2021 PORSCHE TAYCAN Engine Problems
15 complaints about Engine
This Problem Across All Years
All Engine Complaints (15)
I was stopped at an intersection waiting for traffic. There was a small opening in traffic, and I accelerated rapidly from a stop while making a left turn to enter traffic when the "engine/motor" suddenly completely died, and the car quickly came to a stop. The dash displayed a message: "Engine Control Error. Park vehicle in a safe place." Had there been a semi-truck that could not stop behind me, there would have been a collision. I turned the car off and then back on, and was able to drive the car. I had it serviced at Hennessy Porsche in Atlanta. They "reprogrammed" the car. I showed them some reports from the Taycan Forum of other incidents where this problem occurred, including one from a mechanic in the UK, which is attached. https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/explained-wna5-drive-system-control-fault.25777/ This report states that once the problem occurs, it cannot be fixed with reprogramming. I have no idea whether he is right, but the post he made includes significant details about the problem. If what happened to me happens again to me or anyone else with this model car, an accident is bound to happen and likely be bad.
About a month ago while driving at low speed (about 25mph), the car started to shake and the following error was displayed - Engine Control Error - Park Vehicle in a Safe Place. I pulled over, shut the car down, waited 30 seconds and restarted it. The same incident happened a week later. Because again I was driving at low speed, I was able to pull over and shut down/restart the car. This incident scared me, because the car was shutting down while driving. If I was driving at high speed, I could be in serious trouble. I contacted Porsche dealership, setup an appointment and brought the car in. I was told that this issue was caused by cooling fans failure and the issue was addressed. I picked up the car a week ago. Since then, I had the same issue happened twice, including tonight. I started looking online for similar issues and found out on Reddit that this is a common issue in 2021 Taycan. It also looks like Porsche doesn't have a fix for this dangerous issue. The car just shuts down in mid drive. So far I've been lucky enough to drive slow on two lane roads, so I was able to pull over. What will happen if car shuts down on the highway, while driving 60mph? Since this looks to be a common occurrence, I believe Porsche should be notified and take ownership of this issue.
On April 23, 2024, while decelerating gently at a traffic light, I heard a loud “thump” sound from the rear of my 2021 Porsche Taycan. Immediately, the vehicle lost access to the Reverse (R) and Park (P) gears. I was able to slowly coast into a nearby parking lot, but then all gear positions (Drive, Reverse, Neutral, Park) became completely unresponsive. The vehicle was immobilized and had to be towed. At the time of failure, the vehicle had just under 45,000 miles and had received routine maintenance and a recall inspection at a Porsche Center in March 2024. The factory warranty expired only one day earlier, on April 22. Porsche is refusing to cover repairs or provide a loaner vehicle, even though the failure clearly occurred at extremely low mileage and immediately after warranty expiration. The failure pattern matches the symptoms described in TSB #2209 (NHTSA ID: 10210797) for the 2022 Taycan, which identifies a known defect where the vehicle unexpectedly shifts from D or R into N or P without driver input. While my vehicle is a 2021 model, the behavior is nearly identical — sudden loss of drivability, unexpected gear disengagement, and major safety risk in traffic. This incident could have resulted in a serious accident had it happened in moving traffic. I am submitting this complaint in hopes that NHTSA will investigate whether this known transmission defect also affects 2021 Taycan models, and to ensure Porsche takes responsibility for latent safety defects, regardless of narrowly expired warranty status.
I received a recall notice that my vehicle was affected for a battery cell that needed to be replaced and scheduled a date with Porsche and when I finally took the car in they said it’s not a active recall which seemed odd
I bought this car a few weeks ago and drove only 300 miles so far. I was pulling out of my neighborhood onto the Main Street, when I turned then started to accelerate I received an error saying engine control error and my car came to a screeching halt. The accelerator stopped working and the car made some loud grinding noises and no functions were working.luckily nobody was behind me. I turned off the vehicle and when I powered it back on everything is working as normal. This vehicle was just serviced at Porsche a few days ago before the event
Sudden power electrical failure while driving on a city avenue. The car suddenly had no power, the engine goes off, the sterring become very stiff and there was a message saying electrical system error
When accelerating the has a sudden loss of power. I get a message to pull off the.road. After turning offf the engine and restarting car begins to function properly again.
when push the pedal little hard from slow driving, i get the warning: " Engine control error, park vehicle in a safe place" and the car goes dead and lose power. it happened few days ago on the highway, the car stopped responding and i got that warning, luckily there was a shoulder on the highway to park the car, otherwise it would be very dangerous, i turned the car off, waited about 2 minutes then turned it on, all worked, i could drive it carefully back home, called the porsche dealer about the issue and got an appointment to see what is going on with this problem.
Car died after being on the charger for 8 weeks. Main battery is at 83% but apparently there is a 12v small battery that failed. Car is inoperable. Doors will not open, windows stuck partially down, car will not go into gear, can't be moved.
Several times when driving (3) the vehicle loses all power and stops. Warning error messages are displayed on the dashboard screen ("Electrical system error") and "Engine Control Error" This is a dangerous situation, as the car suddenly just went dead on the middle of the highway. with cars having to swerve out of the way to avoid hitting my vehicle. The vehicle has been in the Porsche dealer once to have this issue rectified, but has happened again twice since that time.
Spontaneous shutdown of the vehicle while driving. Critical failure of motility while driving. Driving at 50km per hour extremely dangerous as car just shutdown and I had to try to roll off the road but it died so I had to put it in neutral and push it by hand on a busy road. Car has been at the dealer for 3 weeks now. The spontaneous shut occurred and a red light came on.
November 27,2021 Electrical System Failure . Car was parked in a parking lot . RED system failure error . After 30 minutes the car started and I drove it to Town Motors Porsche , Englewood NJ (purchase dealer). They had car for ~ 3 weeks and "everything is fine." July 6th 2022: Identical Electrical Systems failure . Again while car was parked in my garage . Car started on its own several hours later . Drove car to Town Englewood Porsche , Englewood NJ . The car is clearly unsafe and I do not feel comfortable driving this car. I do NOT want to be the first casualty because it fails on a highway . Porsche needs to take ownership . Taycan forum online clearly show that this is an issue with this car .
This has happened more than once now. I got in the car and as soon as it attempted to start up, I received the following error: “ELECTRICAL SYSTEM ERROR” I was not able to put the car in R or D. There was no other option to start the car. My car is 2 weeks old with less than 750 miles. Porsche has experienced a lot of these problems over the last 12+ months, yet this issue has not been resolved or acknowledged by Porsche. I am afraid for my safety because if this happens on the road or in traffic, there will be no way of moving this car out of the way.
The contact owns a 2021 Porsche Taycan. The contact stated while his wife was driving 35 mph, the service engine warning light illuminated and the vehicle sputtered and loss motive power. After approximately ten minutes, the vehicle was restarted and driven to the residence. The failure recurred and persisted. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but was not yet diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 4,900.
Mileage: 4,900
WHILE DRIVING ON A HIGHWAY AT ABOUT 60 MPH, THE A WARNING MESSAGE APPEARED STATING "ELECTRICAL SYSTEM ERROR / PARK VEHICLE IN A SAFE PLACE." FORTUNATELY WAS ABLE TO MANEUVER VEHICLE TO THE SHOULDER BEFORE LOSING RESPONSIVENESS. VEHICLE THEN WENT INTO PARK STATUS WITH NO ABILITY TO DRIVE. THEN RECEIVED MESSAGE THAT 12V BATTERY IS LOW. VERY UNSAFE BECAUSE VEHICLE SUDDENLY LOST POWER IN A HIGH-SPEED DRIVING SITUATION
Mileage: 876