Red Circle of DEATH

[whitex]

However, it’s interesting that draining the 12v battery and recharging it could make the car drivable again?

System reset (same as disconnecting 12V battery and reconnecting it)?

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[turtletaycan]

System reset (same as disconnecting 12V battery and reconnecting it)?

But doesn’t the ‘lock car, walk away for 15+ mins’ do the same thing?

 

[whitex]

But doesn’t the ‘lock car, walk away for 15+ mins’ do the same thing?

No. 12V is still powering ECUs, e.g. how else would comfort access detect when you get close to the car, how else would you be able to connect to the car, how would car alarm activate, etc. Only with 12V disconnected, the whole car is truly off*.


*one exception is ConBoxHigh ECU which houses the LTE modem. That ECU has its own battery backup, which might take a while to drain.

 

[Sar]

Had my 2025 sitting in the garage for the past week at 80% charge (not plugged in) and just received this error when I tried to leave my house. 603 miles on the odometer. Extremely bummed. And Porsche Roadside Assistance is making me pay $30 for the "complimentary" towing service because the dealership is 20 miles away from my house.

Rather unfortunate day this has turned into.

 

[snstevens]

Had my 2025 sitting in the garage for the past week at 80% charge (not plugged in) and just received this error when I tried to leave my house. 603 miles on the odometer. Extremely bummed. And Porsche Roadside Assistance is making me pay $30 for the "complimentary" towing service because the dealership is 20 miles away from my house.

Rather unfortunate day this has turned into.

Sorry to hear this! Please share your updates from the dealer.

 

[Sar]

Actually, I plugged my car in hoping that somehow it was 12v related and that plugging it in for a few minutes would fix the problem. I have no idea what's actually happening, but it did seem to work. I just went outside to check it after ~15 minutes of leaving it plugged in and the error is gone. Even drove it around the neighborhood quickly.

So I've canceled the tow. Not sure I'm getting the $30 back (edit: they are refunding me). I'll just keep my car plugged in even when it doesn't need the charge and hope things go smoothly from here.

 

[snstevens]

Actually, I plugged my car in hoping that somehow it was 12v related and that plugging it in for a few minutes would fix the problem. I have no idea what's actually happening, but it did seem to work. I just went outside to check it after ~15 minutes of leaving it plugged in and the error is gone. Even drove it around the neighborhood quickly.

So I've canceled the tow. Not sure I'm getting the $30 back (edit: they are refunding me). I'll just keep my car plugged in even when it doesn't need the charge and hope things go smoothly from here.

Great! I was thinking you should try that, but forgot to mention it.

 

[Sar]

Great! I was thinking you should try that, but forgot to mention it.

I just took my car for a quick spin to the grocery store in town and everything went smoothly. Whew. Hopefully this bullet has been entirely dodged.

I did check the calendar - it's actually been 13 days since I last drove it (and it's been in the garage unplugged since then). I was rather surprised to see how quickly these days have flown. I will just take this as a positive reminder to drive my car more frequently (and leave it plugged in).

 

[turtletaycan]

I just took my car for a quick spin to the grocery store in town and everything went smoothly. Whew. Hopefully this bullet has been entirely dodged.

I did check the calendar - it's actually been 13 days since I last drove it (and it's been in the garage unplugged since then). I was rather surprised to see how quickly these days have flown. I will just take this as a positive reminder to drive my care more frequently (and leave it plugged in).

Wow, that’s great.
Although I drive mine daily, I’m gonna try charging the 12v battery the next time this happens (I don’t have a at home charger at the moment).

 

[turtletaycan]

Just got my red circle of death last Saturday and the car has been towed to Porsche.
I waited over three days to check if the error would magically go away but no dice. Also this just happened 4 days after going in for the 2yr/20k service..

On a side note mine already had this issue before I purchased and was told the battery has been replaced (but I feel like it was just modules replaced, not the battery). When I used the CarScanner before it showed as 90% SoH, and the taycan battery software by ct14garage showed one module being much newer so I’m 99% sure it was just a module replaced not the entire battery.


They said they’ll get back to me by end of this week so we’ll see what they say.

Update: before returning the car to me today they did a final check and said it did not pass.
They are still seeing a fault and will be performing a software programming for the high voltage battery control unit and then submit the data to Porsche for further analysis which typically takes 4-5 days.

A loaner will be available for me next week. Let’s see what I get…

 

[snstevens]

Update: before returning the car to me today they did a final check and said it did not pass.
They are still seeing a fault and will be performing a software programming for the high voltage battery control unit and then submit the data to Porsche for further analysis which typically takes 4-5 days.

A loaner will be available for me next week. Let’s see what I get…

Keep us posted.

Separately, I see you are in Seattle, and don't recall seeing your Taycan handle on the list of people who might be interested in coming to our Taycan Meetup in Woodinville/Redmond on Saturday 8/9. Check it out at this link if you are interested. There are ~20 people coming so you'll get to meet quite a few folks.

 

[turtletaycan]

Update: just got my loaner, they gave me a Macan EV so pretty happy as I wanted to try out the Macan EV as well. Since I have the free EV charging, I'm gonna try contacting Porsche NA to see how they can make this available on my loaner (or if they compensate in other ways).

SA mentioned it is the HV battery module issue and they sent the logs to Porsche Germany to give them a go on either module replacement or battery replacement (expected to take a week or so to get a response). They said if we need to repair the battery, waiting for parts will be 1 month and fixing it will be 1 month, so total of 2 months as expected.

They did mention that they been mostly 'fixing' the battery (I'm assuming this means module replacement) and replacing the battery was not common, but that is up to Porsche Germany they said.

Will post more updates when they hear back from Germany.

 

[whitex]

Given how common this seems to be, I really makes me wonder why Porsche is not just providing loaner batteries. I bet it would be cheaper than Macan EV loaners 2 months at a time, and customers could be driving their own cars, with their own charging plans, their own consumables, their preferred set of options, etc. Maybe that's just a too radical of an innovation, so nobody at Porsche dares to even propose it - if it works, they keep their job, if it doesn't, they might get fired, but if they say nothing, they keep their job.

 

[turtletaycan]

Given how common this seems to be, I really makes me wonder why Porsche is not just providing loaner batteries. I bet it would be cheaper than Macan EV loaners 2 months at a time, and customers could be driving their own cars, with their own charging plans, their own consumables, their preferred set of options, etc. Maybe that's just a too radical of an innovation, so nobody at Porsche dares to even propose it - if it works, they keep their job, if it doesn't, they might get fired, but if they say nothing, they keep their job.

That sounds like a fantastic idea if the process to replace the battery is like a day of effort. But I’m assuming they have only 1~2 technicians certified for battery related work per dealership so to them it might be that the technician labor < loaner cars in terms or cost.

Also I think I heard somewhere that even taking off the metal plate underneath to check the battery costs thousands of dollars. If that’s the case loaners is definitely cheaper for them even if we’re talking about 1~2 months of loaner.

 

[whitex]

That sounds like a fantastic idea if the process to replace the battery is like a day of effort. But I’m assuming they have only 1~2 technicians certified for battery related work per dealership so to them it might be that the technician labor < loaner cars in terms or cost.

Also I think I heard somewhere that even taking off the metal plate underneath to check the battery costs thousands of dollars. If that’s the case loaners is definitely cheaper for them even if we’re talking about 1~2 months of loaner.

It should not take more than a day to swap a battery for another one. If it does, Porsche designers are really incompetent when it comes to design for serviceability. There are posts around here, even some video links, showing the battery can be swapped in half a day or so.

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