2021 Porsche Taycan engine problems

Filed Mar 20, 2026 · Electrical, Engine · WA

There are currently hundreds (if not thousands) of cars, operating on roads of USA, that at any particular time stop in the middle of the road. The power is cut off and Engine Control Error is displayed on the monitor. This issue has been described many times on Reddit, under Taycan-Engine Control Error threads. The affects 2020-21 Porsche Taycans. As an owner of '21 Taycan, I have run into this issue 8 times in the past 4 months. I have been lucky so far not to cause any incidents. I've brought in my car 3 times to Porsche dealership. The first time, a fix was made, but it did not do anything. The second time I brought it in, I was told that there is a transmission issue, but since the dealership can't replicate this issue, they can't fix it. After the second attempt, I contacted Porsche headquarters, looking for resolution. The customer service requested for me to bring the car back to dealership for additional analysis. After I brought the car to dealership, I waited for over a month and then received an email from Corporate Customer Service- there is nothing wrong with my car. So, I'm still driving a car, that can and will stop at any moment. I warned Porsche corporate that if the next time my car stops for no apparent reason and this leads to an injury or worse, someone at Porsche will be charged with manslaughter. Even though Porsche Corporate knows that these cars are a problem, the company refuses to address this issue and blatantly lies to clients, hoping that no one wants to take on a big corporation. How long will it be, until there is a serious injury or worse happens due to these sudden stops? I have all the communication between myself,orsche corporate and Porsche North Seattle showing the exact dates, when these issues happened, the attempt to fix them, the text message from dealership telling me that there is a transmission issue and lastly the email from Corporate, stating that there are no issues with this car. Please take a look. Thank you.

Filed Dec 5, 2025 · Engine · GA

I was stopped at an intersection waiting for traffic. There was a small opening in traffic, and I accelerated rapidly from a stop while making a left turn to enter traffic when the "engine/motor" suddenly completely died, and the car quickly came to a stop. The dash displayed a message: "Engine Control Error. Park vehicle in a safe place." Had there been a semi-truck that could not stop behind me, there would have been a collision. I turned the car off and then back on, and was able to drive the car. I had it serviced at Hennessy Porsche in Atlanta. They "reprogrammed" the car. I showed them some reports from the Taycan Forum of other incidents where this problem occurred, including one from a mechanic in the UK, which is attached. https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/explained-wna5-drive-system-control-fault.25777/ This report states that once the problem occurs, it cannot be fixed with reprogramming. I have no idea whether he is right, but the post he made includes significant details about the problem. If what happened to me happens again to me or anyone else with this model car, an accident is bound to happen and likely be bad.

Filed Oct 31, 2025 · Engine · WA

About a month ago while driving at low speed (about 25mph), the car started to shake and the following error was displayed - Engine Control Error - Park Vehicle in a Safe Place. I pulled over, shut the car down, waited 30 seconds and restarted it. The same incident happened a week later. Because again I was driving at low speed, I was able to pull over and shut down/restart the car. This incident scared me, because the car was shutting down while driving. If I was driving at high speed, I could be in serious trouble. I contacted Porsche dealership, setup an appointment and brought the car in. I was told that this issue was caused by cooling fans failure and the issue was addressed. I picked up the car a week ago. Since then, I had the same issue happened twice, including tonight. I started looking online for similar issues and found out on Reddit that this is a common issue in 2021 Taycan. It also looks like Porsche doesn't have a fix for this dangerous issue. The car just shuts down in mid drive. So far I've been lucky enough to drive slow on two lane roads, so I was able to pull over. What will happen if car shuts down on the highway, while driving 60mph? Since this looks to be a common occurrence, I believe Porsche should be notified and take ownership of this issue.

Filed Apr 30, 2025 · Brakes, Electrical · CA

On April 23, 2024, while decelerating gently at a traffic light, I heard a loud “thump” sound from the rear of my 2021 Porsche Taycan. Immediately, the vehicle lost access to the Reverse (R) and Park (P) gears. I was able to slowly coast into a nearby parking lot, but then all gear positions (Drive, Reverse, Neutral, Park) became completely unresponsive. The vehicle was immobilized and had to be towed. At the time of failure, the vehicle had just under 45,000 miles and had received routine maintenance and a recall inspection at a Porsche Center in March 2024. The factory warranty expired only one day earlier, on April 22. Porsche is refusing to cover repairs or provide a loaner vehicle, even though the failure clearly occurred at extremely low mileage and immediately after warranty expiration. The failure pattern matches the symptoms described in TSB #2209 (the federal safety agency ID: 10210797) for the 2022 Taycan, which identifies a known defect where the vehicle unexpectedly shifts from D or R into N or P without driver input. While my vehicle is a 2021 model, the behavior is nearly identical — sudden loss of drivability, unexpected gear disengagement, and major safety risk in traffic. This incident could have resulted in a serious accident had it happened in moving traffic. I am submitting this complaint in hopes that the federal safety agency will investigate whether this known transmission defect also affects 2021 Taycan models, and to ensure Porsche takes responsibility for latent safety defects, regardless of narrowly expired warranty status.

Filed Feb 3, 2025 · Electrical, Engine · CA

I received a recall notice that my vehicle was affected for a battery cell that needed to be replaced and scheduled a date with Porsche and when I finally took the car in they said it’s not a active recall which seemed odd

Filed Dec 1, 2024 · Acceleration, Electrical · FL

I bought this car a few weeks ago and drove only 300 miles so far. I was pulling out of my neighborhood onto the Main Street, when I turned then started to accelerate I received an error saying engine control error and my car came to a screeching halt. The accelerator stopped working and the car made some loud grinding noises and no functions were working.luckily nobody was behind me. I turned off the vehicle and when I powered it back on everything is working as normal. This vehicle was just serviced at Porsche a few days ago before the event

Filed Nov 10, 2024 · Electrical, Engine · PR

Sudden power electrical failure while driving on a city avenue. The car suddenly had no power, the engine goes off, the sterring become very stiff and there was a message saying electrical system error

Filed Jul 4, 2024 · Electrical, Engine · FL

When accelerating the has a sudden loss of power. I get a message to pull off the.road. After turning offf the engine and restarting car begins to function properly again.

Filed Sep 17, 2023 · Engine · NJ

when push the pedal little hard from slow driving, i get the warning: " Engine control error, park vehicle in a safe place" and the car goes dead and lose power. it happened few days ago on the highway, the car stopped responding and i got that warning, luckily there was a shoulder on the highway to park the car, otherwise it would be very dangerous, i turned the car off, waited about 2 minutes then turned it on, all worked, i could drive it carefully back home, called the porsche dealer about the issue and got an appointment to see what is going on with this problem.

Filed Mar 28, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · MI

Car died after being on the charger for 8 weeks. Main battery is at 83% but apparently there is a 12v small battery that failed. Car is inoperable. Doors will not open, windows stuck partially down, car will not go into gear, can't be moved.