Even “the best car in the world” is not perfect as the Rolls-Royce Phantom is facing a recall much like lesser cars that can be bought at a fraction of the stately sedan’s price. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle has announced a potential problem with 442 units of the current, eighth-generation Phantom, affecting vehicles built during the 2019 to 2022 model years.
442 might not sound like much for a mainstream car, but it’s a fairly important number when talking about one of the most expensive vehicles money can buy that is built in limited numbers for the one-percenters. The issue stems from the infotainment system as there’s a risk it may not rise to the correct position, making the footage captured by the rearview camera less visible when backing out.
According to the documentation provided by NHTSA, the affected cars might have faulty software that can “overstress the Central Information Display mechanism caused by excessive unnecessary opening requests from coach door module (CDM).” The issue only appears when the vehicle is unlocked and/or the driver’s door is opened.
It all started in June 2020 when the owner of a US-spec 2020 Rolls-Royce Phantom filed a complaint about the infotainment not fully rising to the desired position. It was seen as an isolated case at that point, but other complaints were made in the coming months, leading up to October when an engineering review was initiated.
Owners of affected cars are going to receive notification letters by December 27 and can contact Rolls-Royce customer service at 1-877-877-3735. Needless to say, the software fix is free of charge. Thankfully, accidents and injuries related to this problem have not been reported so far. It might sound like a minor problem, but when a vehicle is as large as the Phantom, you certainly need the rearview camera feed to show up in the center display to safely reverse.
[Source: NHTSA]
