Underbody Protection Panel damaged. Batteries and coolant lines need inspection. $72.5K replacement & labor cost. Dealership is Tom Wood in Indiana

[DougFrisk]

How about increasing the gap between the top of battery cover and the bottom of the batteries?

What I would like to see and honestly I think I might just do it myself is to install 4 mm offsets on the mounting points of the existing cover, swap in mounting bolts that are 4 mm longer, and 4 mm of exterior grade foam insulation lining the inside of the protective cover. Yes, I lose 4 mm of ground clearance but more than double the impact the cover could take and reduce the heat losses from the battery when the car is parked outside in January here in northern Minnesota. A double win.

The fact that there's not already thermal insulation between the battery and the protective cover boggles my mind.

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[DerekS]

What I would like to see and honestly I think I might just do it myself is to install 4 mm offsets on the mounting points of the existing cover, swap in mounting bolts that are 4 mm longer, and 4 mm of exterior grade foam insulation lining the inside of the protective cover. Yes, I lose 4 mm of ground clearance but more than double the impact the cover could take and reduce the heat losses from the battery when the car is parked outside in January here in northern Minnesota. A double win.

The fact that there's not already thermal insulation between the battery and the protective cover boggles my mind.

If you pursue that I am interested in the process. My suspicion is the battery cover/shield is not just bolted in but also has some kind of adhesive or sealant.

If it's bolts only, then I'll buy a spare shield.

 

[Uknown]

I started thinking about this issue from another angle - what would make me feel ok about this situation? What could Porsche do to restore my faith in their EV products?

I acknowledge that there has to be a defined damage tolerance limit somewhere, and that exceeding that makes the dealerships twitchy because of the liability.
That does make sense.

3mm seems pretty small but I don't think changing that is necessarily the resolution, as it was probably reached by the engineers based on the design of the car. Let's assume it is what it is.

The only real issue here (to me) is how disproportionate the cost is to the overall value of the vehicle.

So what are some ways Porsche could remediate this? Brainstorming here...

1. Lean into battery repair over replacement. Ostensibly that's what this battery design is supposed to provide in the first place, right? This would also allow paying only for what is actually broken, retaining the rest of it. If an ICE motor had a leaking seal, you wouldn't do a total engine swap - you'd repair the seal. Same should apply here. Which leads me to my next point...
2. Expand HV tech training. Part of the reason swaps over repairs seem to be common is the lack of HV-certified techs available to work on them. If Porsche plans to keep expanding their EV offerings (and I do think they should) they need to make sure there are lots of experienced techs capable of doing repair work on the batteries.
3. Expand HV training to third parties. I realize this is counter to the profit center of the service department, but it could also help separate them from the liability and ease the supply/demand of HV techs. It would certainly bring the prices for owners down. They already have a third party doing battery work for the recall, why can't this facility do a battery "tray swap" for cases like @Maelstrom 's?
4. Offer a battery damage warranty as a product. Personally I would pay up to 5K for this to never worry about the battery pan again. 5K against 50-72K seems like an easy decision.
5. Offer evaluation and installation of customer-sourced batteries. Seeing how cheaply a used battery can be found on eBay (less than 5K) or via wholesalers makes me really favor that solution if I run into a battery problem, especially if I can't get insurance to cover it. As long as the battery is a Porsche-stamped part, and it passes their pressure/voltage tests (which already exist) there should be no reason a customer can't pay for labor only to do the swap. I wonder if third parties are capable of doing the swap now? I don't know if the battery is somehow coded to the car and needs PWIS to change...
6. Offer an improved battery cover. Something with titanium shielding at the key points likely to cause damage.
7. Just lower the parts costs. If this whole replacement was a 15-20K operation (as it is on Tesla) we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Any other ideas?

I have been thinking about this too. I was very close to buying a MY25 before seeing so much uncertainty pop up which raised more questions for me. I was very excited to see simplifications throughout the electrical systems on the early deep dives and info..

Some form of comprehensive battery coverage through Porsche would be nice, it is frustrating that all the coverage out there has wording that leaves a lot of wiggle room imo.

I would like to see what Porsche engineers think of this problem, what their new tray provides, and why $5k? Seems like they need a bolt on layer to take standard scratches and scuffs that’s cheaper to replace as a wear part.

Munro teardown of the new battery pack, active ride and other systems would be nice to gain confidence.

A technical write up of the lessons learned and new engineering applied. I get that Porsche won’t, but For this price point it would be nice given this cars history of surprises. The press release so far says “increased robustness “.. some figures around that would be nice.


I am not running from Taycan, but I am not so sure Porsche is here for me. And at this price point I want to reduce surprise and have confidence in the car for 10ish years with a more reasonable repair bill in mind. Also time for EV repairs is just nuts but I think / Hope that EV Macan will help that as will just more time to get staff and tools etc out to the field.

If I ever buy CPO again I will confirm the underbelly tray has no scratches or dings as well.

Mostly I realize I am just one customer, and I am overly curious about issues and fixes and costs.

 

[Fish Fingers]

Something will need to change imo as the Taycan already has a woeful reliability record.
https://www.whatcar.com/news/reliability-survey-most-reliable-electric-cars/n26158

If the frequency of this repair becomes more commonplace and the cost of this repair also becomes common knowledge, people will not want to buy a new Taycan themselves as it's an open chequebook.

Finance/lease companies will be wary and lease costs will become expensive as they factor in repairs and low used value.

Insurers will react (withdraw / increase premiums / battery clause) if they end up forking out for repairs.

And nobody will want to buy a used Taycan......which means few will want to buy a new one for financial reasons.

Added together, it's a potential problem Porsche needs to sort out one way or another.
Personally, I think the insurers may move first, they will be very quick to adjust premiums if data shows sharp losses.

 

[BullitX]

I have read everything in this thread, and what a horrible situation this is. It’s making my decision to get a Taycan much harder.

However, there are some points I’d like to highlight. Firstly, the specific dealership involved is plainly bad and hostile. It’s horrible how they treat their customers in times of frustration and panic.

While reading through the pages, I kept wondering, "When is the OP going to get a lawyer?" By around page 30, I started getting frustrated that the OP still hadn’t sought legal advice, especially when the dealership clearly began to extort the OP on several occasions and basically refused to return the car in the condition it was brought in.

Additionally, although it has been repeatedly stated that there are no "scrape" marks, the pictures clearly show otherwise. I see a scratch line leading up to the dent, and the dent itself has a scrape. See the screenshot below.

To me, it seems that something did scrape the car before it bottomed out. Some have suggested it could be a speed bump or a curb, which seems plausible. The car was likely too low, causing light scraping with a protruding object, and then it bottomed out when it reached the car’s midpoint. However, I wonder why the OP didn’t feel it. Surely an impact like that would be very noticeable.

Given the scratch line and scrape at the dent, I find it hard to believe that the dealer caused the damage. But it’s also possible that a technician accidentally damaged the plate with a tool or pillar while working under the car. Yet, the impact must have been quite powerful.

In my opinion, the OP has been too lenient with the dealer. A lawyer should have been consulted once the dealer showed hostility and engaged in suspicious dealings. Calling and emailing only goes so far, although it does provide a paper trail. When the dealer failed to respond or avoided answering queries, the OP should have gone directly to the dealer and demanded to speak to the general manager. The same goes for the Porsche representative. If you don’t like their response, ask for their supervisor. Additionally, the OP could have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Department of Commerce.

There are many ways to escalate this situation and gain support, but it was frustrating to see the constant back and forth between the insurance company, the dealer, and the OP.

I truly feel bad for the OP for what he went through. I did not expect the process to be this painful, especially with a brand like Porsche. Porsche should have better control over its dealerships and have measures in place to prevent such unethical practices.

 

[mikezhang31]

i was doing like 80mph on saturday on route 1 in trenton and hit a repeatedly paved over expansion joint while in the lowest ride height. this thread is giving me a lot of anxiety :/

 

[SteveDC]

I thought you were going to suggest Porsche add a laser proximity sensor and adjust the suspension to offset up to 6mm based of tire tread wear. Car always sits the same distance above the road, regardless of new vs. old tires -that would be cool.

Or tire inflation level?

 

[Maelstrom]

I have read everything in this thread, and what a horrible situation this is. It’s making my decision to get a Taycan much harder.

However, there are some points I’d like to highlight. Firstly, the specific dealership involved is plainly bad and hostile. It’s horrible how they treat their customers in times of frustration and panic.

While reading through the pages, I kept wondering, "When is the OP going to get a lawyer?" By around page 30, I started getting frustrated that the OP still hadn’t sought legal advice, especially when the dealership clearly began to extort the OP on several occasions and basically refused to return the car in the condition it was brought in.

Additionally, although it has been repeatedly stated that there are no "scrape" marks, the pictures clearly show otherwise. I see a scratch line leading up to the dent, and the dent itself has a scrape. See the screenshot below.

To me, it seems that something did scrape the car before it bottomed out. Some have suggested it could be a speed bump or a curb, which seems plausible. The car was likely too low, causing light scraping with a protruding object, and then it bottomed out when it reached the car’s midpoint. However, I wonder why the OP didn’t feel it. Surely an impact like that would be very noticeable.

Given the scratch line and scrape at the dent, I find it hard to believe that the dealer caused the damage. But it’s also possible that a technician accidentally damaged the plate with a tool or pillar while working under the car. Yet, the impact must have been quite powerful.

In my opinion, the OP has been too lenient with the dealer. A lawyer should have been consulted once the dealer showed hostility and engaged in suspicious dealings. Calling and emailing only goes so far, although it does provide a paper trail. When the dealer failed to respond or avoided answering queries, the OP should have gone directly to the dealer and demanded to speak to the general manager. The same goes for the Porsche representative. If you don’t like their response, ask for their supervisor. Additionally, the OP could have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Department of Commerce.

There are many ways to escalate this situation and gain support, but it was frustrating to see the constant back and forth between the insurance company, the dealer, and the OP.

I truly feel bad for the OP for what he went through. I did not expect the process to be this painful, especially with a brand like Porsche. Porsche should have better control over its dealerships and have measures in place to prevent such unethical practices.

The blue area was likely there when I got the car - I say this as there are no speed bumps anywhere near me where I live. If i knew what had hit the car to do this I would say, but I honestly don't, as I mentioned before, you're so far removed from this part due to all the components between this and the driver.
I am still debating legal advice and an initial consultation may give me an idea if it's worth pursuing.
I agree with @DerekS but would add that the total lack of ability to not only get diagnostic data from the cooling lines and/or visually inspect is a huge oversight. At the end of the day it's 0.34mm over tolerance and they claim the lines are crushed - and that's all it is, a claim based on some photos

 

[BullitX]

The blue area was likely there when I got the car - I say this as there are no speed bumps anywhere near me where I live. If i knew what had hit the car to do this I would say, but I honestly don't, as I mentioned before, you're so far removed from this part due to all the components between this and the driver.
I am still debating legal advice and an initial consultation may give me an idea if it's worth pursuing.
I agree with @DerekS but would add that the total lack of ability to not only get diagnostic data from the cooling lines and/or visually inspect is a huge oversight. At the end of the day it's 0.34mm over tolerance and they claim the lines are crushed - and that's all it is, a claim based on some photos

It could indeed be from before you got the car, but just eyeballing it here, it seems that the blue scratches are perpendicular to the red scratches, so they appear to be related. I'm pretty sure the red scratches are part of the same incident that caused the dent. So, maybe the dent was there before as well? This type of damage shouldn't occur due to stray gravel or small rocks, but perhaps from the car being in a lowered position combined with additional compression from a dip in the road, possibly at higher speeds, and then landing on something sharp.

Nevertheless, your dealer should have handled the whole experience much better. I'd suggest getting legal advice as soon as possible and filing complaints with the BBB and DOC. It's crazy that a small dent could lead to such an expensive repair, especially when there's no concrete evidence that the repair is actually necessary. This could effectively total the car. Many used Taycans are around $80k where I live, and I'm pretty sure our insurance company would mark the car as totaled if the repair cost is almost as high as the car's value.

Not to mention, I saw in some estimates that the dealer charges over $300 an hour for labor?! What! I should consider becoming a freelance technician!

 

[Maelstrom]

So the approval for the repair is all sorted @$44k. My current strategy is to meet with the Service Manager when I go down to get another loaner and see if there is indeed any diagnostic data (this was recommended by the PCNA CSR) - I'm going to stress that this isn't aimed at them but Porsche itself as I don't want them to get defensive.
I'm also going to ask for photos of the underside of the current HV tray to see if any of the lines are damaged (this will open another can of worms if there's no damage)
Whilst I do acknowledge the treatment from the dealer I do need them to be on-side for the momentm, as I've said before I need to pick my battles right now

 

[DerekS]

That sounds like a decent outcome!

I’m a little suspect that 72K became 44K but hey whatever. It’s covered now and you’re good.

Wishing for a swift repair.

 

[Caraholic]

Glad you are getting it sorted. What I don’t like is if it were just the customer we would be stuck paying the 72.

 

[D00notD00d]

I wonder what happens to the ‘good’ battery modules?
Who gets those?

The UK price for this procedure is about £38k, closer to $44k than $72k.

 

[Maelstrom]

I wonder what happens to the ‘good’ battery modules?
Who gets those?

The UK price for this procedure is about £38k, closer to $44k than $72k.

The part number ended with EX which I believe is an exchange

 

[rb33gl]

So that's why they want to replace the entire battery if the customer is paying for it:

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/202...an-batteries-energy-storage-system-37011.html

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