Major issues with Taycan Turbo S

[palluri]

I had Configured ordered a Taycan Turbo S in December and received my car on April 30th from Napleton Westmont Porsche. It was great ran great for 2 days. After driving 230 miles I started getting issues with car. First error was in yellow warning "Chassis Error Visit workshop, Continued driving possible with adjustments". Continued driving, 2 minutes later got a Red alert "Electrical system error Park vehicle in a safe place". Went back put it on the charge, failed to charge. Charging light in RED. Took the car to Porsche Exchange and they said they have to reset something and it is done good to go. Went home and put the car on charge , still getting charging errors and not able to charge. Took it back to Napleton Westmont Porsche and they found there is an issue with one of the parts (Battery cooling valve) failed and it took 25 days to get the part from Germany and they delivered the car to me on May 28, drove back home and put it on charge and again charging errors (Electrical System Error, Service necessary). Dealer came to took the car back on May 29th and still the car is with them. Waiting for another part which is bad (on board charging device). I had to pay my payment tomorrow, I don't understand why I should pay this payment.

With all these going on, I called Porsche USA customer service and opened case and asking them to buy back this car. They say they evaluating the case, I cannot reach anybody other than case worker and her answer was always we are evaluating.

 

[F16HTON]

Thank you for sharing. I am not sure about the laws in your state, but where I live if the vehicle is in service for greater than 30 days, it can be considered a claim under the lemon law.

Have you consulted an attorney? Thy typically will take a lemon law case on a contingency.

Vehicle lemon/buy backs are a legal issue and legal issues are best left to law professionals.

 

[KTC]

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience.
Just to clarify, this is a MY2021 with all the latest WMA updates?
You had no problems charging it prior to this event?

 

[palluri]

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience.
Just to clarify, this is a MY2021 with all the latest WMA updates?
You had no problems charging it prior to this event?

It is 2021 with all the updates, I only drove the car for 230 miles before all these issues surfaced. Yes it did charge without any issues for the first 2 days.

 

[PorscheGG]

Sorry to hear man. Beautiful spec, what a shame.

 

[mikeva]

Understand your pain about having to make a payment and not being able to use the car -- a number of years ago I ended up making payments for over 6 months on a Jensen-Healy while they waited for a part from Europe ... tried to get some help and finally gave up after about 80 hours of time invested .... .hope you have a lot better luck than I did,,,

 

[Torv]

I had Configured ordered a Taycan Turbo S in December and received my car on April 30th from Napleton Westmont Porsche. It was great ran great for 2 days. After driving 230 miles I started getting issues with car. First error was in yellow warning "Chassis Error Visit workshop, Continued driving possible with adjustments". Continued driving, 2 minutes later got a Red alert "Electrical system error Park vehicle in a safe place". Went back put it on the charge, failed to charge. Charging light in RED. Took the car to Porsche Exchange and they said they have to reset something and it is done good to go. Went home and put the car on charge , still getting charging errors and not able to charge. Took it back to Napleton Westmont Porsche and they found there is an issue with one of the parts (Battery cooling valve) failed and it took 25 days to get the part from Germany and they delivered the car to me on May 28, drove back home and put it on charge and again charging errors (Electrical System Error, Service necessary). Dealer came to took the car back on May 29th and still the car is with them. Waiting for another part which is bad (on board charging device). I had to pay my payment tomorrow, I don't understand why I should pay this payment.

With all these going on, I called Porsche USA customer service and opened case and asking them to buy back this car. They say they evaluating the case, I cannot reach anybody other than case worker and her answer was always we are evaluating.

This type of report is so dispiriting to read.

I am an admittedly fanatic Porsche fan-boy since the early 60’s as a kid watching and loving Steve McQueen tool around in a 911 in the film, “Le Mans”, and having bought one of the last of the air-cooled 911 993 coupes 23 years ago. That car remains wholly reliable, and a blast to drive and allows me to channel my inner McQueen.

I'm taking delivery, probably next week on a Taycan 4S, seven months after ordering it, and I'm optimistically anticipating an equally great experience in my Taycan. Still, these types of user reports do increase my anxiety about my purchase (my wife will kill me if this car is defective and unreliable). Hopefully, Palluri’s experience is the exception rather than the rule. And hopefully, for his sake and ours, Porsche steps up and does the right thing to create a great customer experience.

Finger’s crossed on multiple fronts big time! ???

 

[andrewh3]

This must be so disappointing with such an expensive and brand new car. I presume they have given you a loaner in the meantime?
If it is any conciliation, I had major issues with my then new Panamera in 2015. After multiple trips back to the dealer this was fixed with new PCM and battery. Took several weeks but did negotiate some extras as compensation. Given you car is top of the range there is probably not much else you need, but might be worth asking?

 

[GaryT]

I can emphasize with you. I have my MY20 4S for about one year and have driven it only 3000 miles. During the first four months, It was in the shop for several extended periods, first to solve a charging problem on the left side of the car and then replace the PCM that had failed. Total time in the shop was about ten weeks.

I prepared a spreadsheet listing the dates that I had use of the car and the dates that it was in the shop. It then calculated the % of the time that I had it and they had it. Then, like you, I contacted PCA customer service and opened a customer complaint.

After several months of making follow-up calls every few weeks and asking to have the issue escalated, I received a call from a Customer Service specialist who was empowered to do something to satisfy me (I've also been driving Porsches for over 40 years) and offered me a "goodwill" cash payment. Initially, I thought that the offer was insufficient considering the time that I did not have use of the car and the lease payments that I had paid. They then increased their offer and I gladly accepted. (I signed an NDA, so I am not at liberty to disclose the amount).

Thoughts:

I had extremely lofty expectations for the Taycan given Porsche's quality and engineering prowess. I did expect, however, that as a new car with brand new systems, there would inevitably be some bugs in the first year or two. So, when the failures occurred, I wasn't surprised.
I was extremely disappointed that Porsche has/had little to no inventory of Taycan parts in the US, as everything had to be shipped from Germany with each shipment taking several weeks. (haven't they heard of Fed Ex?). It is now a year later and the extended periods of time that Taycans are still spending in the shop, it seems as though parts are still a problem. Perhaps, the parts problem is Covid related, but it is a problem that needs to be solved.

Porsche did the right thing by offering me a cash settlement. It restored the goodwill that they had established with me over the past 40 years.

My only remaining frustration is their Customer Service department does a terrible job communicating with customers. They say that they will call back and never do. The only way that you can deal with them is to get a case number and the agent's name and keep calling back.

Fingers crossed; I will have no further service problems with the car.

Bottom line, I absolutely love the Taycan. I hope that you do too once they work out the bugs.

Good luck.

 

[KTC]

After several months of making follow-up calls every few weeks and asking to have the issue escalated, I received a call from a Customer Service specialist who was empowered to do something to satisfy me (I've also been driving Porsches for over 40 years) and offered me a "goodwill" cash payment. Initially, I thought that the offer was insufficient considering the time that I did not have use of the car and the lease payments that I had paid. They then increased their offer and I gladly accepted. (I signed an NDA, so I am not at liberty to disclose the amount).

Bottom line, I absolutely love the Taycan. I hope that you do too once they work out the bugs.

Good luck.

Did they offer giving you a replacement same-level vehicle? It sounds like you feel their final payment was "fair"?

 

[GaryT]

I didn't want a replacement vehicle. I had waited about 9 months for mine after ordering it (it was one of the first Taycan deliveries in the US) and I wasn't prepared to wait another 6 - 9 months for a replacement. Also, I had carefully selected my options and features so I would not have been willing to take one off the showroom floor if one were even available.

 

[KTC]

I'm just a lowly simpleton mech E, so forgive my question...

But can one of you software/EE experts explain to me why these cars are having failures after hundreds of miles, or in some cases after thousands of miles, if the core firmware/software is unchanged (absence of an update, etc)? Is it cached data that isn't purged or has errors/corrupt? Why isn't ALL the software restarted on every power-up and only limited stuff (e.g. driver settings) saved?

Reading these stories it is as if I boot up my computer and even without adding software/drivers, after the 11th time it randomly hangs and I can't restart it. WTF.

 

[Scotty]

I had Configured ordered a Taycan Turbo S in December and received my car on April 30th from Napleton Westmont Porsche. It was great ran great for 2 days. After driving 230 miles I started getting issues with car. First error was in yellow warning "Chassis Error Visit workshop, Continued driving possible with adjustments". Continued driving, 2 minutes later got a Red alert "Electrical system error Park vehicle in a safe place". Went back put it on the charge, failed to charge. Charging light in RED. Took the car to Porsche Exchange and they said they have to reset something and it is done good to go. Went home and put the car on charge , still getting charging errors and not able to charge. Took it back to Napleton Westmont Porsche and they found there is an issue with one of the parts (Battery cooling valve) failed and it took 25 days to get the part from Germany and they delivered the car to me on May 28, drove back home and put it on charge and again charging errors (Electrical System Error, Service necessary). Dealer came to took the car back on May 29th and still the car is with them. Waiting for another part which is bad (on board charging device). I had to pay my payment tomorrow, I don't understand why I should pay this payment.

With all these going on, I called Porsche USA customer service and opened case and asking them to buy back this car. They say they evaluating the case, I cannot reach anybody other than case worker and her answer was always we are evaluating.

Porsche N Amer customer service is useless. From my experience the only way i got my 4s issues resolved was to email top executives in Germany. Within 3 days Porsche did everything to fix my car issues. They offered me a customer loyalty redemption payment. I rejected their first offer, told them what i expected(5x their 1st offer) and they agreed. Document everything and time lines. File for arbitration ( handbook provided at time of delivery)
Porsche pays 100 % arbitration cost. I did this with bmw and one week before arbitration they caved to all my demands. Contact every car blogger etc share your story. Porsche hates bad press . Key put pressure on porsche
Good luck

 

[submatrix]

I'm just a lowly simpleton mech E, so forgive my question...

But can one of you software/EE experts explain to me why these cars are having failures after hundreds of miles, or in some cases after thousands of miles, if the core firmware/software is unchanged (absence of an update, etc)? Is it cached data that isn't purged or has errors/corrupt? Why isn't ALL the software restarted on every power-up and only limited stuff (e.g. driver settings) saved?

Reading these stories it is as if I boot up my computer and even without adding software/drivers, after the 11th time it randomly hangs and I can't restart it. WTF.

Most likely it is because the cause of the bug is a "rare" condition that is not easily reproducible and depends on a number of conditions happening at the same time. If that were not the case, most likely every car on the road would experience the same bug. The simpler the reproducible case, the higher the chance they would have fixed it during development and the bug would never have been present in our cars. By definition, the ones they don't catch are the ones that are harder to find/reproduce.

Because most cars these days (especially electric ones) are computers on wheels, there's a lot of interdependent systems all operating at the same time, exchanging data back and forth. That means there's a lot of opportunities for bugs, but it also means that rarely occurring ones might require multiple different systems to meet specific conditions in order to reproduce.

 

[Torv]

Porsche N Amer customer service is useless. From my experience the only way i got my 4s issues resolved was to email top executives in Germany. Within 3 days Porsche did everything to fix my car issues. They offered me a customer loyalty redemption payment. I rejected their first offer, told them what i expected(5x their 1st offer) and they agreed.

Would you mind sharing that email address?

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