Porsche preliminary evaluation PE21013
Loss of Motive Power. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the electrical system on 2 model years (2020–2021). Opened May 17, 2021, closed Dec 23, 2021 after 7 months. It led to safety recall 21V486000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedIn May 2021, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE) of complaints received alleging a loss of motive power while in motion at any speed with no prior warning to the driver in the 2020-2021 model year (MY) Porsche Taycan electric vehicles. ODI had received 9 Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) and several field reports. All complaints alleged that a loss of motive power occurred without warning and error messages about a battery fault displayed during or after the vehicle stalled. In the subject vehicles, a pulse-controlled inverter is mounted on each of the two drive modules on the front and rear axles. The software designed to continuously monitor end-to-end communication between the safety-related electronic control units (ECUs) in the vehicle can, in certain instances, incorrectly and sporadically detect a potentially faulty communication, set an error memory entry, and trigger a shutdown of the power train, resulting in loss of motive power. If this occurs, the affected vehicles display the warning message ?Motor control error. Stop vehicle in a safe place in the instrument cluster. Porsche has corrected the software malfunction in production. Further, Porsche is conducting a safety recall (21V-486) to upgrade the software on vehicles already in the field. In view of the recall action, this Preliminary Evaluation is closed. The agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by new circumstances. The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at nhtsa.gov under the following identification numbers: 11435775, 11433960, 11431568, 11429897, 11427688, 11426921, 11426902, 11424618, 11424613, 11424296, 11424175, 11424015, 11423458, 11423311, 11422549, 11422463, 11421593, 11421575, 11421494, 11421347, 11420845, 11420788, 11420734, 11420572, 11419756, 11419735, 11419730, 11419721, 11419422, 11418975, 11418935, 11418793, 11418705, 11418692, 11418593, 11418476, 11418405, 11418381, 11418245, 11418237, 11418153, 11418142, 11418132, 11418106, 11415110, 11414731, 11414486, 11404336, 11386164, 11383427, 11377898, 11377875, 11364083
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.
The paperwork NHTSA filed
Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov- Opening resume — ODI’s own summary of why it opened this — the subject, what prompted it, and the vehicles in scope.
- Closing resume — ODI’s own summary of why it closed this, and what it concluded.
| Document | Code | Filed | At NHTSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening resume | INOA | 2021 | 2 files 12 |
| Closing resume | INCLA | 2021 | |
| Information request to the manufacturer | INIM | 2021 | 2 files 12 |
| Manufacturer's response — data | INRD | 2021 | 15 files 123456789101112131415 |
| Memo granting a response extension | INRE | 2021 | |
| Correspondence | INOT | 2021 | 2 files 12 |
| Confidential business information notice | INCBC | 2021 | 2 files 12 |
| Filed document | INPR | 2021 | |
| Correspondence | INLO | 2021 | |
| Filed document | INPS | 2021 | 3 files 123 |
These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.
What owners had already reported
Source: complaints on file the day it openedWhen NHTSA opened this on May 17, 2021, owners had filed 17 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 7 named the electrical system NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.
This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themA vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs PE21013 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 21V486000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is PE21013 still open?
No. It closed on Dec 23, 2021 and led to recall 21V486000.
Which vehicles does PE21013 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 2 model years: 2021 Porsche Taycan, 2020 Porsche Taycan. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.