Fisker Karma Blamed for House Fire
A crime of opportunity, or was a Fisker Karma really to blame for the fire in a Texas home?
The Fisker Karma has been under fire for a while with a recent recall last year on a potential battery fire risk issue. Now we’ll give this owner the benefit of the doubt but the timing is a little bit fishy that a Karma is being blamed for causing a house fire.
The story is that the owner purchased a post-recall Karma in April and had parked it in its garage when less than three minutes later the car was up in flames. It is being reported that the vehicle was not plugged in at the time and the Karma’s battery is fully intact.
Authorities are currently saying that the Karma was indeed the source of the fire but the cause is still unknown at the time. Fort Bend County, Texas chief fire investigator Robert Baker said that the vehicle still had paper tags on it, so it couldn’t have been older than 60 days. No injuries were reported as a result of the accident though the house suffered serious damage.
Accompanying the Karma in the garage was a Mercedes-Benz SUV and an Acura NSX, so it may be a little hard to believe the owner was looking for a quick cash out opportunity. Nevertheless, the fire is being heavily investigated since pointing blame specifically at Fisker could have major consequences to the American automaker.
“I’ve worked homicide scenes with less secrecy,” Baker said. “There have to be about 15 engineers down here working on this one.”
Fisker added in a press release that it was aware of the investigation and has not ruled out the possibility of fraud or malicious intent. Even more interesting is that fireworks were found in the garage in or around the vehicle and an electrical panel is being examined by investigators and fire department officials.
The electrical panel is probably a smokescreen to divert blame to the home, especially since the fire chief is confident the source of the blaze was from the vehicle. We’ll be sure to follow the outcome of this story, especially if Fisker is to blame – it could be a big nail in the coffin for the troubled American electric automaker.
[Source: Autoweek]
Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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Fire investigators are very good at what they do. They know fire and how to track it, and what things look that are the cause of fires. That Karma looks utterly obliterated by a fire.