Taycan software update - reported problems post update

Christian J

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My car has been at the dealer for 2 days. I was told there are six programming sequences. They made it to the fourth sequence and the car will not take it. It gets about halfway through the programming and then stops. They have reached out to Porsche to see if they have run into this with other Taycan’s and to see if they have any guidance on how to get the programming done considering the circumstances.

so, not bricked but....
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ColoradoTaycan

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I dropped off my car on Friday and the dealer finished up this morning. They said the car has a 'clock fault' which usually means they need to redo things but are waiting on Porsche before doing anything. So not bricked but an error
 

Christian J

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Ah well, I am now waiting for a new pcm to get shipped from Germany. I wonder if any additional features can be programmed in?
 

H@wk

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Dropped car off at dealer yesterday for the update. Got a call today that the PCM is bricked and no screens are working. Replacement has to be ordered. Apparently they've already had this happen with a couple of cars, and they only started doing the upgrade week before Easter.....

How can this even happen? I'm a computer guy, and sure - you can brick a piece of hardware with failed updates, but this is a rather expensive car. Would've thought Porsche made damn sure the update was error free before releasing it?
 

ColoradoTaycan

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I dropped off my car on Friday and the dealer finished up this morning. They said the car has a 'clock fault' which usually means they need to redo things but are waiting on Porsche before doing anything. So not bricked but an error
I am picking up my car later today as the update is complete. Porsche said they need to replace the sport chrono clock and the dealer said it may take a few weeks for the part to arrive. Happy the car is drivable in the meantime though vs having to leave it at the dealer.

It is a little wild that these parts are getting fried/broken by the update. I assume as dealers do more of these they will get better at it?
 


W1NGE

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Something else is at play here as there is no logical connection between software updates and hardware failures. It would be good to know if the hardware is actually damaged (e.g. firmware failure or electrical surge) or if it has stopped functioning due to the software upgrade but physically remains ‘ok’ underneath. It seems the dealers are too quick to determine some component has ‘fried’ or ‘failed’ and just opt to order a new part. The frequency of failures must now be a concern and there must be some root cause which only manifests itself post part or all of the software upgrade. Predicting the lotto might be easier!
 

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It is a little wild that these parts are getting fried/broken by the update. I assume as dealers do more of these they will get better at it?
This indicates a problem in the software and hardware design. The update processes probably needs every parameter to be perfect to succeed and it does not have the proper fail safes to stop or self recover when things are not perfect. I bet the update corrupts or burns the firmware.
If the updates fail in what is supposed to be a controlled environment at the dealer, it also indicates that updates for critical modules cannot happen in an OTA fashion.
 

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There are PCM's that crashed before the update, nothing new here.
Probably a bad batch.
Why are we guessing?
We won't have answers unless someone comes up with some actual facts!
Porsche updates the car, if something goes wrong, Porsche replaces the part due to their excellent service, no problem at all.
The only thing that is inconvenient is the time and km's you'll loose on the car but then again, those km's are in favour of you.
I've "won" over 1000km already! :) :) :)

Ok, I'll let myself out...
 
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Seems my technician is taking a very prudent approach to my scheduled update? My car MY 2020, is booked in for Monday 12th April at 09.00 until Wednesday 14th at 17.45! Three full days.

Booked in for update and wants both PMCC and both keys? Software update and possible OTA module replacement!
 

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Dropped car off at dealer yesterday for the update. Got a call today that the PCM is bricked and no screens are working. Replacement has to be ordered. Apparently they've already had this happen with a couple of cars, and they only started doing the upgrade week before Easter.....

How can this even happen? I'm a computer guy, and sure - you can brick a piece of hardware with failed updates, but this is a rather expensive car. Would've thought Porsche made damn sure the update was error free before releasing it?
I suspect the PCM can be recovered, but Porsche doesn’t give the dealers the tools in which to do so. It’s easier and ironically less expensive (at the moment) to replace the hardware with a functional software image and fix the PCM centrally.
 
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H@wk

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Seems my technician is taking a very prudent approach to my scheduled update? My car MY 2020, is booked in for Monday 12th April at 09.00 until Wednesday 14th at 17.45! Three full days.

Booked in for update and wants both PMCC and both keys? Software update and possible OTA module replacement!
Best of luck! I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that we run a risk of the PCM being bricked.... good thing the BMW convertible just came back from the shop with new transmission & clutch (long story), so at least I have a fun car to drive while Porsche sources parts from Stuttgart - that’s bound to take some time....
 

H@wk

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I suspect the PCM can be recovered, but Porsche doesn’t give the dealers the tools in which to do so. It’s easier and ironically less expensive (at the moment) to replace the hardware with a functional software image.
I get that, - but what worries me then is whether the “new” PCM actually IS up to date - or if they have to patch that one up as well, the way it is with any piece of upgradable consumer hardware these days - the first thing you have to do with a tablet, iPad, smart watch etc is downloading upgrades...
 

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Best of luck! I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that we run a risk of the PCM being bricked.... good thing the BMW convertible just came back from the shop with new transmission & clutch (long story), so at least I have a fun car to drive while Porsche sources parts from Stuttgart - that’s bound to take some time....
Also trying to wrap my head around this. My car (2020) went in yesterday. Got a call today that we’ll get more info hopefully tomorrow on time scale, but the process apparently involves a lot of back and forth with Germany, and potentially new parts. I doubt we’ll see the car again until next week. Absolutely bizarre. Surely they’d make sure the update doesn’t cause such material hardware issues. Unless of course those issues are less material / common than the issues that will crop-up without the update.
 

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It's pretty easy to brick hardware with a firmware update if you are updating your bootloader. Since you're likely using bootloader functions to do the update, if it gets hosed, you have no pure software way to replace the bootloader.

The manufacturer will be able to reflash the bootloader, but it requires hardware to directly write the chips.
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