Battery maker A123 announced in a memo Friday that some of the battery packs it has supplied to Fisker Automotive have safety issues that need to be corrected.

Battery maker A123 announced in a memo Friday that some of the battery packs it has supplied to Fisker Automotive have safety issues that need to be corrected. To date, none of the batteries has misbehaved but, with media hounds waiting to pounce on any hint of burning batteries, it’s no surprise that A123 is losing no time in making the issue public.

The problem has to do with hose clamps that are part of the battery pack’s internal cooling system. Some of said clamps were misaligned, which could possibly cause a coolant leak, which could possibly, “in certain rare circumstances,” cause a short circuit. According to A123 CEO David Vieau, the company quickly identified the root cause, developed a fix, and is well on the way to eliminating the problem, which affects fewer than 50 cars.

Fisker uses A123 batteries in its Karma luxury PHEV sedan, which is now shipping in the US, at a price of a little over 100 grand.

Image: Fisker