Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIR BAGS | |||
| 01/10/2010 | 51000 | ||
| There is a persistent problem with the air bag. records (from previous owner) show that there were repairs to the wiring harness and seat buckle at 39,786 miles, again at 44,056 miles, and once again at 45,157 miles. over the past two years (as the current owner), i have had the air bag light turned off twice by the dealer (at around 50,000 and 52,000 miles) but the light has reappeared after a period of operation. although this is safety related item, porsche says it is not obligated to make the repair since the car is out of warranty. their dealer also stated (last year) that if i paid for such a repair (about $1000) and the problem reoccurred over time, i would still have to pay for the repair a second time. porsche seems not to abide by the statement on the nhtsa website that if a safety-related defect exists in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment, the manufacture must provide a remedy at no cost to the owner. many other owners of this vehicle apparently have had the same problem with the air bag. somehow, porsche usa should be forced to comply with national regulations and/or policy. they are very unresponsive. | |||
| 04/16/2008 | 54000 | 1 | |
| Airbag light is illuminated after 54k miles. after reading porsche forum posts and contacting multiple dealers, i have learned this is a _very_ common issue. it may or may not result in faulty airbag deployment. *tr | |||
| 09/09/2006 | 1076 | 2 | 11/19/1998 |
| I own a 1999 carrera cabriolet. the air bag light on the dash displays continuously and the front driver' s side lap belt does not engage. this problem was noted shortly after purchase. the dealer identified the problems and the parts were never obtained and the warranty repair never completed. the seat belt would intermittently work but now it is completely inoperable. this is apparently a relatively common occurrence according to the dealer. i believe that porsche is not meeting federal safety requirements by its failure to provide safety equipment that is not defective and by its failure to repair such defects. the dealer estimate to get the seat belt and air bag functioning is $1200. my car presently has only 11,000 original miles. not only was this defect not corrected under warranty, but it is hard to imagine that an auto with such few miles has malfunctioning safety equipment. i believe that porsche is not living up to federal safety standards by selling autos with malfunctioning seat belts and airbags and does not provide corrective action. *nm | |||
| 12/20/2005 | 30500 | 1 | 09/15/2005 |
| Porsche has a fault with their 911 and boxster automobiles that causes an airbag fault light to illuminate on the instrument cluster. the cause of this is well known by porsche and has been addressed with a porsche tsb 911 (996) 1/04 6924 airbag warning light comes on: fault codes 45, 46, 48 and 49. this tsb outlines the problem and gives the procedure for correcting it. i believe this to be a safety issue that relates to the seat belt system and therefore should be covered by an extended warranty. the details of my situation are below. on or around 12/15/2005, my airbag warning light illuminated. on 12/20/2005, i took it to the dealer (midwest auto group, dublin, ohio) for troubleshooting and they informed me that error code 45 was present and that the repair would cost $800. i asked them to rest the light just to see if maybe the light came on by a fluke. they charged me $55.00 to reset the light and i left. the light came back on within 24 hours. i called porsche customer care to discuss this as i did not want to pay $800 for a known problem. they informed me that since my car was out of warranty they could do nothing. my car is a 1999 porsche 911 carrera with 30,500 miles at the time of the fault. this places my car out of warranty by time even though i am still within the mileage of the original warranty. i believe that porsche should take care of this known problem with a safety related system on a cart with this few miles. i have had my attorney contact porsche regarding this, but they refuse to accept any responsibility for the problem. i am left with no recourse but to file this complaint with you in hope of a resolution. the information on my car and contact for porsche cars north america is below. thanks and please let me know how this is coming. *jb | |||
| 09/17/2004 | 31905 | 2 | 09/17/2004 |
| Air bag light stays on. my '1999 911 carrera just had it's 30000 major service completed at stevinson porsche in denver, co. the next day the airbag light came on and stays on. i made an appointment and was informed that the cost of repair would be $250 and up. i have since read thru numerous forums that this is a reported/common issue involving the seat belt wiring system and that porsche is aware of it, has a repair kit available, but that it is not their responsibility to provide the correction to this saftey issue. has there been a recall issued for this problem?*ak | |||
| 05/10/2004 | 46500 | 50 | 11/05/2003 |
| I believe porsche is violating federal safety requirements and refuses to take corrective action. i have owned a 1999 porsche 996 c2 automobile, vin wp0aa2994xs624347 since last november, 2003. the car has approximately 46,000 miles and is no longer under warranty. the airbag warning light displays on the dashboard and continues to display. it indicates that the airbag is not functional. i have spoken to porsche service managers, advisors and mechanics, all of whom said the problem was most likely seat belt contacts and associated electrical contacts and wiring. they said porsche has a kit to fix the problem. prestige porsche in denver, colorado, a factory dealership, diagnosed my car. the dealership determined i need the kit installed to solve the airbag problem. the cost is approximately $500. porsche cars north america (pcna) has been well aware of the airbag problem. every service advisor and mechanic immediately knew of the airbag problem and of the kit to fix it. pcna has been sufficiently aware that they have created a kit for the fix. pcna has not issued service advisories, technical advisories or, a recall for this issue. no notice of the problem was give to car owners. pcna refuses to pay for the repair or corrective fix for my car. this is not a warranty issue; it is a federally mandated safety equipment issue which requires pcna to recall all such cars and correct the airbag failure. please help me. if i am wrong about pcnas responsibility, please so inform me. if i am correct, please give me citations for the federal statutes, rules, regulations and cases which support my position. to date my car is still not repaired. i must address this issue soon and do appreciate your prompt reply and assistance.*ak | |||