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Porsche TaycanModel year report

2020 Porsche Taycan Problems

Compared with other Porsche Taycan years

Typical for this model

52/100 1.0× a typical year · 50 = typical

Nearby years with a typical complaint level and no open NHTSA investigation: 2021, 2022

Based only on NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations. Not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold, and not a reliability rating. How this is calculated

Complaints
93filed with NHTSA
Median mileage
4,375miles, 10 complaints with mileage
Recalls
16campaigns on record
Trend
FallingComplaints filed in the last 3 full calendar years are at least 25% lower than in the 3 years before.
NHTSA crash rating
—no overall rating published
EPA fuel economy
69 MPGecombined, Electric AWD · 68 city / 71 hwy

Sources: NHTSA records for the 2020 Porsche Taycan (complaints, recalls, investigations), EPA fuel economy. Report an error

What owners report

Owners of the 2020 Taycan most often describe sudden warnings — 'Electrical System Error' or 'Motor/Engine Control Error' — followed by a loss of propulsion, sometimes with the car braking or shuddering on its own; many say the car restarts and runs normally afterward, and several report the dealer could not reproduce the fault. A smaller but consistent group describes driver-assistance systems (automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping) braking or cutting power without an obstacle. Most complaints in the sample were filed at low mileage, and several vehicles were towed or kept by the dealer for extended periods.

  1. Electrical system

    Sudden loss of power / 'Electrical System Error' while

    • 34 complaints (37%)
    • median 3,317 mi at 1.2 yrs old (6 state mileage, few)
    • filed 2020–2026

    Owners describe a red 'Electrical System Error' or 'Motor Control Error' message appearing without warning, followed by the car losing drive power and coasting or stopping. In many cases switching the car off and back on restores normal operation; in others the car has to be towed and the dealer is unable to reproduce or diagnose the fault. Some reports mention a gateway control unit, 12-volt battery or software updates as the dealer's response. Reported across the sample at low mileage, from a few hundred to about 10,000 miles, often on highways or at moderate speeds.

    Recall 21V486000Recall 24V731000Recall 24V732000Recall 24V2170001 related service bulletin

    What to check: Ask whether the vehicle has had the powertrain software updates and any high-voltage battery campaigns completed, and request the service history for repeated electrical warnings. Note that a recall on this model year describes a monitoring-software fault that can shut down the powertrain.

    2 excerpts from owner complaints in NHTSA records

    “I was trying to leave a parking spot. I put the car in drive mode & it didn't move. The vehicle showed the message: 'motor control error ' move vehicle to a safe place' and was encircled by a red light. I turned the car off and on several times thinking vehicle would reset itself. But vehicle would not move. The car would go in neutral mode, but not drive mode.”

    NHTSA complaint #11377875, filed 2020-12, 3,634 miles

    “The car showed an electrical error & lost power then shut down on the freeway. Once the car came to a complete stop I was unable to get out of the vehicle because it locked me inside. This is a safety hazard and had I not take the precautions to exit the freeway I may not have survived. This needs to be investigated as from what I've ready, this has been a common issue in this vehicle. It happened first on the ,'december 16th & then again december 25th. …”

    NHTSA complaint #11386164, filed 2021-01, 115 miles
  2. Engine

    Car brakes or shudders on its own before stopping

    Mentioned in 10 of 60 sampled complaints

    Complaints describe the car shaking or jerking violently and then braking hard on its own, coming to a stop in traffic, with an 'Engine Control Error' message appearing only afterward. Several owners say this happened at low speed in a turn or shortly after accelerating, and that restarting the car clears the message. Some dealers attributed it to software and applied updates without reproducing the fault. Mostly at low to moderate speeds (15-40 mph), often shortly after a turn or acceleration, at low mileage in the sample.

    Recall 21V486000

    What to check: Ask whether the engine control software update from the related recall was performed, and whether any service visit notes the same error message. A test drive with several low-speed turns and a stop-start cycle is worth doing.

    2 excerpts from owner complaints in NHTSA records

    “As I was coasting to a stop at a stoplight the car shuddered and lost all power from the engine. I was able to stop the car and a red warning on the dashboard said 'drive system control fault, park vehicle safely'. I've heard from a number of other Taycan owners and they have had the same problem while driving, in some cases on the freeway and had to stop in the left hand lane. I believe this fault is very dangerous and serious. …”

    NHTSA complaint #11415110, filed 2021-05, 6,000 miles

    “I was driving 30 mph in drive mode on westheimer rd when the car suddenly emergency braked and lost all power i went from 30 to 0 in about a second. Yes the car is available for inspection on request. The car had 180 miles of battery power. The car behind me slammed their brakes on and nearly slammed into the rear of the car. The red warning light came on Electrical System Error park vehicle in a safe place . There was absolutely no warning before this occurred. …”

    NHTSA complaint #11546706, filed 2023-09
  3. Electrical system

    High-voltage battery faults and charging problems

    • 26 complaints (28%)
    • median 3,800 mi at 1.2 yrs old (3 state mileage, few)
    • filed 2020–2026

    Some owners describe battery fault messages requiring immediate service, a failed high-voltage battery controller or booster, and cars that could not be put into gear. Others report the 12-volt battery draining and leaving the car immobile, with replacements on backorder. Complaints also mention charging-cable and home-charger issues, and recall work that could not be completed. Scattered through the sample from a few thousand miles up, with several complaints filed within the first months of ownership.

    Recall 24V732000Recall 24V731000Recall 24V215000Recall 24V217000Recall 23V8410004 related service bulletins

    What to check: Request the battery health report and confirmation that all high-voltage battery recalls have been completed, and ask about any 12-volt battery replacement history. Charging at home with the supplied cable is worth testing before purchase.

    2 excerpts from owner complaints in NHTSA records

    “It appears that the vehicle 12volt system battery has failed and I am unable to move the vehicle . I have tried to charge the 12volt battery but the car remains undrivable. I had the car towed to the dealership and they have said that the car needs a new 12Volt battery but it is on backorder and that they continue to work with the factory to resolve the issue.”

    NHTSA complaint #11472345, filed 2022-07

    “I was charging at a Tesla Supercharge using the OEM Porsche converter and my car experienced a catastrophic electrical fault. The charge completed but the charger was hard to pull out and then my car had battery fault errors and said it needed immediate service. I took it to the dealer and they pulled these error codes and said severage battery componets had failed including a failed high-voltage battery controller, which is mounted on top of the HV battery and the high-voltage booster (which distributes DC voltage). …”

    NHTSA complaint #11727349, filed 2026-03
  4. Forward collision avoidance

    Automatic emergency braking activates with no obstacle

    • 13 complaints (14%)
    • typically at 4.6 yrs old
    • 1 mention a crash, fire or injury
    • filed 2021–2026

    Owners report the forward collision system triggering when nothing is in front of the car, producing an alert, a red symbol and hard braking that can startle following traffic. A few describe the lane-keeping system cutting power or braking on straight roads. Others report the opposite — the system not stopping the car in stop-and-go traffic before a low-speed impact. Reported in varied conditions, including straight highway driving, low-speed traffic and icy roads; mileage not stated in most of these complaints.

    Recall 25V896000Recall 21V7940003 related service bulletins

    What to check: Ask whether the driver-assistance control unit has been reprogrammed under any campaign, and check that the front camera and sensors show no fault messages. Owners can confirm current settings for the collision and lane systems in the vehicle menu.

    2 excerpts from owner complaints in NHTSA records

    “It was stop and go traffic. I was distracted and the car failed to auto stop and I hit the car in front of me. The alert did come on after the collision. I would assume the automatic braking failed or the collision would not have occurred. It was a low speed impact so not a major safety risk but even a minor collision can have a significant injury in susceptible subjects? The problem has not been reproduced to my knowledge. The component has not been inspected. …”

    NHTSA complaint #11592619, filed 2024-06

    “Vehicle randomly thinks that I’m about to be in a collision when nothing is in front of me. This causes the vehicle to just stop and almost causes me to have an accident.”

    NHTSA complaint #11601648, filed 2024-07
  5. Brakes

    Brake pedal drops or brake assist engages unexpectedly

    • 15 complaints (16%)
    • median 17,200 mi at 5.2 yrs old (2 state mileage, few)
    • 2 mention a crash, fire or injury
    • filed 2021–2026

    Owners describe the brake pedal going soft or travelling to the floor while the car keeps rolling, sometimes following an automatic braking event at low speed. One complaint describes the vehicle moving on its own with the brake-hold assist engaged. Dealers are reported to have made repeated repair attempts without resolving the symptom. Reported at low speeds and at higher mileage in the sample, including one car around 19,000 miles.

    Recall 24V455000Recall 21V697000Recall 23V347000

    What to check: Ask whether the front brake hose recall and brake booster inspection have been completed, and have the brake pedal feel checked from a cold start and after a low-speed stop.

    2 excerpts from owner complaints in NHTSA records

    “My 2020 Taycan Turbo was purchased brand new by myself July 07/ 2020, and has had a tremendous amount of problems and issues. All are documented and have photos as proof. The car is available for whomever wishes to inspect it. One of the more recent issues was the car - without warning - while I was driving, not functioning and I wasn't able to turn the wheel, use the gas pedal, the brake or anything. Nothing in the car was operable. …”

    NHTSA complaint #11418793, filed 2021-05

    “Porsche Taycan has been plagued with recurrent electrical issues despite 2 factory recall messages and reported fixes. The car screen and gauges all blacked out while driving despite reportedly fixing this electrical problem. Further a serious brake issue occurred (pedal going all the way down making harsh sound) within 2 years. If that’s not enough the car had an “serious electrical system” error message with yellow battery “requires service” and been in the shop for 4months and they apparently cannot fix it. …”

    NHTSA complaint #11549218, filed 2023-10

Buying note. Have a pre-purchase inspection done by a shop familiar with the Taycan, and ask for written confirmation that the outstanding recalls and software campaigns for this model year have been performed. Service records showing how repeated electrical warning messages were handled are more informative than the mileage alone.

Summary written with AI from a sample of 60 NHTSA complaints for this model year (picked at random, with complaints that state a mileage and recent ones taken first), then checked automatically against the source records. Where a problem shows a complaint count, every complaint for this model year was matched with fixed keyword rules (written with AI and tested against the sample), and the mileage, age and repair figures are calculated from those complaints; owners' figures are as stated, not verified. Other counts refer to the sample. The excerpts come from NHTSA's public complaint records and are unverified; capitalisation is normalised, NHTSA staff notes are removed, and shortened text ends with “…”. Something wrong? Request a correction.

NHTSA recorded 93 consumer complaints for the 2020 Porsche Taycan. 10 of the complaints include a mileage, and 100% of those were filed for vehicles with under 50,000 miles; the median is 4,375 miles. Of all complaints, 2 involved a crash, 1 a fire, 1 an injury, according to the filers. NHTSA lists 16 recall campaigns and 1,071 technical service bulletins for this model year. Compared with the other 2 Porsche Taycan model years that have at least 25 complaints and are old enough to compare, this one scores 52 out of 100, where 50 is a typical year for the model (typical for this model). The comparison allows for the era and for how long each year has had to collect complaints, but not for how many vehicles were sold.

Which parts are reported most

Complaints can name more than one part, so the counts add up to more than the total. Select a part to see its complaints, recalls and bulletins.

Also reported: Tires (2), Equipment (1), Lane departure (1), Seats (1), Body and structure (1), Suspension (1), Visibility (wipers, defrost, mirrors) (1).

Example complaints

Electrical system: “While driving, car began to shake abruptly and stopped itself. Dash flashed motor control error in red and the system control error and was complete unresponsive and undriveable. Car was towed to Porsche and they have no answers after 3 days. This was very dangerous, as the car slammed on the breaks and stopped in the middle of the road. Had it been a highway, I could have been hit.”

NHTSA complaint #11377898, filed 2020-12, 3,000 miles

Engine: “On two different occasions the car had catastrophic failures due to the 12 v battery draining for no reason. And one occasion the car had a catastrophic failure due to the main battery system having a failure. All of this happened in the first four months of ownership. All times the vehicle with stationary.”

NHTSA complaint #11383427, filed 2020-12, 3,800 miles

Transmission and drivetrain: “While driving on the freeway at c. 55mph in moderate traffic, the car lost all motor power and stared to coast to a standstill. An error was on the display saying 'drive system control fault - park vehicle safely. I managed to get to a slip road off the freeway and the car juddered to a halt from around 15mph until complete stop. There was no response the throttle at any time. I powered off the car using the power button on the dashboard, then immediately switched it back on. Once back on, the car was operating normally. …”

NHTSA complaint #11414731, filed 2021-05, 4,950 miles

Brakes: “Was driving on freeway at 70mph and car suddenly lost power ....we were in furthest lane and had to attempt to get the car to safety on a busy LA freeway by crossing 4 lanes Extremely scary as had my children in the car... My family now refuse to get in the car for safety concerns Thankfully traffic wasn't at its peak as if it was i dread to think what would of happened”

NHTSA complaint #11418705, filed 2021-05

Mileage when problems were reported

100% of the 10 complaints with a mileage were filed for vehicles with under 50,000 miles; the middle half falls between 3,000 and 10,482 miles.

70%0–1030%10–250%25–500%50–750%75–1000%100–1500%150+
Share of complaints by mileage when the problem was reported, in thousands of miles (10 complaints with mileage). Red bars: under 50,000 miles. Bucket widths differ. Median: 4,375 miles.

Complaints by year filed

Trend: falling. Complaints filed in the last 3 full calendar years are at least 25% lower than in the 3 years before.

202020213320222023202420252026
Complaints by year the complaint was filed with NHTSA. Red bars: the last 3 full calendar years used for the trend. The current year (2026) is partial.

Fuel economy and running cost

EPA ratings for each 2020 Porsche Taycan version. Annual fuel cost is the EPA's estimate at its current fuel prices for 15,000 miles a year (55% city driving); for electric versions it is the cost of electricity and the rating is in MPGe.

VersionEngineTransmissionCityHwyComb.Fuel / yr
Taycan Turbo AWDElectric2-speed automatic687169 MPGe$1,100

Source: U.S. EPA and Department of Energy, fueleconomy.gov. Ratings are for comparing vehicles; real-world mileage varies with driving and conditions.

Recalls and investigations

See all 16 recalls for the 2020 Porsche Taycan → · Check a VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls

NHTSA investigations

Technical service bulletins

TSBs are manufacturer notes to dealers about known repair procedures. They are not recalls and do not by themselves mean a vehicle has a fault. 1,071 on record; the latest 10 are shown.

See all 1,071 bulletins →

Other model years of the Porsche Taycan

YearComplaintsMedian miRecallsCrash ★MPGScore (50 = typical)Trend
20249—6—81 MPGe—Too new
2023213,00011—81 MPGe—Too new
2022803,50012—76 MPGe50 · TypicalRising
2021711,08022—75 MPGe48 · TypicalStable
2020934,37516—69 MPGe52 · TypicalFalling

All Porsche Taycan model years · Best and worst years by complaints

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common problems with the 2020 Porsche Taycan?

Owners of the 2020 Taycan most often describe sudden warnings — 'Electrical System Error' or 'Motor/Engine Control Error' — followed by a loss of propulsion, sometimes with the car braking or shuddering on its own; many say the car restarts and runs normally afterward, and several report the dealer could not reproduce the fault. The issues reported most often: Sudden loss of power / 'Electrical System Error' while; Car brakes or shudders on its own before stopping; High-voltage battery faults and charging problems.

How many NHTSA complaints does the 2020 Porsche Taycan have?

NHTSA recorded 93 consumer complaints for the 2020 Porsche Taycan as of Oct 29, 2026. Complaints are unverified consumer reports and may be duplicated or inaccurate.

What part of the 2020 Porsche Taycan is reported most often?

Electrical system is named most often, in 53 complaints (57% of the total), followed by engine with 23.

Has the 2020 Porsche Taycan been recalled?

NHTSA lists 16 recall campaigns for this model year. To check a specific vehicle, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

How efficient is the 2020 Porsche Taycan according to the EPA?

The EPA rates the 2020 Porsche Taycan (Taycan Turbo, Electric) at 69 MPGe combined, 68 city and 71 highway, with an estimated annual electricity cost of $1,100 at 15,000 miles a year. Other battery and motor versions are rated differently.

At what mileage are problems with the 2020 Porsche Taycan reported?

Among the 10 complaints that include a mileage, the median is 4,375 miles and the middle half falls between 3,000 and 10,482 miles; 100% were filed for vehicles with under 50,000 miles.

About this data. Data from NHTSA (ODI) complaints, recalls, TSBs and investigations, updated Oct 29, 2026. Complaints are unverified consumer reports and may be duplicated or inaccurate. Fuel economy is from the EPA and DOE (fueleconomy.gov).

Complaint counts come from NHTSA’s public complaint database; we count each complaint once. The source records for this vehicle are on nhtsa.gov. Scores and trends are our own summaries of that data, described in the methodology. This page is not legal, safety or repair advice: for a specific vehicle, check its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls and ask a qualified mechanic. See an error? Tell us.