On off button on Taycan dangerous?

[Perry]

Honestly, I think Porsche should just straight up remove the power button, specifically because it leads to confusion like this. It's mostly just a remnant from the legacy gas powered cars where you physically turn off an engine, but for an EV it serves very little purpose.

Also, to be very clear since it was mentioned earlier in the thread. The fact that a Tesla engages the parking brake when opening the door is a safety feature and obviously not the car is supposed to be operated. It even triggers an error chime to notify that you're doing something very wrong. Like with essentially every car made in the last 20 years or so, you're supposed to engage the parking brake before leaving the vehicle.

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[whitex]

Honestly, I think Porsche should just straight up remove the power button, specifically because it leads to confusion like this. It's mostly just a remnant from the legacy gas powered cars where you physically turn off an engine, but for an EV it serves very little purpose.

I don't disagree about removal of the ignition button, but if you think that is bad, see what Audi does. My wife has the latest 2024 Q8 etron, the darn thing has not only ON/OFF button, but it also emulates accessory mode and engine-on mode!?! So if you just hit the ON button without having your foot on the brake, the car appears to turn on, BUT air conditioner does not work (to match the fact that without engine on AC is not functional) and you cannot put the car in gear. They made many stupid decisions on the Audi UX, like disabling the fob trunk open capability if the car is in accessory mode or engine on mode (say you turned it on to cool it down in hot weather and want to put something in the trunk). Other stupid things, if you leave the car with passengers in it, it shuts off within very few minutes (so passengers don't get HVAC). If you leave the key with the passenger, the stupid car still shuts off. The passenger can turn it back on with the ON/OFF button, but unless they hop over to the driver seat and press the brake while pressing the ON button, there will not be any A/C!?! Seriously, the moronic design decisions of Audi should be taught in engineering schools. They cannot even make wipers not skip (factory wipers lasted 1 day of rain, new OEM wipers lasted a couple of rain days, aftermarket, cheaper than Audi, lasted a few months - still, what the hell did they do to the design that eats through wipers like this?!? My Taycan is still on the factory wipers, they work great, and I drove it home from the dealer 3,500 miles across North America in the middle of winter). This is the fist and probably the last Audi I am ever buying.

So, if you ever want to make yourself feel better about the Taycan, drive an Audi etron. Audi is a close relative to Porsche. See hot much worse it could have been done.

 

[Watchesandburgers]

> and engage the parking break before you exit the vehicle.

Wait, you mean floor the break and get to "hold"? Do we actually need to do that before exiting the car? Never thought that I should do that.

Sorry, no, pushing the "P" button does both things.

 

[BMonte13]

Fascinating thread. I always use park.....to park the car. However, didn't realize that I shouldn't be using the on/off button too. Do most people JUST use park and not touch the on/off button?

 

[Jonathan S.]

Come on, doesn't everyone learn to put the car in Park before exiting? [...]

True.
But -- I also learned to:

• Unlock the door with a key or fob ... and instead the Taycan extends the door handles to me upon my approach, as if it's so happy to prepare itself to be driven by me.
• Press some sort of On or ignition switch to start up the car ... and instead the Taycan allows me to skip that and immediately flick the little lever into R or D.
• Pump gas ... and instead the Taycan charges at a peak of 270kW at Electrify America stations with 350kW chargers (or not, sigh).
• Change a flat tire ... and instead the Taycan has no spare -- but I'm so determined to be able to do that, I bought a Vredestein collapsible spare, hah!

Back to the original topic, a few times I have pressed the On/Off button for an insufficiently short duration, but I think the required duration makes sense.

 

[Jonathan S.]

"They cannot even make wipers not skip (factory wipers lasted 1 day of rain, new OEM wipers lasted a couple of rain days, aftermarket, cheaper than Audi, lasted a few months - still, what the hell did they do to the design that eats through wipers like this?!?"
Is this something specific to Audi EV models? The wipers on my A6ar have been fine.

 

[JustWatching]

I don't disagree about removal of the ignition button, but if you think that is bad, see what Audi does. My wife has the latest 2024 Q8 etron, the darn thing has not only ON/OFF button, but it also emulates accessory mode and engine-on mode!?! So if you just hit the ON button without having your foot on the brake, the car appears to turn on, BUT air conditioner does not work (to match the fact that without engine on AC is not functional) and you cannot put the car in gear. They made many stupid decisions on the Audi UX, like disabling the fob trunk open capability if the car is in accessory mode or engine on mode (say you turned it on to cool it down in hot weather and want to put something in the trunk). Other stupid things, if you leave the car with passengers in it, it shuts off within very few minutes (so passengers don't get HVAC). If you leave the key with the passenger, the stupid car still shuts off. The passenger can turn it back on with the ON/OFF button, but unless they hop over to the driver seat and press the brake while pressing the ON button, there will not be any A/C!?! Seriously, the moronic design decisions of Audi should be taught in engineering schools. They cannot even make wipers not skip (factory wipers lasted 1 day of rain, new OEM wipers lasted a couple of rain days, aftermarket, cheaper than Audi, lasted a few months - still, what the hell did they do to the design that eats through wipers like this?!? My Taycan is still on the factory wipers, they work great, and I drove it home from the dealer 3,500 miles across North America in the middle of winter). This is the fist and probably the last Audi I am ever buying.

So, if you ever want to make yourself feel better about the Taycan, drive an Audi etron. Audi is a close relative to Porsche. See hot much worse it could have been done.

Your post is the proof of your previous posts. Brands have quirks and people get used to them.

My wife has a Q8 etron as well and none of the things you described we have ever encountered.

A few comments:

Something is wrong with your wipers. We are still on our first set of wipers about a year later. Tension probably needs to be adjusted.

My wife who drives the Q8 runs into the opposite problem when she rarely drives my car because the Taycan starts itself so she turns it off because she is used to having to start her own car and you just do it without thinking. The Audi starts/stops more like a traditional car which is where she came from so not an issue for her.

The A/C issue hasn't been an issue for us. We are empty nesters (or as I borrowed from some one "Bird-launchers") so we rarely have passengers. However, we do have a dog. When you turn off the car, the main screen displays a "temperature button" , if you click on the "thermometer" icon it will start the A/C for 30 minutes whether your stay in or leave the car.

I won't tell my wife you spoke ill of her Q8 or she may come find you.

 

[Lefty8235]

If I'm doing it wrong then please correct me: I use the Park button always and the on/off button pretty much never. Arriving somewhere, I put the car in Park, get out, and lock the doors. That's it. Should I be turning the car off for some reason?

This would prevent the seats and steering wheel from retracting to make it easier to get out though, no?

 

[Singularity]

Fascinating thread. I always use park.....to park the car. However, didn't realize that I shouldn't be using the on/off button too. Do most people JUST use park and not touch the on/off button?

Hard to know how many do what, at least without a poll and a good amount of answers.

Using the on/off button is just a waste of time however, as locking the car will shut it down anyway. Once I understood this, which was very early on, I've rarely had any need for the on/off button, especially as it's not usually needed when starting the car.

In fact I'm sure I've used the on/off much more on start up than shut down. The automatic start up didn't work 100% of the time so I did press the button a few times because of that.

Very good discussion in this thread in general. Cars are getting heavily automated and unlike airplanes for example, there is no strict regulation / guidance on how the cars are supposed to function.

Anyone who has driven manual cars or driven cars for a long time in general is very likely to manually put the car in park before exiting the vehicle but clearly for people used to very new cars only, this may not be the case.

 

[Hirschaj]

Fascinating thread. I always use park.....to park the car. However, didn't realize that I shouldn't be using the on/off button too. Do most people JUST use park and not touch the on/off button?

I press "P" and then long press the power button after I arrive at my destination.

 

[j.w.s]

This would prevent the seats and steering wheel from retracting to make it easier to get out though, no?

That could be true, but I don't use that function, so I would not know.

 

[violuma]

I press "P" and then long press the power button after I arrive at my destination.

I tend to do this as well, especially when I am arriving somewhere quiet, because that kills the audio before I open the door.

 

[whitex]

My wife has a Q8 etron as well and none of the things you described we have ever encountered.

Different usecases. For example, my wife goes to garden centers a lot, picks up plants or supplies, heads back, wants to turn on the car to cool it, but to do that she has to get in to press the brake to start the car with AC, which is annoying (though still faster than using the app to start the car). Once car started, fob no longer works to open the trunk (and IIRC even the button doesn't work unless you remembered to unlock the rest of the doors, even if you have the fob on you).

Something is wrong with your wipers. We are still on our first set of wipers about a year later. Tension probably needs to be adjusted.

Went to the dealer, all they did is swapped the wipers for new ones, which lasted 2 days before skipping again. Where is the adjustment for this?

My wife who drives the Q8 runs into the opposite problem when she rarely drives my car because the Taycan starts itself so she turns it off because she is used to having to start her own car and you just do it without thinking.

If she just presses the button in the Taycan like she does in the Q8, it should not turn off, as you have to hold it to turn off the car.

The Audi starts/stops more like a traditional car which is where she came from so not an issue for her.

Yes, including engine on/off simulation, which maybe is akin to EVs which simulate a gear box by cutting power and add noise - some people like it I'm sure. My wife came from 2 Teslas, so even a presence of the ignition button on an EV is annoying (once you've experienced the ease of use, hard to go back).

The A/C issue hasn't been an issue for us. We are empty nesters (or as I borrowed from some one "Bird-launchers") so we rarely have passengers. However, we do have a dog. When you turn off the car, the main screen displays a "temperature button" , if you click on the "thermometer" icon it will start the A/C for 30 minutes whether your stay in or leave the car.

Yea, I showed my wife that, she still thinks it's sad that you have to do this. If we drive together to pick up food, I drive, she's in the passenger seat. I leave the car to go get food, the car shuts off on her while she's in the car. Even if I use the thermometer, the infotainment still shuts off. Even leaving the keys with passenger does not stop it (it does add some time to the timeout though).

I won't tell my wife you spoke ill of her Q8 or she may come find you.

Hopefully our wives won't meet. My wife still hates usability aspects of the Q8 eTron, even though she's had it for over a year now. It would have the potential to turn into a large argument.

 

[Jonathan S.]

[...] For example, my wife goes to garden centers a lot, picks up plants or supplies [...]

Maybe our wives can compare notes when we visit WA next summer.
As in, like, how do they consider this a fun activity?
My wife was never into this for the first two decades of our marriage, then the pandemic hit, and turned out she was a landscaper sleeping cell.
And does your wife also need reminders not to place bags of bark mulch and soil directly on the leather seats of expensive German cars?1

 

[Fish Fingers]

I tend to do this as well, especially when I am arriving somewhere quiet, because that kills the audio before I open the door.

I do it this way all the time, for that reason.

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