Lucid Motors is recalling 3,627 Air sedans in the United States — the second physical recall to hit the EV maker in recent weeks, following a separate action that pulled 4,476 Gravity SUVs over defective seat belt welds.
The expanded recall, filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on March 26, covers 2024 through 2026 model-year Air Pure Rear-Wheel Drive vehicles.
The Saudi-backed EV maker discovered that 26 vehicles outside its original October 2025 recall population of 225 units had also experienced half-shaft disengagements, forcing the company to widen the scope to 3,627 units.
The expanded recall covers 2024 through 2026 model-year Air vehicles equipped with the Pure Rear-Wheel Drive powertrain.
Production dates range from September 13, 2023, through July 25, 2025.
Lucid estimates that approximately 8.9% of the affected population has the defect.
The defect can cause an “unwarned loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash,” according to the NHTSA acknowledgment letter dated April 9.
It is Lucid‘s fourth safety recall since the start of 2026 and the third this year requiring physical service center repair rather than an over-the-air fix.
Root Cause
The primary cause is the same defect identified in October 2025: an interruption of torque operations during the adhesive curing window for half-shaft bolts.
Contributing causes include the use of bolts with damaged adhesive, contaminated half-shafts, and the reuse of bolts with cured adhesive, according to the Part 573 filing.
The half-shaft assemblies were supplied by GKN Automotive, a division of the Dauch Corporation, from its facility in Villagrán, Mexico.
The half-shaft bolts and brackets were supplied by Bossard Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona. Both are listed as Tier 1 suppliers.
Only the Air Pure RWD variant is included.
Other Air trims — Touring and Grand Touring — feature dual drive units and are not at risk of a complete loss of motive power, since the second motor can maintain propulsion if one half-shaft fails.
Recall’s Expansion
Lucid‘s October 2025 recall identified 225 affected vehicles using a lash detection algorithm that relied on vehicle telematics data to flag units potentially at risk.
At the time, the EV maker believed the algorithm was “an adequate means of predicting” which vehicles might experience a disengagement.
After that recall, Lucid discovered that vehicles not flagged by the algorithm had also experienced failures.
The company’s Product Safety Working Group (PSWG) identified 26 half-shaft issues on customer vehicles between October 2025 and February 2026 that it attributed to the same root cause.
The PSWG evaluated the sensitivity of the lash detection algorithm and determined it had not captured all at-risk vehicles, according to the recall report.
No customer incidents were found on vehicles built after the July 25, 2025, clean point.
The issue was escalated to Lucid‘s Product Safety Executive Council (PSEC) on March 19, 2026.
The council determined that an unreasonable risk to safety existed for all Air Pure RWD vehicles manufactured before the clean point with fewer than 25,000 miles that had not already received a drive unit replacement or been included in the original recall.
Remedy
Lucid will remove the original half-shaft bolts and install new bolts to specification, free of charge.
Half-shafts will be confirmed to be free of contamination before new bolts — checked for undamaged adhesive — are installed, the NHTSA recall report sayd.
Owner notification letters are scheduled to be mailed by May 22, 2026.
In addition to the physical bolt replacement, Lucid said it is developing a software detection strategy that includes a revised algorithm deliverable via an over-the-air update.
The system would enable “continuous, real-time, on-vehicle evaluation” of each vehicle’s signals to proactively determine whether a half-shaft disengagement risk exists and alert the driver.
If deployed, this remedy would require bolt replacement only on vehicles algorithmically identified as at risk, rather than across the entire recall population.
Lucid will reimburse owners who incurred costs to obtain a remedy for the defect prior to receiving their notification letter, covering the period from initial vehicle delivery through 10 days after the mailing date.
Recall History
The half-shaft expansion is the latest in a series of recalls that have weighed on Lucid’s first-quarter operations and investor sentiment.
In March, the company rolled out a software fix to 10,816 Air vehicles (model years 2022-2026) equipped with the AD02 package over a rearview camera software malfunction.
Lucid has recently recalled 4,476 Gravity SUVs after discovering that second-row seat belt anchor brackets had insufficient welds — a defect attributed to an unapproved change by supplier Camaco.
That recall triggered a 29-day stop-sale that disrupted first-quarter deliveries.
Late last year, Lucid recalled certain 2026 Gravity vehicles over incorrectly installed front seat backrest covers that could prevent side airbags from deploying correctly.
Manufacturing and Production
The EV maker assembles the Air sedan at its AMP-1 plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, where the vehicle has been built since 2021.
The facility also produces the Gravity SUV, which began rolling off the line in small scale in the final days of 2024.
Lucid produced 5,500 vehicles and delivered 3,093 globally in Q1 2026.
The production-delivery gap of more than 2,400 units reflects finished vehicles parked at Lucid‘s facilities during the Gravity stop-sale period.
For the full year, Lucid has guided for production of 25,000 to 27,000 vehicles — representing 40% to 50% growth over the 17,840 units produced in 2025.
CFO Taoufiq Boussaid described the target as “conservative” at a Bank of America conference in March, noting potential tailwinds from rising fuel prices and the discontinuation of Tesla‘s Model S and Model X.
Saudi Arabia and the Cosmos
Lucid‘s second plant — AMP-2, located in King Abdullah Economic City on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast — has spent the past two and a half years assembling Air sedans from semi-knock-down kits shipped from Arizona.
The facility is now being converted to a Complete Build Unit site capable of handling stamping, body construction, and powertrain assembly.
The Saudi plant is scheduled to begin production of the Cosmos — Lucid’s first mid-size model — by the year end.
Lucid’s Third Model
The Cosmos is a crossover SUV built on a new mid-size platform, priced below $50,000 and positioned as a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y and Rivian R2.
CFO Boussaid said in March that units produced in 2026 would be followed by a “relatively slow ramp in 2027 and then moving towards full capacity in 2028.”
The Saudi facility is being built with capacity for 150,000 units per year, with Boussaid forecasting that the maximum would be reached by 2029.
Initial Cosmos production from Saudi Arabia will primarily serve the Middle East, Europe, and other international markets, though Lucid said early units will also be shipped to North America.
Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said at the Investor Day that the mid-size platform will not contribute “meaningful numbers” to 2026 production guidance.
The EV maker has set a target of producing 100,000 units annually by 2028.
Other Models
Lucid revealed the Cosmos alongside a second mid-size variant called Earth and an unnamed third model at its inaugural Investor Day on March 12.
The company also disclosed a robotaxi concept called Lunar, built on the same platform, to be deployed on Uber’s ride-hailing network.
Stock Impact
Lucid shares closed at an all-time low of $8.58 on Friday, extending a week of sustained selling that had already pushed the stock to a previous low of $8.83 on Tuesday.
The stock has fallen nearly 20% since the first trading day of 2026 and has declined more than 74% from its 52-week high of $33.70.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund holds a stake of more than 50% in Lucid.
Under a signed purchase agreement from April 2022, the Saudi government intends to purchase up to 100,000 vehicles over a ten-year period.
