What 69 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 Porsche Taycan 4s With Performance Pack

There are currently hundreds (if not thousands) of cars, operating on roads of USA, that at any particular time stop in the middle of the road. The power is cut off and Engine Control Error is displayed on the monitor. This issue has been described many times on Reddit, under Taycan-Engine Control Error threads. The affects 2020-21 Porsche Taycans. As an owner of '21 Taycan, I have run into this issue 8 times in the past 4 months. I have been lucky so far not to cause any incidents. I've brought in my car 3 times to Porsche dealership. The first time, a fix was made, but it did not do anything. The second time I brought it in, I was told that there is a transmission issue, but since the dealership can't replicate this issue, they can't fix it. After the second attempt, I contacted Porsche headquarters, looking for resolution. The customer service requested for me to bring the car back to dealership for additional analysis. After I brought the car to dealership, I waited for over a month and then received an email from Corporate Customer Service- there is nothing wrong with my car. So, I'm still driving a car, that can and will stop at any moment. I warned Porsche corporate that if the next time my car stops for no apparent reason and this leads to an injury or worse, someone at Porsche will be charged with manslaughter. Even though Porsche Corporate knows that these cars are a problem, the company refuses to address this issue and blatantly lies to clients, hoping that no one wants to take on a big corporation. How long will it be, until there is a serious injury or worse happens due to these sudden stops? I have all the communication between myself,orsche corporate and Porsche North Seattle showing the exact dates, when these issues happened, the attempt to fix them, the text message from dealership telling me that there is a transmission issue and lastly the email from Corporate, stating that there are no issues with this car. Please take a look. Thank you.

NHTSA ODI 11725896

The vehicle’s battery module became defective and would not accept or hold a charge. When attempting to charge the vehicle using standard charging equipment, the battery system repeatedly failed to initiate or complete the charging cycle. The vehicle displayed charging error messages and/or failed to respond when connected to a charging source. Despite using properly functioning charging equipment and verified power sources, the battery module would not charge. The issue was diagnosed as a defective battery module. As a result, the vehicle became inoperable due to the inability to recharge the high-voltage battery. This defect created a safety concern because the vehicle could unexpectedly lose available driving range and become disabled without warning. The failure rendered the vehicle unusable until the battery module required repair or replacement.

NHTSA ODI 11721039

I was stopped at an intersection waiting for traffic. There was a small opening in traffic, and I accelerated rapidly from a stop while making a left turn to enter traffic when the "engine/motor" suddenly completely died, and the car quickly came to a stop. The dash displayed a message: "Engine Control Error. Park vehicle in a safe place." Had there been a semi-truck that could not stop behind me, there would have been a collision. I turned the car off and then back on, and was able to drive the car. I had it serviced at Hennessy Porsche in Atlanta. They "reprogrammed" the car. I showed them some reports from the Taycan Forum of other incidents where this problem occurred, including one from a mechanic in the UK, which is attached. https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/explained-wna5-drive-system-control-fault.25777/ This report states that once the problem occurs, it cannot be fixed with reprogramming. I have no idea whether he is right, but the post he made includes significant details about the problem. If what happened to me happens again to me or anyone else with this model car, an accident is bound to happen and likely be bad.

NHTSA ODI 11703259

About a month ago while driving at low speed (about 25mph), the car started to shake and the following error was displayed - Engine Control Error - Park Vehicle in a Safe Place. I pulled over, shut the car down, waited 30 seconds and restarted it. The same incident happened a week later. Because again I was driving at low speed, I was able to pull over and shut down/restart the car. This incident scared me, because the car was shutting down while driving. If I was driving at high speed, I could be in serious trouble. I contacted Porsche dealership, setup an appointment and brought the car in. I was told that this issue was caused by cooling fans failure and the issue was addressed. I picked up the car a week ago. Since then, I had the same issue happened twice, including tonight. I started looking online for similar issues and found out on Reddit that this is a common issue in 2021 Taycan. It also looks like Porsche doesn't have a fix for this dangerous issue. The car just shuts down in mid drive. So far I've been lucky enough to drive slow on two lane roads, so I was able to pull over. What will happen if car shuts down on the highway, while driving 60mph? Since this looks to be a common occurrence, I believe Porsche should be notified and take ownership of this issue.

NHTSA ODI 11696887

The contact owns a 2021 Porsche Taycan. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V732000 (Electrical System) and would like to be removed from the recall distribution list. The local dealer and manufacturer were contacted. The vehicle was repaired.

NHTSA ODI 11693309

The contact owns a 2021 Porsche Taycan. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V732000 (Electrical System); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ODI 11658531

On April 23, 2024, while decelerating gently at a traffic light, I heard a loud “thump” sound from the rear of my 2021 Porsche Taycan. Immediately, the vehicle lost access to the Reverse (R) and Park (P) gears. I was able to slowly coast into a nearby parking lot, but then all gear positions (Drive, Reverse, Neutral, Park) became completely unresponsive. The vehicle was immobilized and had to be towed. At the time of failure, the vehicle had just under 45,000 miles and had received routine maintenance and a recall inspection at a Porsche Center in March 2024. The factory warranty expired only one day earlier, on April 22. Porsche is refusing to cover repairs or provide a loaner vehicle, even though the failure clearly occurred at extremely low mileage and immediately after warranty expiration. The failure pattern matches the symptoms described in TSB #2209 (NHTSA ID: 10210797) for the 2022 Taycan, which identifies a known defect where the vehicle unexpectedly shifts from D or R into N or P without driver input. While my vehicle is a 2021 model, the behavior is nearly identical — sudden loss of drivability, unexpected gear disengagement, and major safety risk in traffic. This incident could have resulted in a serious accident had it happened in moving traffic. I am submitting this complaint in hopes that NHTSA will investigate whether this known transmission defect also affects 2021 Taycan models, and to ensure Porsche takes responsibility for latent safety defects, regardless of narrowly expired warranty status.

NHTSA ODI 11658019

I received a recall notice that my vehicle was affected for a battery cell that needed to be replaced and scheduled a date with Porsche and when I finally took the car in they said it’s not a active recall which seemed odd

NHTSA ODI 11640258

Vehicle LOST PROPULSION while driving on the road. The motor (traction inverter) abruptly started to vibrate very aggressively, then the error warning "ENGINE CONTROL ERROR" flashed on the cluster display. The car immediately stopped responding to the gas/drive pedal and quickly coasted to a stop. After a full power-off then back on, the car woke back up like normal - as if nothing had happened. Happened twice now, each time within a few minutes of starting the car. This vehicle is NOT SAFE TO DRIVE at the moment.

NHTSA ODI 11630200

I bought this car a few weeks ago and drove only 300 miles so far. I was pulling out of my neighborhood onto the Main Street, when I turned then started to accelerate I received an error saying engine control error and my car came to a screeching halt. The accelerator stopped working and the car made some loud grinding noises and no functions were working.luckily nobody was behind me. I turned off the vehicle and when I powered it back on everything is working as normal. This vehicle was just serviced at Porsche a few days ago before the event

NHTSA ODI 11628131

Sudden power electrical failure while driving on a city avenue. The car suddenly had no power, the engine goes off, the sterring become very stiff and there was a message saying electrical system error

NHTSA ODI 11624450

Mfgr unable to remedy NHSTA 24V215 Risk of fire is unacceptable to leave unaddressed for this long

NHTSA ODI 11620025

Accelerating away from a stop sign, and going about 25 mph, the car slammed on the brakes, even a couple of ABS jerks, and said “Engine Control Issue; Park in a safe place.” (It might have said Engine Control Error). After stopping, was unable to move the car, as all drive power had been shut off. All instrumentation was still powered up. I then shut off power to car, waited 15 seconds, and car powered up normally and was able to drive normally with no warning indications on instrument panel.

NHTSA ODI 11619339

On September 5th I was driving my 2021 Taycan 4S on my way to the Gym at 4:15 am, at that time there hardly any traffic. As am merging on the 101 southbound at the nearest on ramp everything seemed ok, as am driving along at 60-65 mph, I came to a downhill and the car was gaining speed, I stepped on the brake pedal to slow it down and to my surprise the brake pedal went all the way down to the floor! I had no brakes and gaining speed, my first thought was if the brakes had failed I would either crash the car against the freeway sidewalks or try to find a place where I can crash without hurting other drivers, fortunately I kept on pressing the brake pedal and it built up some pressure to slow it down but not to stop it, I kept my cool, but I was shaking knowing that I had no brakes! after a few miles the car was slowing down and was able To get off the freeway and pulled into my gym’s parking lot that luckily has an uphill and it helped to slow it down to a complete stop. At this point there was no warnings or error on the dashboard until it came to a complete stop, the message read “PSM failure” and to visit the workshop, nothing about the brake failure that had just happened! And it was after 2 hours, the failure occurred at 4:15 am and that did not show up until 6:12 am. I went into my gym to calm myself down after this horrible experience and after an hour or so I went back to my car and that is when I saw the warning, after a while I called Porsche road assistance and left the car where it was because Porsche road assistance couldn’t send a tow truck quickly, I revived a call from the tow truck company at 9:00 am and met them at the location, I explained to the driver what had happened and as he drove the car out of the parking spot brake fluid started to spray,out of the driver side font caliper, and there was a poodle of brake fluid under the car.

NHTSA ODI 11617777

Sunday September 8 I plugged my Taycan into my charger at approxmately 1PM. Later I went into my garage approximately 3PM to get something, and it was filled with smoke. After extinguishing the fire, I noticed the cause was the PLUG attached to the Porsche charger had caurght fire and melted the outlet which then caught my garage wall on fire. Had I not been home, my house would have caught fire.

NHTSA ODI 11613405

Car lost ability to accelerate (motive power) while driving. Depending on the situation, this can be extremely dangerous. I brought my car to Porsche 4+ times with this problem, they attempt to fix it, but the problem returns.

NHTSA ODI 11604515

When accelerating the has a sudden loss of power. I get a message to pull off the.road. After turning offf the engine and restarting car begins to function properly again.

NHTSA ODI 11598805

I was driving N/B 101 freeway w my wife at approx 70 mph. I felt the rear end slip ever so slightly and thought maybe I somehow lost traction w the road. I continued driving and it occurred twice more in the span of a few miles. I then realized it was unlikely I continued to lose traction with the road. I told my wife something felt wrong and began to maneuver from the #1 lane to the shoulder. I slowed to 50 mph and continued straight w my foot off the accelerator and the brake with both hands on the steering wheel in a straight (non turning) position. Suddenly, the rear end of the vehicle came out and we went into a massive spin. It ultimately caused us to crash into a median wall. I have been through many driver's courses. I have been through many skid pad trainings. I have also been through Precision Intervention Technique (PIT) training. I have been in both the receiving end of a PIT and the giving end of a PIT. The force of this spin was greater than any spin I have felt. It felt like one side or perhaps both rear wheels locked up. I have no other explanation that could cause any vehicle to just spin out of control while driving straight at 50 mph.

NHTSA ODI 11584353

Received "Engine Control Error" in red, where entire vehicle shut down and I had to stop and restart the vehicle for it to move. This happened twice in the span of 4 miles.

NHTSA ODI 11572700

The heater does not work, requires a part change and this is the 2nd time in two years. Only blowing cold air.

NHTSA ODI 11558966

when push the pedal little hard from slow driving, i get the warning: " Engine control error, park vehicle in a safe place" and the car goes dead and lose power. it happened few days ago on the highway, the car stopped responding and i got that warning, luckily there was a shoulder on the highway to park the car, otherwise it would be very dangerous, i turned the car off, waited about 2 minutes then turned it on, all worked, i could drive it carefully back home, called the porsche dealer about the issue and got an appointment to see what is going on with this problem.

NHTSA ODI 11545045

While charging the vehicle at a reduced rate (30 amps out of a 40 amp maximum) there was a thermal event in the outlet box that the Mobile Charger Connect was plugged into. There were no witnesses to the event, but it was later noticed that the wall around the outlet was blackened and one prong of the plug had melted the housing of the plug along with the receptacle. The Mobile Charger Connect had previously shown a high temperature warning, so the operating current was reduced from 40 to 30 amps at the direction of service personnel at the dealership. The Mobile Charger Connect was plugged into the specified NEMA 14-50 receptacle that has been in use for the entire duration of ownership.

NHTSA ODI 11538414

Owned the car for 6 months and driving down highway and car just shuts off, limited braking and no accelerator. Coasts to a stop and then stops in the middle of the highway. My daughter and i were almost killed by the car behind us. Had to run across highway to get to safety. Porsche North America says this is just a service issue and not a safety issue. Google search reveals this is a widespread problem and not an isolated event as was told to owner. This was my 6th porsche and my last. Was told the power converter from AC to DC was fried and replacement part took almost 4 weeks to get and replace. No prior warnings lamps or indication that something was about to fry and cause the car to become inoperable.

NHTSA ODI 11538108

The brakes had no air pressure when trying to slow down; Completely Totalled Which then caused a collision into another vehicle; The car had significant damage with inspection by Insurance adjuster and collision team; No warning lights and had been in the Porsche dealership for computer updates prior to incident.

NHTSA ODI 11524460

Car died after being on the charger for 8 weeks. Main battery is at 83% but apparently there is a 12v small battery that failed. Car is inoperable. Doors will not open, windows stuck partially down, car will not go into gear, can't be moved.

NHTSA ODI 11514322