NHTSA Owner Complaint Log
This page lists owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2021 Porsche Taycan. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and do not by themselves prove a defect or defect rate.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026
The vehicle’s battery module became defective and would not accept or hold a charge. When attempting to charge the vehicle using standard charging equipment, the battery system repeatedly failed to initiate or complete the charging cycle. The vehicle displayed charging error messages and/or failed to respond when connected to a charging source. Despite using properly functioning charging equipment and verified power sources, the battery module would not charge. The issue was diagnosed as a defective battery module. As a result, the vehicle became inoperable due to the inability to recharge the high-voltage battery. This defect created a safety concern because the vehicle could unexpectedly lose available driving range and become disabled without warning. The failure rendered the vehicle unusable until the battery module required repair or replacement.
There are currently hundreds (if not thousands) of cars, operating on roads of USA, that at any particular time stop in the middle of the road. The power is cut off and Engine Control Error is displayed on the monitor. This issue has been described many times on Reddit, under Taycan-Engine Control Error threads. The affects 2020-21 Porsche Taycans. As an owner of '21 Taycan, I have run into this issue 8 times in the past 4 months. I have been lucky so far not to cause any incidents. I've brought in my car 3 times to Porsche dealership. The first time, a fix was made, but it did not do anything. The second time I brought it in, I was told that there is a transmission issue, but since the dealership can't replicate this issue, they can't fix it. After the second attempt, I contacted Porsche headquarters, looking for resolution. The customer service requested for me to bring the car back to dealership for additional analysis. After I brought the car to dealership, I waited for over a month and then received an email from Corporate Customer Service- there is nothing wrong with my car. So, I'm still driving a car, that can and will stop at any moment. I warned Porsche corporate that if the next time my car stops for no apparent reason and this leads to an injury or worse, someone at Porsche will be charged with manslaughter. Even though Porsche Corporate knows that these cars are a problem, the company refuses to address this issue and blatantly lies to clients, hoping that no one wants to take on a big corporation. How long will it be, until there is a serious injury or worse happens due to these sudden stops? I have all the communication between myself,orsche corporate and Porsche North Seattle showing the exact dates, when these issues happened, the attempt to fix them, the text message from dealership telling me that there is a transmission issue and lastly the email from Corporate, stating that there are no issues with this car. Please take a look. Thank you.
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.
The contact owns a 2021 Porsche Taycan. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V732000 (Electrical System) and would like to be removed from the recall distribution list. The local dealer and manufacturer were contacted. The vehicle was repaired.
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
Vehicle LOST PROPULSION while driving on the road. The motor (traction inverter) abruptly started to vibrate very aggressively, then the error warning "ENGINE CONTROL ERROR" flashed on the cluster display. The car immediately stopped responding to the gas/drive pedal and quickly coasted to a stop. After a full power-off then back on, the car woke back up like normal - as if nothing had happened. Happened twice now, each time within a few minutes of starting the car. This vehicle is NOT SAFE TO DRIVE at the moment.
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
The contact owns a 2021 Porsche Taycan. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V732000 (Electrical System); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
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
Mfgr unable to remedy NHSTA 24V215 Risk of fire is unacceptable to leave unaddressed for this long
Accelerating away from a stop sign, and going about 25 mph, the car slammed on the brakes, even a couple of ABS jerks, and said “Engine Control Issue; Park in a safe place.” (It might have said Engine Control Error). After stopping, was unable to move the car, as all drive power had been shut off. All instrumentation was still powered up. I then shut off power to car, waited 15 seconds, and car powered up normally and was able to drive normally with no warning indications on instrument panel.
Sunday September 8 I plugged my Taycan into my charger at approxmately 1PM. Later I went into my garage approximately 3PM to get something, and it was filled with smoke. After extinguishing the fire, I noticed the cause was the PLUG attached to the Porsche charger had caurght fire and melted the outlet which then caught my garage wall on fire. Had I not been home, my house would have caught fire.
On September 5th I was driving my 2021 Taycan 4S on my way to the Gym at 4:15 am, at that time there hardly any traffic. As am merging on the 101 southbound at the nearest on ramp everything seemed ok, as am driving along at 60-65 mph, I came to a downhill and the car was gaining speed, I stepped on the brake pedal to slow it down and to my surprise the brake pedal went all the way down to the floor! I had no brakes and gaining speed, my first thought was if the brakes had failed I would either crash the car against the freeway sidewalks or try to find a place where I can crash without hurting other drivers, fortunately I kept on pressing the brake pedal and it built up some pressure to slow it down but not to stop it, I kept my cool, but I was shaking knowing that I had no brakes! after a few miles the car was slowing down and was able To get off the freeway and pulled into my gym’s parking lot that luckily has an uphill and it helped to slow it down to a complete stop. At this point there was no warnings or error on the dashboard until it came to a complete stop, the message read “PSM failure” and to visit the workshop, nothing about the brake failure that had just happened! And it was after 2 hours, the failure occurred at 4:15 am and that did not show up until 6:12 am. I went into my gym to calm myself down after this horrible experience and after an hour or so I went back to my car and that is when I saw the warning, after a while I called Porsche road assistance and left the car where it was because Porsche road assistance couldn’t send a tow truck quickly, I revived a call from the tow truck company at 9:00 am and met them at the location, I explained to the driver what had happened and as he drove the car out of the parking spot brake fluid started to spray,out of the driver side font caliper, and there was a poodle of brake fluid under the car.
Car lost ability to accelerate (motive power) while driving. Depending on the situation, this can be extremely dangerous. I brought my car to Porsche 4+ times with this problem, they attempt to fix it, but the problem returns.
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.
I was driving N/B 101 freeway w my wife at approx 70 mph. I felt the rear end slip ever so slightly and thought maybe I somehow lost traction w the road. I continued driving and it occurred twice more in the span of a few miles. I then realized it was unlikely I continued to lose traction with the road. I told my wife something felt wrong and began to maneuver from the #1 lane to the shoulder. I slowed to 50 mph and continued straight w my foot off the accelerator and the brake with both hands on the steering wheel in a straight (non turning) position. Suddenly, the rear end of the vehicle came out and we went into a massive spin. It ultimately caused us to crash into a median wall. I have been through many driver's courses. I have been through many skid pad trainings. I have also been through Precision Intervention Technique (PIT) training. I have been in both the receiving end of a PIT and the giving end of a PIT. The force of this spin was greater than any spin I have felt. It felt like one side or perhaps both rear wheels locked up. I have no other explanation that could cause any vehicle to just spin out of control while driving straight at 50 mph.
Received "Engine Control Error" in red, where entire vehicle shut down and I had to stop and restart the vehicle for it to move. This happened twice in the span of 4 miles.
The heater does not work, requires a part change and this is the 2nd time in two years. Only blowing cold air.
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.
While charging the vehicle at a reduced rate (30 amps out of a 40 amp maximum) there was a thermal event in the outlet box that the Mobile Charger Connect was plugged into. There were no witnesses to the event, but it was later noticed that the wall around the outlet was blackened and one prong of the plug had melted the housing of the plug along with the receptacle. The Mobile Charger Connect had previously shown a high temperature warning, so the operating current was reduced from 40 to 30 amps at the direction of service personnel at the dealership. The Mobile Charger Connect was plugged into the specified NEMA 14-50 receptacle that has been in use for the entire duration of ownership.
Owned the car for 6 months and driving down highway and car just shuts off, limited braking and no accelerator. Coasts to a stop and then stops in the middle of the highway. My daughter and i were almost killed by the car behind us. Had to run across highway to get to safety. Porsche North America says this is just a service issue and not a safety issue. Google search reveals this is a widespread problem and not an isolated event as was told to owner. This was my 6th porsche and my last. Was told the power converter from AC to DC was fried and replacement part took almost 4 weeks to get and replace. No prior warnings lamps or indication that something was about to fry and cause the car to become inoperable.
The brakes had no air pressure when trying to slow down; Completely Totalled Which then caused a collision into another vehicle; The car had significant damage with inspection by Insurance adjuster and collision team; No warning lights and had been in the Porsche dealership for computer updates prior to incident.
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.
No heater for cabin or front windshield defroster, available for inspection. Ice build up in inside limiting visibility Taking care in but need to wait 4 weeks for appointment. Has not been inspected yet. No warnings just cold air blowing.
Cabin Heat not working at all. Fan blows but the cabin does not get warm.
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.
The heating unit and defrosting unit fail on the Porsche Taycans. I have seen this in other Porsche Taycans and it is nearly impossible to see through the windshield when it fails. I had to cautiously limp it to a Porsche dealership due to not being able to see out of the front windshield. There were no warning lamps or messages displayed simply zero heat and the driver side and passenger side windshield areas immediately fog up and it is impossible for it to be reduced.
On December 29, 2022, the heater unit in the car failed. This caused ice to form on the inside of the car, all windows. Winter in Chicago. Dealer said they are aware of other Tacans having this came issue but there are no parts available and could be 4 to 6 weeks for parts. it is now February 15th and still no parts and the car is unsafe to drive as you can not see out of the windows. If you look on the website in Europe there are reported over 800 of these cars with the same issue and now Audi is having the same issue. These cars are unsafer and should be removed from the roads.
Cabin heater in the car failed during very cold temperatures. Making the windows fog up considerably. Limiting my trips to short distances until this problem can be fixed due the safety concern of the windows fogging during longer trips. No warnings to the failure, dealer is aware of this being a common issue on the Taycan.
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.
While driving my Porsche Taycan 2021 (5000 miles) Nov 4th, 2022, at highway speeds on I-15 to Vegas, the instrument cluster started flashing "Electric System Error" and instructed me to park in safe place immediately and call Roadside Assistance. I had to park on the hard shoulder and wait for a tow truck. It was scary as there were big rigs passing my every 10-20 seconds. Car was towed to the Porsche dealer in Vegas. Upon inspection it was found that the "High Voltage Converter" had malfunctioned and had to be replaced. This is very concerning that a critical EV component can fail in new car, which had done just over 5000 miles. Dealer replaced the component and now the vehicle is running fine but I am very skeptical to take the car out on long drives.
There have been four total episodes when the car would not accelerate when the acceleration pedal was pressed. The last time it happened (late October 2022) the acceleration was very sluggish and I barely made it home. This happened on a residential street, and continued for 10+ minutes. If this power loss occurred on a highway, it could have lead to a very dangerous situation. There were no errors/warnings on dash. I brought the car for service to address this issue on Nov 2nd to Porsche Irvine. They told me that they identified a problem and had to replace "rear control unit" but since it's not available, they cannot provide ETA and car is still in service for 30 days now.
The car experiences issue, after issue, including but not limited to collision alert warning not functioning, lane change assist failure, and the alarm sounding (disturbing the peace). As Porsche fixes the issues one by one, other matters emerge. The latest is the antania, and communications.
Driving at night at ~72 mph on a 65 mph divided highway with no traffic nearby the Collision Warning message appeared on the dash and the car noticeably slowed perhaps 5-10 mph. Then the msg cleared itself and the trip was completed otherwise uneventfully.
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 .
The Taycan offers what Porsche calls Porsche Innodrive (PID). PID once activated, the car uses navigation information and road signs to automatically adjust the vehicle's speed to the speed limit of the road. In some instances, the system speed freezes at, e.g., 50 mph and no longer adjusts to the speed limit of the road. When this happens, the vehicle will accelerate to the speed it froze at. I have experienced this multiple times. See attached image. The car indicates that it would accelerate to 50 mph in a 25 mph zone. This has happened multiple times, with speeds frozen at 65 mph.
This vehicle is fully electric, and it uses regeneration while braking. With regeneration on, the braking distance is much shorter than without. The driver does NOT have any means to turn regeneration off while braking. In some instances, the first time the braking system is engaged, regeneration does not kick in, and the braking distance is unexpectedly longer than usual. This has always happened after the car was off for a while and only during the first hard braking. I captured a video of one of these instances.
The Taycan offers what Porsche calls Porsche Innodrive (PID). PID once activated, the car uses navigation information and road signs to automatically adjust the vehicle's speed to the maximum speed limit of the road. In some locations, the vehicle abruptly reduces its speed because PID misreads a Truck Speed Limit sign, e.g.: the vehicle is moving at 65 mph, then it abruptly reduces the speed to 35 mph, which can cause another closely following vehicle to crash into the Taycan.
Electrical system error message appeared when I turned on the car. I exited and locked the car in an attempt to reset the system. I tried this several times with no success so I attempted to call for a tow. After waiting 20 minutes I tried again to exit the car and lock it. This time when I reentered the car it started and I drove home.
The Park Assist system frequently throws a warning that the system is malfunctioning & requires service. During this time the system does not in fact work. However, the system will work again after the car has been turned off for a while, so it seems like the error message is wrong and it’s more of a software problem then a hardware problem that requires service.
The brakes fail in wet conditions. Porsche Taycan has 2 brake systems- light braking is regenerative braking (converting mechanical energy into electricity) and for heavier braking the mechanical disc brakes take over IN THIS FAILURE SITUATION in wet conditions pressing the brake pedal does VERY LITTLE to slow the car. DURING THESE FAILURE SITUATIONS, there is 0 regenerative braking occurring. Normally if there is 0 regen braking mechanical brakes engage at 1% brake pedal press so the entirety of the brake pedal engages the mechanical brakes. DURING THIS FAILURE SITUATION, the mechanical braking system does not engage early so it does not begin to engage until near the end of the brake pedal travel. DURING THIS FAILURE EVENT, THE MECHANICAL BRAKES ARE ONLY AT MINIMAL STOPPING POWER (+/- 20%). It has been compared to the first stop after getting a car washed– one must ‘jam on’ their brakes in order to get their car to stop, after which it tends to stop well. Cars come from the car wash at 1-3 mph, so 10-20% braking power does not put the user in jeopardy. IN THESE FAILURE SITUATIONS THE PORSCHE TAYCAN only has 10-20% stopping power WHILE TRAVELLING ‘AT SPEED’ ON NORMAL ROADWAYS The first time this happened I was approaching a stop light in traffic. If the turn lane weren’t empty I WOULD HAVE CRASHED into the cars ahead of me; I jerked the car into the turn lane & eventually came to a stop, with the brake pedal pressed in at 100% for the entire time. It happens at speeds from 3-50 mph It HAS been reproduced with myself in the car by Porsche service, and by other people in their cars, it was reproduced on my car AND ALL OTHER TAYCANS ON THE LOT at the dealer – each car did it The dealer has done ‘everything in their power’ but it is still happening. I was told Porsche NA was investigating on their wet track at their Atlanta HQ, but that the cars ‘tested as designed’ No warning messages or errors –the regen braking gauge always shows 0% while this happens
I'm submitting this information because I was in a accident and my airbags didn't deploy, taking speed and location of impact into consideration I think the airbag should've deployed, the vehicle that crossed over from the left 3rd lane to make a right turn was luckily hit on rear passenger door of SUV avoiding center pillar and rear tire, however their vehicle airbag did deploy for its front passengers and my passenger EV sports sedan airbags did not. Currently my EV passenger sports sedan hasn't been assessed, it has been towed to Tysons Corner Collision Center in Vienna, VA. I had no airbag failure notices prior to 9/25 accident which occurred on E Market Street and Cardinal Park Drive., Leesburg, VA The claim has been submitted to USAA.
Got into the car like every morning but car displayed a warning “Electrical System Error, Park vehicle in safe place” Car would not start
On August 28, 2021, I was on I-75 in light traffic going about 70 MPH when a red alert on my screen appeared that said, “COLLISION WARNING.” It remained illuminated for about 3 seconds, then disappeared. It startled me because I didn’t know what evasive action to take. There were no vehicles even close to me. I also continue to receive "Driver Attention Required" warnings from time to time. My dealer told me that can happen if I don't have both hands on the wheel. In all instances, I had both hands tightly on the wheel. I sent an email to my dealer's manager with a request that he document this with Porsche corporate and that I receive a written response that includes the number of owners reporting a similar event to Porsche, Porsche's attempts to ascertain a cause, Porsche’s determination of the probable cause and Porche’s proposed remedy. He replied, "I’ve escalated your concerns to PCNA." They asked me to take my 2021 Taycan RWD in for them to download the event log for analysis. I did that. Hearing nothing back three weeks later, I followed up with another email to my dealer. I promptly received a phone call from the service manager saying that he was told by PCNA "that they reviewed the log, they have never seen or heard of the problem and that they don't know what may have caused it."
I am getting a warning and sometimes unwanted braking. the warning is that driver must assume control but this happens when I have all the driver's assist features turned off. on a recent 1500 mile road trip this fault happened at least 10 times at highway speeds.
The vehicle would loose braking pressure after a few minutes of driving. This occurred when the vehicle transitions from regenerative braking to standard braking. Dealer states it is a problem with the brake booster.
The car has 130 miles, right at the dealer parking lot, as I was about to set out a message appeared “ electric system error” I was not able to drive further. If I had been on a freeway this would have been bad.
The contact owns a 2021 Porsche Taycan. The contact stated that while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle began to shudder and then stalled as the "electrical system error, park vehicle in a safe place" warning message illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle failed again soon after restart. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to his home. The contact then called the local dealer and the vehicle was towed to the dealer. The next day, the contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V486000 (Engine and Engine Cooling, Electrical System) which was linked to the failure. Despite several attempts to repair the vehicle under the recall, the vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle remained in the dealer possession. The contact was recently informed by the dealer that a German engineer would be sent their location to repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 1,234.