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

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

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

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

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

Spontaneous shutdown of the vehicle while driving. Critical failure of motility while driving. Driving at 50km per hour extremely dangerous as car just shutdown and I had to try to roll off the road but it died so I had to put it in neutral and push it by hand on a busy road. Car has been at the dealer for 3 weeks now. The spontaneous shut occurred and a red light came on.

NHTSA ODI 11496914

There have been four total episodes when the car would not accelerate when the acceleration pedal was pressed. The last time it happened (late October 2022) the acceleration was very sluggish and I barely made it home. This happened on a residential street, and continued for 10+ minutes. If this power loss occurred on a highway, it could have lead to a very dangerous situation. There were no errors/warnings on dash. I brought the car for service to address this issue on Nov 2nd to Porsche Irvine. They told me that they identified a problem and had to replace "rear control unit" but since it's not available, they cannot provide ETA and car is still in service for 30 days now.

NHTSA ODI 11495919

The car experiences issue, after issue, including but not limited to collision alert warning not functioning, lane change assist failure, and the alarm sounding (disturbing the peace). As Porsche fixes the issues one by one, other matters emerge. The latest is the antania, and communications.

NHTSA ODI 11485935

This has happened more than once now. I got in the car and as soon as it attempted to start up, I received the following error: “ELECTRICAL SYSTEM ERROR” I was not able to put the car in R or D. There was no other option to start the car. My car is 2 weeks old with less than 750 miles. Porsche has experienced a lot of these problems over the last 12+ months, yet this issue has not been resolved or acknowledged by Porsche. I am afraid for my safety because if this happens on the road or in traffic, there will be no way of moving this car out of the way.

NHTSA ODI 11422463

I bought the car on April 22, 2021 and driven the new car approx. 250 miles and on a short trip of 2 miles, the car stuttered and shook briefly and a yellow warning light appeared on the main dash. It said something like "engine control issue, is drivable, take to workshop" so I proceeded, a mile later I pulled into the driveway of a relative and the yellow warning turned red and started beeping repeatedly. It said the "car could not go into park". I blocked the back wheel and turned the car off, locked it and came back about 3-4 hours later. The beeping started again and the red warning returned. It started and went into reverse but died once the car was in the street. Put in neutral and pushed to the curb. Tow truck Porsche sent took car to dealer on May 9th and they checked it into service on the following day. It has stayed at the dealer service center ever since and counting today, that is 37 days. Finally, they are shipping a new transmission from Germany to install in the car. They have tried several attempts to fix and shipped a shifter motor from Germany that did not fix the issue. At this point I do not think they know, for sure, what is wrong with the car. I have requested that Porsche North America buyback the car so I can buy another one. They keep telling me to be patient while they investigate and go through their processes. We are nearing 6 weeks of no progress.

NHTSA ODI 11421347

I was driving on an Interstate highway and saw the "Engine Control Error" message and advised to find a place to park. The car began decelerating and would not respond to pressing the accelerator pedal. An exit was coming up so I managed to get onto that exit and roll through the stop sign at the bottom of the ramp so that I was half in and half off the shoulder. The car wouldn't move forward or do anything other than continue with the air conditioning (thankfully). I contacted Porsche through the Breakdown call button on the PCM and they arranged for a towing service to come get the car and take me to the nearby dealership (20 minutes away). It took 3 hours for that to happen. I contacted the dealership in the meantime to see whether they could get me a loaner car or even a ride home. "No" on both. After 90 minutes, the car turned itself off while we waited for that towing service and I turned it back on to be able to use the air conditioning. It came back on and the message cleared. I was tempted to try driving it to the dealership but I was in a relatively safe place and didn't know whether the car would become un-drivable again, this time perhaps with even a worse safety outcome. I was fortunate that the car ceased to move forward right in line with an Interstate exit. I don't know how bad things could have gotten if I had been in a more precarious place. It might well have stopped right on the highway with no shoulder, a sharp turn, or a bridge leaving me no place to go.

NHTSA ODI 11420572

WHILE DRIVING ON A HIGHWAY AT ABOUT 60 MPH, THE A WARNING MESSAGE APPEARED STATING "ELECTRICAL SYSTEM ERROR / PARK VEHICLE IN A SAFE PLACE." FORTUNATELY WAS ABLE TO MANEUVER VEHICLE TO THE SHOULDER BEFORE LOSING RESPONSIVENESS. VEHICLE THEN WENT INTO PARK STATUS WITH NO ABILITY TO DRIVE. THEN RECEIVED MESSAGE THAT 12V BATTERY IS LOW. VERY UNSAFE BECAUSE VEHICLE SUDDENLY LOST POWER IN A HIGH-SPEED DRIVING SITUATION

NHTSA ODI 11404336