Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (Porsche) is recalling certain model year 2014 Boxster, Boxster S, Cayman, Cayman S and 911 Carrera (S, Cabriolet, S Cabriolet, 4, 4S, 4 Cabriolet, 4s Cabriolet) vehicles manufactured September 2, 2013, through September 23...
Electrical system
Porsche Boxster Electrical problems by year
29 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Porsche Boxster's electrical system. Dead batteries, warning lights, wiring, alternators, infotainment and electronic module failures.
Electrical complaints by model year
Electrical recalls
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The ignition switch can crack and cause electrical failures.
Covers1997 Porsche Boxster
Latest Boxster electrical complaints
Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) failure due to premature degradation of plastic wiring harness connectors for ABS wheel speed sensors located in each wheel well. ABS warning light illuminated alerting to the disabling of the system. Issue confirmed by independent repair facility. Dealer was engaged, but denied coverage due to vehicle being out of warranty and no recalls initiated.
There are thousands of complaints/postings appearing on the Internet, including fixes, (many of which may be equally dangerous) whereby the vehicle's central locking mechanism fails, making it impossible for passengers to egress through either door or window. The locking mechanism on the driver's side door has a cheap part that is known to commonly fail. When it does, neither the driver nor passenger door may be opened from either inside or outside of the vehicle. The central locking system is tied in with the...
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door lock, and the windows may sometimes also fail when the lock mechanism fails. We had to remove a fuse from her car to reset the windows so we could extricate her. The Internet is replete with unofficial fixes for this problem, frequently using home-made parts, and Porsche representatives commonly acknowledge the issue and charge a great deal to repair using the same flawed parts. In the event of a crash, both driver & passenger may be trapped with no possible means of egress, without disassembling the driver's side door, which would be impossible in an emergency. I am shocked and outraged that this condition has been allowed to go unaddressed for years, despite being so commonly known that there are literally hundreds of Internet posts and videos telling owners how to temporarily fix their cars using either Porsche parts, or in many cases, home-made parts which would also be seriously dangerous. It is unbelievable that NHTSA has never acted on this issue to compel Porsche to make so many thousands of vehicles safe. Merely googling "Porsche Boxster Lock Problem" will produce literally hundreds of videos demonstrating the problem and several home-made fixes. The American driving public deserves better than this from NHTSA and Porsche. Please do something about this while I look for a replacement car for my 16 year old daughter, whom I pray will not ever be in an accident in this car and become trapped, causing her death!!!
1.Earlier date fixed wireharness/drained parts at local bmw repairman garage resolved 2. Later in city,turning in motion car suddenly stall/powerloss of brakes,clutchsticky,hear timing odd,steering difficult had towed to porsche dealer . Garage).Porsche diagnosed w multipoint inspection ,porsche only did work covered by 3rd party extended warrantee for a oil water separator and water radiator replaced and told me engine has issues,5 mos later still at porsche,caution to drive,towed out, porschemanuf /cr/sc codes...
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to repair until then released car w operative/safety issues dealing with airwater blow out on engine seals, and loss of power for safe driving and stopping and parking.Porsche must pay for these issues reported for recall required more than just warn me.Hand brake sudden nonholding so drift possible in parking,brakes/clutch unsafe per tow trucker , electrical /truckswitch/roof /door switch unable to exit /enter vehicle safely.Each time porsche inspects and I repeat there is forget/hearing issues noted, and didnt do the manufacturer coded safety measures and says didnt include the driver warnings /concerns of safety to check on paperwork to track conversations just what mechanic diagnosis despite safety codes. Attach brakes code/electrical code/powertrain code/engine recallcode (safercar.Gov) trapping driver/passenger for crash & injuries after inspections/verbal concerns unresolved and risk of safety.New battery placed in months prior.Housing and lubrication systems at joints concern at seals from blow out of airwater separator creating an emergency on vehicle,is porsche waiting till a new engine while codesafety issues.Porsche noted fan belt,power train code issues,required for safety. Apparently the water radiator/water pump blew hot steam thru entire engine parts loosening their effectiveness to be safe driving without concern of accident /death.
False air bag malfunction warning light caused initial distraction followed by false steering wheel air bag deployment.. Trying to steer the car during this event and deal with traffic, vehicle entered intersection and was hit (t boned) on the passenger side by another vehicle.. Airbags on the passenger side then deployed.. No airbags on the drivers side deployed - only the steering wheel air bag prior to impact.
I awoke one saturday morning after it had been raining all night to find my spoiler up (which is only supposed to go up at 75 mph), my car windows down and my rear lights on. When I attempted to move the vehicle and shut the windows, nothing worked. The car ran okay, as far as I could tell, but the alarm started to go off while driving and I ended up having to disable the battery just to stop all of the malfunctions that were happening. There were multiple fault codes on in the on board computer, the convertible...
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top would not go down and many of the internal buttons/switches did not work. After this happened I attempted to do some research to find out what happened to cause this. I was amazed at how many cases of this exact same situation there were flooding the internet. Apparently the vehicle is designed so that if certain drains are clogged, water leaks into the car onto the back carpets under the seats and conveniently under those carpets are the electronic control modules/computers. I had only owned the car for 6 months at the time and I was told that all required service was completed prior to purchasing it. This ended up costing almost $6,000.00 To fix. I understand that most people who own these vehicles presumably have the money to fix them, but this is clearly a design flaw and a money grab. An unsuspecting owner, who doesn't know that these drains need to be cleaned or even exist for that matter, ends up with a massive repair bill. This problem has been going on for years and there are hundreds if not thousands worldwide who have had this issue. In fact all of the porsche people I spoke with said this was an extremely common problem. I had no choice but to claim under my insurance, so now I am stuck with a car that isn't worth as much because of this "loss" and I have no recourse against the careless makers and designers of this vehicle. *Tr
My vehicle had only approximately 65,000 miles when the horn started to malfunction. The horn started to routinely deploy on its own. In the short term I had to have it disconnected by my regular mechanic so I could continue to operate the car. I called barrier porsche in bellevue washington where they seemed to be already aware of this issue. I learned the parts (clock spring and something else) cost close to $600 and I assume at least a couple of hours of shop time. With sales tax I'm sure it would cost $1,000 to repair this important safety equipment that should never fail .Please help! This should clearly be a recall item. *Tr
Misfires during warm up, after warm up the engine runs smooth with high rpm of 1200 to 1300. I have to tap the accelerator pad to lower the rpm,after couple of seconds the rpm goes back up. When it reaches 190 degrees rpm goes higher to almost 1500, temperature goes to 210 degrees fan turns on from the radiator on the driver side but not on the passenger side, fan on the engine compartment sometimes turns on and sometimes not . Then the engine stops running at 210 degrees, start up but won't run. You have to wait for the temperature to drop down to 160 degrees, sometimes all the way down. Start it up then the engine runs. *Tr
Tl* the contact owns a 1997 porsche boxster. The contact stated the ignition switch was cracked and causing electrical failures to the air conditioner, wipers and head lights. The contact notices a recall under nhtsa campaign id number: 98v113000 (electrical system:ignition:switch) but was advised that the vin was not included in the recall. The contact stated that the manufacturer should extend the recall since the failure was a known safety defect. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 103,000.
My 2011 porsche cayenne has an "auto stop" feature that kills the engine whenever the car is stopped at a stop light or stop sign. When the driver's foot is removed from the brake, the car engine restarts. The stop-start delay is potentially dangerous. I was almost rear-ended by a car that was behind me because the driver was anxious to "move" and my cayenne's engine had to restart before it would move from the stop light. This special feature can be turned off, but you must turn it off every time you start the car. Otherwise, the auto stop feature will continue to operate. I consider the auto stop feature to be problematic. *Tr
See odi case number: 10318487, computer failure due to water leakage into cab. This happened to me twice in fall, 2008. The first time, the dealer replaced the computer (at my cost) and one month later, it happened again. Again, the computer was replaced and the carpets needed removal and cleaning due to fungus, all at my cost. *Tr
We own a 2002 porsche boxster with approximately 66,000 miles. We purchased the vehicle, used, in late 2003. On three separate occasions we have experienced total loss of use of the vehicle due to water leaking into the interior compartment and flooding the control unit, rendering the car totally inoperable. The incidents have taken place in october, 2004 at 33,000 miles, april, 2008 at 61,000 miles, and currently in february, 2010. The repair has initialed replacing the control unit and having to pull out...
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the carpet so as to inhibit mold growth. The first incident was repaired under the vehicle's warranty, the second time was repaired at our expense of approx. $1,600. The estimate for this current repair is $1,500. We believe this poses a severe safety risk because the first incident took place while the car was in use. We were driving up a hill. Suddenly the vehicle became inoperable and we had to maneuver the car using the handbrake, to reverse down the hill. The car had to be towed to the dealer. We have investigated the problem on the internet and found that this is a common problem with certain porsche's vehicles. There is a defect in the vehicle and/or the restrictive filters that cause them to become clogged with debris and cause the water leakage. In addition to this problem recurring domestically, we note that the nhtsa, was informed via frcl-09f028-2453 dated april 5, 2009 of a similar problem in non-u.S. Markets. We would appreciate your investigating this defect. *Tr
This is the second time, after a rain storm, our 2005 porshe boxster would not start. Dealer says it is water in the electrical harness. Is this a design flaw? *Tr
I recently purchased the 1998 porsche boxster, automatic transmission, and have discovered a latent defect which pcna designates a305, and ntsb has additional recalls relating to the same defective part on the same model and year involving the ignition switch and attached ignition assembly. The latent hazard is in the ignition switch which is damaged within the ignition assembly resulting in electrical failures and resultant fires. I have determined through pcna and porsche that the electrical assembly was...
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redesigned due to inherent (design) defect to correct the failure of the ignition switch but the newly designed replacement part (redesigned electrical assembly was not replaced in my car or other numerous cars. Several boxster owners have paid for the new part and labor totaling in excess of $400.00 But pcna (porsche) has done nothing to fix the existing defective switch's and assembly. This is a part that repeatedly fails and remains a serious latent defect undressed by porsche. On my car the only thing corrected was under campaign no a305; that was done in 2003 according to pcna. The repair they did does not address the defective ignition switch and switch assembly. A 305 involves the same assembly but involved tightening a cable so the car does not run while in park and the ignition switch fails to interface with the immobilizer system. Please indicate if additional information is needed regarding my car and the problem I have experienced. *Jb
Airbag warning lamp staying on due to a poorly designed sensor system that relies on seat belt buckle and grounding system electrical resistances being incredibly stable over time. This is a design flaw that has been addressed by redesigned seat belt receptacles and replacing wires. If you don't fix this problem, you will never know if you have a real problem with the airbag system, which is obviously a safety issue. If you want to clear this lamp indication, you must shell out $500 to $1500 to do so. How does...
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porsche have the nerve to charge customers for an obvious design flaw on their part which leads to an airbag warning lamp being illuminated, which is a safety issue if not corrected. My incident is far from an isolated one. I've checked out other complaints via the internet. *Jb
Dt*: the contact stated while attempting to turn the key, the ignition switch would not turn or would turn too far causing the instrument panel to be inoperable. There was a nhtsa recall, # 98v113000, regarding the ignition switch. The vehicle was not included in the recall due to the vin. Updated 12/01/06 *jb
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data