Porsche Recalls Roughly 43,000 Taycan Electric Cars Over Bug That Causes Sudden Power Loss

Porsche Recalls Roughly 43,000 Taycan Electric Cars Over Bug That Causes Sudden Power Loss

Luxury sports automaker Porsche is recalling roughly 43,000 of its Taycan electric cars worldwide over a bug that causes a sudden loss of power, the company said Friday. To fix the issue, you’ll have to take your car to a repair centre since an over-the-air software update apparently isn’t possible in this case.

“A workshop appointment that will be free of charge should take place as soon as possible and the software update will take about an hour,” Porsche said in a blog post.

The recall affects all Taycan vehicles produced and delivered by June, the company said in a press conference via Reuters. According to Porsche executive Klaus Rechberger, the problem had been observed in roughly 130 cars, though there have been no reports of accidents or injuries linked to it at this time. The bug has already been fixed for newer Taycan models, Porsche said Friday.

The issue and potential recall were first reported by Bloomberg earlier this week. Reports of Porsche’s vehicles suddenly powering off in the U.S. prompted an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in May, people familiar with the matter told the outlet.

In a filing dated May 17, the NHTSA says it received nine complaints about the issue, which it describes as a “loss of motive power while in motion at any speed without warning to the driver.” Every complaint said that the power shut off without any warning or error message about a battery fault, with six of the cars refusing to restart after losing power.

The Taycan, which debuted in 2019, is Porsche’s first line of battery-powered cars. They’ve been particularly popular in the U.S., where the electric vehicles are already outselling Porsche’s iconic 911 and Panamera sports cars, according to the company’s most recent quarterly sales figures.

Given the line’s success so far, this recall likely won’t be much of a blow to Porsche’s bottom line. However, it does underscore the unique challenges companies are facing in the switch from gas engines to more technologically complex electric motors. Chinese authorities have ordered another EV automaker, Tesla, to recall tens of thousands of its vehicles over safety issues. Last week, Tesla pushed out an over-the-air software update, which it referred to as a “recall”, to fix the autopilot feature on nearly 300,000 vehicles after an investigation by China’s market regulator found the cars’ cruise control systems could be activated by accident, causing the vehicles to speed up unexpectedly.


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