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

[Uknown]

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[Uknown]

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.

I view this as part of the strategy, my car is fine for now, so there is no claim. I wonder when the car is impacted to 80% if that will strengthen a claim. I am assuming we won’t get out from under this quick, I am just hoping my car doesn’t experience it soon.

I am at about 60k miles now on a MY20. Hoping the magic smoke that keeps shorts away is still present.

This is a big enough individual unit cost let alone every unit sold, I expect it is tied up in a fight we have no control over and there aren’t enough real safety damages proven for Porsche or LG to eat it yet. I am mostly guessing this because the communication has been so poor and vague.. no one wants to state the rca or take blame… it could also be an integrator/vendor not sure if it is just LG and Porsche.

Sadly we will take it in the chin one by one for the foreseeable future I expect with very little recourse.

In hindsight the modular design seems like shit, too much complexity and it isn’t repairable, marketing got way ahead of itself on this one.

 

[D00notD00d]

I’m not familiar with US law, so my take here could be different.

Porsche’s only real obligation is the battery SofH guarantee terms, 80% at 3 years and 70% at 8 years or 100k miles?
Less concrete are compensation for reputational damage affecting residual value (Taycan EVs aren’t unique here); and any costs arising from the 80% charging limit, or if a comparable EV loan car is not available, resulting in additional running costs.

When my recall was done in July (one module replaced under ARA4) for me, the most important consideration was not to suffer any loss.
- I requested a comparable EV loan car, or compensation for additional costs.
- As a precaution, for transparency and peace of mind, i asked for the Battery State of Health value after the recall work. A standard Porsche issued procedure and certificate template exists for this. The procedure steps & effort are not included in the recall work instruction issued by Porsche, but a good dealer who wants to retain your custom should look after you - as indeed should the importer. (Photographing your typical range at ‘80% SofC before and after is also a good precaution. As usual, some percentage variations may occur because of temperature differences or until the range is recalibrated).

if you set out reasonable compensation demands up front, so no loss occurs, it would be unreasonable if the importer/dealer didn’t oblige.

Punitive damages seem unlikely. In context (4 years of production up to June 24 before the root problem was fixed?) the fire risk is extremely low; it has been said that not all cars recalled will require any replacement modules (it will be useful to know if that is true and the percentage split); and for those that do, not all 28/33 modules need replacing (only one of mine was replaced).

Possibly negligence could be argued if (1) preventative battery safety monitoring software is only being introduced now and this is dependent upon the owner having a connection contract, and (2) battery health/safety isn’t checked at regular service intervals, or at resale. For me the design of the battery protection plate seems more negligent.

I wonder how Tesla and Porsche battery monitoring compares.

 

[K1NET1C]

My battery has been removed after 30 days sitting at the dealership. Drop off Nov. 4th and as these photos were taken by the dealership, removed by December 4th.

They are waiting to get it shipped to Porsche HQ, or potentially a service vendor here in the United States.

How do I initiate a potential buyback? I've owned the Taycan 4S since new 9/2020 and have about 21,000 miles. I don't know if I still fall under the NJ Lemon Law.

 

[Dee]

This won't stand a chance cuz Porsche already has initiated the recall of HV battery.
As a company this is all they can do to satisfy the customer.
In individual cases it's different, you have sue the dealer in that case cuz obviously the problem is car related and not company related.

 

[chun]

I am curious; will the batteries still be subject of recalls after the 8 years of warranty are gone? Or will the cars be at risk of fire past those 8 years?

 

[D00notD00d]

At the moment the Porsche line will be that the recall will fix all the known risks.

if, before the first battery warranties expire in 2028, enough evidence arises that Porsche hasn‘t fixed the problem, or other issues arise, and they don’t step up, the legal situation will be different.

Let’s see what the improved monitoring and 2025-2027 bring.

My understanding is that the monitoring sw update is only being applied with later recall IDs and wasn’t included in my ARA4 work. I‘d hope it gets rolled out later. At the moment it seems that otherwise battery temperature/fire is the confirmation of the problem. If log data shows it exists it should be possible to issue a driver notification

 

[Caraholic]

Don’t worry I am assuming the new software is expertly coded so if just gets slightly out of whack it just completely shuts the car down on the highway.

 

[chun]

Preatty sure all the software does is that if it detects the smallest anomaly, it hard limits charging to 80% and auto schedules and appointment at service

 

[Tooney]

My understanding is that the monitoring sw update is only being applied with later recall IDs and wasn’t included in my ARA4 work. I‘d hope it gets rolled out later. At the moment it seems that otherwise battery temperature/fire is the confirmation of the problem. If log data shows it exists it should be possible to issue a driver notification

ARB6 & ARB7 will <eventually> install diagnostic battery software on VINs that have been included in previous battery recalls.

 

[ZenicaNC]

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.

I doubt very much receipts or logs will matter unless you are the lead complainant in a new CA lawsuit. Everyone else will be grouped in with what ever remedy is proposed/accepted and it will not include collecting receipts from every class member.

Your point though, is valid and in a fair world would be a fair ask. I just don't see it happening.

 

[ZenicaNC]

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

Like you, mine is a CPO and LL on a "used" car is a very tough sell.

Oh, I just received my first recall ARB7 letter for the Taycan battery.

I now have two open recalls with no remedy and both are safety related. Both have me concerned about driving the car.

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.

I doubt neither the battery manufacturer nor Porsche will replace full battery pack assemblies. The cost would bankrupt both companies. We saw what happened to Takata. The same would happen here. That would turn our Taycan into a Fisker.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Like me, mine is a CPO and LL on a "used" car is a very tough sell.

Oh, I just received my first recall ARB7 letter for the Taycan battery.

I now have two open recalls with no remedy and both are safety related. Both have me concerned about driving the car.




I doubt neither the battery manufacturer nor Porsche will replace full battery pack assemblies. The cost would bankrupt both companies. We saw what happened to Takata. The same would happen here. That would turn our Taycan into a Fisker.

What is the second recall with no remedy? There should only be one of the ARB kind that has no remedy at the moment.

 

[chun]

I doubt neither the battery manufacturer nor Porsche will replace full battery pack assemblies. The cost would bankrupt both companies. We saw what happened to Takata. The same would happen here. That would turn our Taycan into a Fisker.

Yes and no, LG is selling the batteries at a profit margin; so replacing them to adhere to contract obligations would be cheaper than the "value" porsche puts on the batteries. And Porsche themselves, also have a margin on the battery, as a reseller to the service centers - probably quite big, as most will be billed to insurance companies.

So 10.000 euro per battery won't bankrupt either LG or Porsche; especially when accounting for the profit margins they both have on their products. It would end up being 3-4 bil; definitely a significant sum, but hardly enough to bankrupt either company.

Doing 3-4 recalls per car, where they have to cover the cost of replacement mobility & fuel + pay for the work, and pay for the battery modules, already puts them easly in the 10.000 braket. So they are already spending those money, just inefficiently, trying to delay the inevitable, making the big cost at once the problem of another CEO in the future.

 

[ZenicaNC]

What is the second recall with no remedy? There should only be one of the ARB kind that has no remedy at the moment.

Brake lines. Dealer has no idea when the parts will arrive. A brake hose recall isn't exactly instilling confidence in driving the car.

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