Mister Fixit LaSorda has hit the ground running, saying in an open letter released Tuesday that “quality and customer satisfaction are the top priorities at Fisker.”

When Fisker Automotive appointed star auto exec Tom LaSorda as its CEO in February, many saw it as a form of damage control. The company had just delivered a batch of bad news – in December, Fisker had to recall a batch of Karmas to fix battery problems, and in February the company put its plans for a new model on hold, which led to the freezing of a new round of DOE loans.

Last week brought another humiliation, as Consumer Reports announced that a Karma it had bought for testing broke down after less than 200 miles of service. The owner forum FiskerBuzz.com has been humming with reports of annoying software glitches.

Mister Fixit LaSorda has hit the ground running, saying in an open letter released Tuesday that “quality and customer satisfaction are the top priorities at Fisker.”

He pointed out that in the Consumer Reports incident, “the Karma performed exactly as it was designed to. The on-board diagnostics detected a fault and entered a protection mode that shut the car down to protect other components.” Fisker repaired CR’s unit and had it back to them in two days.

“I have put in place a ‘SWAT Team’ with over 50 dedicated engineers and other consulting professionals to help identify this and other unique customer issues with the Karma,” said LaSorda. “New software has been developed and installed in a large fleet of vehicles and they are being driven round the clock for testing and validation. As soon as this procedure is complete we will send updated software out.”

Image: Fisker