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"Porsche class action claims Taycan EVs have battery defect" - December 5, 2024

T4S

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Porsche class action lawsuit overview:
  • Who: Plaintiff Miodrag Kukrika filed a class action lawsuit against Porsche Cars N.A. Inc.
  • Why: Kukrika claims Porsche failed to disclose or adequately repair a battery defect in its model year 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan electric vehicles.
  • Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Georgia federal court.
A new class action lawsuit alleges Porsche failed to disclose a battery defect found in its model year 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan electric vehicles (EVs).

Plaintiff Miodrag Kukrika’s class action lawsuit claims Porsche fails to disclose or adequately repair a “dangerous and widespread” defect in the 800V lithium-ion batteries equipped in the Porsche Taycan vehicles.

Kukrika argues the battery defect causes them to lose power and short circuit, creating a fire risk that endangers drivers, passengers and structures.

“The Battery Defect presents an unreasonable safety risk to drivers and passengers of the Class Vehicles and to people in residential homes and other structures where the vehicles are parked or near,” the Porsche class action says.

Kukrika wants to represent a nationwide class of consumers who own, owned, lease and/or leased a model year 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan EV equipped with a defective 800V lithium-ion battery.

Porsche was aware of battery defect for years, class action claims
Kukrika argues Porsche has been aware of the battery defect since at least February 2020, at which time news outlets reported on a Porsche Taycan vehicle that caught fire in a residential garage in Florida, resulting in “significant” damage.

“Porsche investigated the incident and since then, has learned about several other fires and about numerous owner complaints about the Battery Defect,” the Porsche battery defect class action says.

While Porsche ultimately began issuing recalls for the vehicles — most recently in September 2024 — the automaker has failed to address the “root cause of the defect,” by not agreeing to affirmatively repair or replace all the defective batteries, the Porsche battery defect class action alleges.

Instead, Kukrika argues Porsche simply instructed Taycan owners to limit charging the vehicles to 80% capacity and proposed a software update that will not be available until the first quarter of 2025.

“Apart from the failure to address the serious risk of fire posed by the Battery Defect now, inspecting and repairing the batteries can take months, as Plaintiff’s experience shows,” the Porsche battery defect class action says.

Kukrika claims Porsche is guilty of fraudulent concealment and omission, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and negligent misrepresentation/omission.

The plaintiff demands a jury trial and requests injunctive relief along with an award of punitive, compensatory, treble and exemplary damages for himself and all class members.

Porsche previously issued a recall for more than 27,000 Taycan EVs over the battery defect. The recall was published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Oct. 1.

The plaintiffs are represented by T. Brandon Waddell, Michael A. Caplan and Ashley C. Brown of Caplan Cobb LLC and Rosemary M. Rivas, David Stein and Rosanne L. Mah of Gibbs Law Group LLP.

The Porsche class action lawsuit is Kukrika, et al. v. Porsche Cars N.A. Inc., Case No. 1:24-cv-05492, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
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Gino

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Sources:

Porsche class action lawsuit overview:
  • Who: Plaintiff Miodrag Kukrika filed a class action lawsuit against Porsche Cars N.A. Inc.
  • Why: Kukrika claims Porsche failed to disclose or adequately repair a battery defect in its model year 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan electric vehicles.
  • Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Georgia federal court.
A new class action lawsuit alleges Porsche failed to disclose a battery defect found in its model year 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan electric vehicles (EVs).

Plaintiff Miodrag Kukrika’s class action lawsuit claims Porsche fails to disclose or adequately repair a “dangerous and widespread” defect in the 800V lithium-ion batteries equipped in the Porsche Taycan vehicles.

Kukrika argues the battery defect causes them to lose power and short circuit, creating a fire risk that endangers drivers, passengers and structures.

“The Battery Defect presents an unreasonable safety risk to drivers and passengers of the Class Vehicles and to people in residential homes and other structures where the vehicles are parked or near,” the Porsche class action says.

Kukrika wants to represent a nationwide class of consumers who own, owned, lease and/or leased a model year 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan EV equipped with a defective 800V lithium-ion battery.

Porsche was aware of battery defect for years, class action claims
Kukrika argues Porsche has been aware of the battery defect since at least February 2020, at which time news outlets reported on a Porsche Taycan vehicle that caught fire in a residential garage in Florida, resulting in “significant” damage.

“Porsche investigated the incident and since then, has learned about several other fires and about numerous owner complaints about the Battery Defect,” the Porsche battery defect class action says.

While Porsche ultimately began issuing recalls for the vehicles — most recently in September 2024 — the automaker has failed to address the “root cause of the defect,” by not agreeing to affirmatively repair or replace all the defective batteries, the Porsche battery defect class action alleges.

Instead, Kukrika argues Porsche simply instructed Taycan owners to limit charging the vehicles to 80% capacity and proposed a software update that will not be available until the first quarter of 2025.

“Apart from the failure to address the serious risk of fire posed by the Battery Defect now, inspecting and repairing the batteries can take months, as Plaintiff’s experience shows,” the Porsche battery defect class action says.

Kukrika claims Porsche is guilty of fraudulent concealment and omission, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and negligent misrepresentation/omission.

The plaintiff demands a jury trial and requests injunctive relief along with an award of punitive, compensatory, treble and exemplary damages for himself and all class members.

Porsche previously issued a recall for more than 27,000 Taycan EVs over the battery defect. The recall was published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Oct. 1.

The plaintiffs are represented by T. Brandon Waddell, Michael A. Caplan and Ashley C. Brown of Caplan Cobb LLC and Rosemary M. Rivas, David Stein and Rosanne L. Mah of Gibbs Law Group LLP.

The Porsche class action lawsuit is Kukrika, et al. v. Porsche Cars N.A. Inc., Case No. 1:24-cv-05492, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
I wish I could get more information about this defect. I was quite annoyed with Porsche issuing a tech bulletin “after the fact of purchase” stating vehicles should not be charged above 80%. Charging to 100% would degrade the battery life and increases the risk of fire. This was never disclosed at the time of sale not to mention the reduction in range by only charging to 80%. Also in February of 2022 Porsche also stated in a Porsche service bulletin that the 120V charger should only be used for emergency purposes and never for more than 12 hours. Some, incorrectly assumed Porsche was referring to owners which have installed the improper 120V outlet or wiring in their garage but this is not what Porsche was attempting to protect against. Either the Porsche charger or the on board charger in the vehicle cannot withstand charging for more than 12 hours, let alone the multiple days to a week to charge the vehicle fully at 120V. Again this was not disclosed at purchase. Not everyone can install 220V in their garage or even have a garage. Level 2 chargers at hotels, shopping centers & businesses wether free or paid had no restrictions by Porsche until 2022. I am happy to join this class action suit since Porsche is dead to rights in this.
If their charging infrastructure at 120V or 220V cannot withstand charging every day then they must replace them with more reliable longer lasting parts/systems.
I look forward to learning more about this class action law suit…
 

SergeyIndy

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This was just a matter of time as avalanche of recalls related to this issue has been ongoing. I think the impact is very widespread with most under ARB6 or ARB7 with limit to 80% implied as a remedy before defective cells are identified and replaced. I can tell you that my dealer can only work on one Taycan at a time as Porsche gave them 1 crate to ship the battery. The tech told me that they processed several with a Porsche rep and now trying to train dealer techs to perform module replacements at the dealer, as shipping each battery one car at a time will take forever to service all customers.

A more practical issue is limiting use of the car to 80%. I am planning my first long trip and while I have free EA charging the route that I am going, is not going to have them close enough, so if I am driving with 20% less SoC, then I have to recharge more often and pay for charging out of pocket at non EA stations with some charging 70 to 85 cents per kWh and top that with 15% losses in 32F weather, that will be additional cost, so save your travel logs and receipts I guess in case they will be reimbursing for all of this.
 

r553

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I am awaiting my second battery for my 2020 4 S. I urge owners to keep a log of the miles they get after each charging session. That is how I found both of my battery failures after noting a loss of range in a short period of time without temperature change or abnormal use. The current battery monitoring system in the car does not inform you of a battery cell issue(s).

EDIT 12/20/24: Just got my car back from the dealer. Porsche directed them to remove the battery, inspect it's exterior and re-install it. No battery repair was performed although I waited three weeks for the battery crate. From what I can surmise because I got a new battery back in June they are not doing anymore repairs to my battery nor did they find bad cells. It is impossible to tell what happened. I await 2025 and new batteries for all like the Chevy Bolt. We haven't been told to park the car outside yet so far.
 
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Caraholic

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About time, granted I don’t see any fruitful outcome or us owners.
 


daveo4EV

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when Chevy pulled this crap on me I saw it as an exit ramp for my Bolt - California Lemon Law (car doesn't meet original specifications) - reasonable buy back with depreciation based on mileage - not my problem any more…

I'd pivot into a '25 Taycan or BMW EV and use the opportunity to get Porsche to buy back the vehicle at better than market depreciation - dealer can not resolve the issue in 30 days or less (vehicle out of service for more than 30 days) and changing the specifications - 80% and can not park it inside…just get as much money back from Porsche as you can and move on…not worth waiting around for "the fix"
 

Uknown

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when Chevy pulled this crap on me I saw it as an exit ramp for my Bolt - California Lemon Law (car doesn't meet original specifications) - reasonable buy back with depreciation based on mileage - not my problem any more…

I'd pivot into a '25 Taycan or BMW EV and use the opportunity to get Porsche to buy back the vehicle at better than market depreciation - dealer can not resolve the issue in 30 days or less (vehicle out of service for more than 30 days) and changing the specifications - 80% and can not park it inside…just get as much money back from Porsche as you can and move on…not worth waiting around for "the fix"
I wondered about this, but am not really clear what they fixed in 2025 model. Given how little communication there has been my cynical side worries the 2025 has same issue.
 


daveo4EV

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I wondered about this, but am not really clear what they fixed in 2025 model. Given how little communication there has been my cynical side worries the 2025 has same issue.
yeah - same risk - but so far not under recall for the 25's and we know there are differences in the batteries - different underbody shielding, no 400v/150 kW booster required - etc…

it's going to take years to get all the Taycan's services - you'll be waiting forever for your battery to get fixed - reasonable replacement times for batteries depend on not having to do an entire fleet all at once…we're past that now…

best case scenario is get Porsche to buy back the car under lemon law - which will be invoice price paid minus mileage based depreciation - that should be a better pay out than market depreciation - and you can move on to newer shiny'er tech - there is little reason to be loyal to the car when a major component has proven faulty and there are remedies for an offramp…turns out my speculation about the Bolt was also right - GM has figured out a way to not replace the entire fleet and done some sleazy stuff to avoid it…tainted product, long fix time, no clear resolution - and if you have the means/opportunity take the off ramp…there is no joy, upside, benefit in finishing this ride - move on if you can - there are options.

I'm enjoy'ing my Macan Turbo Ev so far…

my $0.02 - YMMV
 

Caraholic

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As of right now there is no off ramp. I fought for that awhile back. Granted my car has been great since I’ve got it back and I do love it.
 
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T4S

T4S

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Unfortunately, not everyone has the capability to Lemon Law the car.

IMO, Porsche will need to address this issue better than GM has done for the Bolt EVs. The main issue is the battery, and LG Chem has been known to have trouble with these batteries early on. Even Jaguar just bought back thousands of early I-Pace EVs due to the HV battery fire risk.

The service centers are not equipped to handle the service for the Taycans, each recall (and service) taking a week or more to complete since very limited number of techs can work on Taycans. This further frustrates owners and dealers.

I believe the best resolution that would satisfy owners is to replace the full battery pack for all affected vehicles with the newer chemistry which seems to perform better than earlier model years, and extend the battery warranty even further for the remaining vehicles. All vehicles equipped with the new monitoring capabilities. They can have LG chem pay the costs since they are mostly responsible for the defects. The issue with the older Taycans is that Porsche is replacing the modules of older packs with newer chemistry; thus, mixing new chem with older chem. This can create unforeseen problems down the road, and it looks like some owners are already impacted again by these problems.

Porsche has to stand by its products. It doesn’t have a choice since they are pushing for part of their lineup to be full EV. Prospective owners will lose confidence in Porsche and purchase EVs from other OEMs if they don’t see them stand behind their EVs.
 

Tooney

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Well, if this is similar to all the other class-action lawsuits where I’ve had the dubious benefit of being on the plaintiff’s side, we’ll each get $1.35 for our troubles and the attorneys will make $100MM or so… ?
*$1.35 credit on your next purchase at the Porsche Connect Store.
 

Caraholic

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Unfortunately, not everyone has the capability to Lemon Law the car.

IMO, Porsche will need to address this issue better than GM has done for the Bolt EVs. The main issue is the battery, and LG Chem has been known to have trouble with these batteries early on. Even Jaguar just bought back thousands of early I-Pace EVs due to the HV battery fire risk.

The service centers are not equipped to handle the service for the Taycans, each recall (and service) taking a week or more to complete since very limited number of techs can work on Taycans. This further frustrates owners and dealers.

I believe the best resolution that would satisfy owners is to replace the full battery pack for all affected vehicles with the newer chemistry which seems to perform better than earlier model years, and extend the battery warranty even further for the remaining vehicles. All vehicles equipped with the new monitoring capabilities. They can have LG chem pay the costs since they are mostly responsible for the defects. The issue with the older Taycans is that Porsche is replacing the modules of older packs with newer chemistry; thus, mixing new chem with older chem. This can create unforeseen problems down the road, and it looks like some owners are already impacted again by these problems.

Porsche has to stand by its products. It doesn’t have a choice since they are pushing for part of their lineup to be full EV. Prospective owners will lose confidence in Porsche and purchase EVs from other OEMs if they don’t see them stand behind their EVs.
This is exactly what should happen. I don’t have confidence in my 12 replaced cell modules. I am pretty confident that the battery will fail again as I see the repair as a patch. Here’s hoping Porsche will stand behind its product and customers.
 

EXOTIC3

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Can second hand owners file buyback
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