According to a recent report by Automotive News, Porsche is in the midst of the planning process related to an upcoming global recall of its all-electric Taycan. The recall will aim to fix a software issue that has been proven to cause a sudden loss of power in some cases.
Automotive News says these details were provided by anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Moreover, the publication includes that Porsche has declined to provide a comment on the situation.
EDITOR'S UPDATE: It's now official. Porsche writes:
"Porsche is reviewing and updating the software for the power electronics and the engine control unit on approximately 43,000 units of Taycan and Taycan Cross Turismo vehicles from the 2020 to 2021 model years, of which about 3,400 are in Germany.
In case of the affected vehicles, there is the possibility that in certain instances a shutdown of the power train, resulting in loss of motive power may be triggered incorrectly and sporadically. A software update will be installed in the workshop."
Earlier reports claimed that some Taycan models in the US inadvertently switched to "emergency mode." Thus far, no accidents or injuries have been officially reported.
Back in May 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reportedly began investigating the situation. However, again, this information and the related details came from people who do not want their identity revealed. In a filing on May 17, NHTSA described the concern as "loss of motive power while in motion at any speed."
The parties provided the information did suggest that there will likely be an official announcement in the coming days. They didn't say if it was going to come directly from Porsche, or from NHTSA.
We've seen many recalls related to electric vehicles. As automakers move into new territory, and technology become more advanced, we expect this will be the norm in the years ahead. Tesla just provided a safety update to nearly 300,000 in China to add a chime sound indicating that the driver had activated traffic-aware cruise control. Fortunately, the "fix" was rapidly provided via an over-the-air software update, meaning folks didn't have to set foot in a Tesla store.
While Porsche has also reported that its Taycan has over-the-air software update capability, it has also been reported that all Taycan owners will have to make an appointment and head to a dealership to have the software updated installed. However, this only seems to be the case with "larger" updates.
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Source: Automotive News