Porsche vehicle tracker issues.

[Sidicks]

I’ve had a few tracker issues recently, so wanted to see if anyone had experienced similar issues:

1) I left the house without the tracker fob and received a text message indicating a suspected theft. When I previously had Porsche VTS on a 911, I would have received a follow-up phone call, when I could either confirm the theft or apologise and confirm that I’d screwed up and forgotten the tracker card. However, all I received was an immediate follow-up text message indicating that they had been unable to get hold of me and so they’d stood down the alert - WTF?!

I stopped and called the number to explain the situation, but they said they couldn’t connect to the car (I was in a multi-storey car park). Immediately afterwards I was unable to start the car but Vodafone indicated there was nothing they could do and that I should call Porsche assist.
As I was due to meet friends, I arranged to meet Porsche assist and the car a few hours later and when I arrived back, the car operated as normal and I was able to drive home. There were no immediate issues the next day.

2) Today I was driving home when I received the ‘no driver’s card message’ on the dashboard, but the driver’s card was with me and in the centre console. I received the text message (as above) and then the follow-up message as before. I got home without any incident and thought no more about it, stopped the car then went for a further drive to a better reception area to contact Vodafone tracker again. They said that there were no diagnostics that they could do and I would need to speak to my dealer. They did make a change on the system so that I would receive a phone call rather than a text message alert - they indicated that this was a process set up by Porsche given ongoing issues.

3) Over an hour or so later, I received a call from Porsche Tracker (rather than a text message) indicating a potential theft alert on my vehicle - it had been in the car for the last hour or so and so there was no reason for the call. The person on the call said that there was no reason given for the alert so said they would stand it down.
An hour or so later I noticed that my phone app was still showing ‘Theft alert’ so I went to check the car, took it out of the garage briefly and drove it back in, then called Porsche tracker again, who said they would re-send the stand down alert (they suggested that if there was poor GPS coverage then this might explain why the stand down for the alert had not been completed). A few moments later the Porsche app updated (even though the car was still in the garage so any GPS issue would be unchanged).

The dealer I bought the car from is over an hour away, but I do have a dealer 10mins away, so I’m thinking I will call them on Monday to see if they will be able to take the car in and run diagnostics on the tracking system.

Anyone had any remotely similar issues?

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[SteveGTS]

I’ve had a few tracker issues recently, so wanted to see if anyone had experienced similar issues:

1) I left the house without the tracker fob and received a text message indicating a suspected theft. When I previously had Porsche VTS on a 911, I would have received a follow-up phone call, when I could either confirm the theft or apologise and confirm that I’d screwed up and forgotten the tracker card. However, all I received was an immediate follow-up text message indicating that they had been unable to get hold of me and so they’d stood down the alert - WTF?!

I stopped and called the number to explain the situation, but they said they couldn’t connect to the car (I was in a multi-storey car park). Immediately afterwards I was unable to start the car but Vodafone indicated there was nothing they could do and that I should call Porsche assist.
As I was due to meet friends, I arranged to meet Porsche assist and the car a few hours later and when I arrived back, the car operated as normal and I was able to drive home. There were no immediate issues the next day.

2) Today I was driving home when I received the ‘no driver’s card message’ on the dashboard, but the driver’s card was with me and in the centre console. I received the text message (as above) and then the follow-up message as before. I got home without any incident and thought no more about it, stopped the car then went for a further drive to a better reception area to contact Vodafone tracker again. They said that there were no diagnostics that they could do and I would need to speak to my dealer. They did make a change on the system so that I would receive a phone call rather than a text message alert - they indicated that this was a process set up by Porsche given ongoing issues.

3) Over an hour or so later, I received a call from Porsche Tracker (rather than a text message) indicating a potential theft alert on my vehicle - it had been in the car for the last hour or so and so there was no reason for the call. The person on the call said that there was no reason given for the alert so said they would stand it down.
An hour or so later I noticed that my phone app was still showing ‘Theft alert’ so I went to check the car, took it out of the garage briefly and drove it back in, then called Porsche tracker again, who said they would re-send the stand down alert (they suggested that if there was poor GPS coverage then this might explain why the stand down for the alert had not been completed). A few moments later the Porsche app updated (even though the car was still in the garage so any GPS issue would be unchanged).

The dealer I bought the car from is over an hour away, but I do have a dealer 10mins away, so I’m thinking I will call them on Monday to see if they will be able to take the car in and run diagnostics on the tracking system.

Anyone had any remotely similar issues?

I have had a few trips where the no card message popped up, the last time I had to call them to reset the status which showed up in the app in seconds. Not had the car refuse to start though.

 

[D1MPE]

I think there is probably a pairing issue. Needs de-activation and re-pairing can take a couple of hours to a full 24 hrs if needs a full re-boot..

 

[Sidicks]

I think there is probably a pairing issue. Needs de-activation and re-pairing can take a couple of hours to a full 24 hrs if needs a full re-boot..

Thanks

 

[Sidicks]

This time I got an alert on the Porsche app - Theft detected.

Called up Porsche Tracker and they said they would deactivate the alert - nothing on their system to indicate the reason for it. But they mentioned ‘GPS drift’ in a poor reception area?? Seems strange that it’s been fine for 6+ weeks and then today it’s gone mad?!

An hour later the app is still showing ‘Theft alert’, so I back the car out the garage, in case that was blocking any signals, and call up again. I’m assured it’s been stood down and nothing is showing on their system. Lock the car back up in the garage, but app still shows ‘Theft detected’, with limited access to car systems.

Hopefully the local dealer can re-pair the fobs or whatever is needed to sort this out.

Any ideas what this ‘GPS drift is all about’?

 

[W1NGE]

This time I got an alert on the Porsche app - Theft detected.

Called up Porsche Tracker and they said they would deactivate the alert - nothing on their system to indicate the reason for it. But they mentioned ‘GPS drift’ in a poor reception area?? Seems strange that it’s been fine for 6+ weeks and then today it’s gone mad?!

An hour later the app is still showing ‘Theft alert’, so I back the car out the garage, in case that was blocking any signals, and call up again. I’m assured it’s been stood down and nothing is showing on their system. Lock the car back up in the garage, but app still shows ‘Theft detected’, with limited access to car systems.

Hopefully the local dealer can re-pair the fobs or whatever is needed to sort this out.

Any ideas what this ‘GPS drift is all about’?

Not sure that repairing will address the issue but worth a shot.

Sounds like a PCM issue (PVTS is integrated unlike all other older Porsche modles which had / have the Vodafone tracker box separate OR change the driver card battery.

GPS drift is simply a mismatch between where your car thinks you are and where you actually are.

I quite like the text message control and override.

At the end of the day I think the tracker tech is fast becoming redundant on cars like the Taycan given it is a 'connected' car and so can be located regardless. Feels like a potential rip off. I had heard that Porsche were potentially dropping it.

 

[WuffvonTrips]

Any ideas what this ‘GPS drift is all about’?

GPS drift is caused by interference to the GPS signals, which causes inaccuracy or even loss of ability of receivers to determine position (which can, depending on how that data is used, make a receiving system incorrectly think that it's moving). Most obvious in areas where the signals are deflected or obstructed by natural landscape, buildings etc. But the most likely cause of loss of accuracy in locations that otherwise don't suffer issues is natural disturbance in the ionosphere-
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/space-weather-and-gps-systems
EDIT- though I've had no issues with my car.

 

[Sidicks]

16 hours later and my app still shows as Theft alert, reduced services etc.

Porsche Tracker assure me that everything has been reset at their end and nothing else can be done.
?

 

[W1NGE]

16 hours later and my app still shows as Theft alert, reduced services etc.

Porsche Tracker assure me that everything has been reset at their end and nothing else can be done.
?

Ive waited 24 hrs before now. It's a PCM thing as Vodafone have no hardware in the car.

 

[Englishtony2002]

I have one occurrence where the tracker was not detected by the car and I received the text message, I had to call tracking centre to confirm I was in the car.

 

[W1NGE]

I have one occurrence where the tracker was not detected by the car and I received the text message, I had to call tracking centre to confirm I was in the car.

I had a false alert today. Used the automated text service to cancel.

 

[Sidicks]

I was working in London yesterday so didn’t have the opportunity to do anything about the issue, but this morning I spoke with my local dealer who indicated that if I could bring the car to them they would take a look.
They ended up deliberately instigating a new theft alert which I then asked Vodafone Tracker to stand down, and lo and behold the app reset itself back to normal.
While I was there they also added new batteries to the key fobs and driver’s cards and re-paired everything to the car. Hopefully there won’t be any problems when we head to France tomorrow!

Many thanks to Andy at Porsche Mid-Sussex for sorting this out for me!

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