may have been easier due to their channel, but argue the alternative—keeping a “constant headache”—would be unreasonable.
  • They emphasize that a car around $85,000 should not have this level of frequent, diverse software failures, and that Lucid effectively admitted the severity.

Bonus issue described (frunk/trunk controls)

  • After some idle time with the frunk and trunk buttons, the buttons reportedly stop working for closing (creator suggests a ~10-minute timeout).
  • The app may also fail to close, showing “didn’t work” and prompting retries.
  • They find it frustrating because the car UI doesn’t clearly explain the intentional limitation, forcing manual closing.

Presenters or contributors

  • Lucid car owner / video creator (primary presenter): The speaker describing their experience with the Lucid Air and Lucid’s buyback, later receiving a Lucid Gravity loaner.
  • Lucid Motors / Lucid representatives: Referenced as providing the buyback plan and loaner arrangement (not as on-screen presenters).

Original video