It is a rarified class of people who know what it’s like to roll up somewhere in a Porsche, but those very people, while fielding questions about how much their “Porsch” was, could also learn what it’s like for it to roll right on away—hence a new recall of nearly 100,000 cars.
Porsche’s new recall is for Cayennes and Panameras of all sorts of variants and model years, spanning from 2003 through 2016, that could randomly roll away. The recall includes 99,665 vehicles, according to documentsfiled with the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, with certain 2010 through 2016 Panameras and 2003 through 2010 Cayennes needing a fix.
Below is a more detailed list via the NHTSA, and recalls on specific car models and VINs can always be searched here:
Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (Porsche) is recalling certain 2003-2006 Cayenne S, Cayenne Turbo, 2004-2010 Cayenne, 2006 Cayenne Turbo S, 2010-2016 Panamera S, Panamera 4 S, Panamera Turbo, 2011-2016 Panamera, Panamera 4, 2012-2013 Panamera Turbo S, 2013-2016 Panamera 4 GTS, 2014-2016 Panamera 4 S Executive, Panamera Turbo Executive, Panamera Turbo S G1 II, Panamera Turbo S Executive, 2013 Panamera 4 Platinum Edition, Panamera Platinum Edition, 2016 Panamera 4 Edition, Panamera Edition, Panamera Turbo S Executive Luxury Sports vehicles.
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The potential for the cars to roll away is due to the bushings that are part of the connection between the gear shifter and the gearbox, which, the documents say, “may detach.” That can allow the gearbox to potentially be in a different gear position than the shifter inside of the car, meaning putting the car in “park” might not actually mean it’s in park.
If that happens and the parking brake isn’t on, the car could roll—perhaps only slightly, or perhaps enough to smack a nearby object. Evidence that this could be a problem, the recall documents say, is that a “customer may notice that the vehicle will move, even with the selector lever placed in Park position.”
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You don’t say.
Porsche said in the recall documents that it first noticed the problem when the company got reports of several incidents related to it, but that none “involved personal injuries or property damage.” That is, no reported injuries or wrecks.
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The scheduled recall notification date for owners and dealerships is Aug. 11, and until then, Porsche is giving owners the always-useful advice of remembering to use their parking brakes.
With the parking brake engaged, at least, the bystander conversation can stick to questions and comments like: “Did you buy that car new?” “How much was it?” “I didn’t know Porsche made SUVs!” and “What do you do for a living?” instead of, you know, other unfortunate ways it could go.