custerdog

I've got about 4700 miles on my 2017 4S and was driving on Saturday at about 65 mph on the highway -- when all of a sudden the steering just locked. As I was veering into the lane (and cars) adjacent to my lane and about to crash into them, I managed to move the wheel a smidge to keep it straight. I slowed down and managed to get off the highway -- the wheel was very, very difficult to move. Five minutes later -- the steering came back to normal as I was driving very slowly away from the area.

Brought the car back to Porsche immediately and was told by the service manager that he had never heard of this happening with the new Panamera. Considering I nearly crashed with two kids in the car, he wasn't quite as concerned I would have expected. Truly a minor miracle I didn't crash the car.

How the hell do I get back into this car?

NorthernMonkey

not good! i hope they are running diagnostics on the car??

Glad you are all safe.

Out of interest do you have any of the "Assistance" systems on the car and were they active? things like "lane change assist", "active cruise" etc etc?

justabout

From your description, it sounds like you could overpower it to some degree but not everyone could do that. If it's the nannies malfunctioning this is bad news.
I read about this happening on a BMW during a magazine test drive. Without intervention there would be a crash.
They need a dash button to record data after this incident for review. Tesla has such a system I believe.

Drivingoncords

Sounds like the electric power steering went out, which makes the wheel extremely hard but not impossible to move.

justabout

Get yourself a dash camera and mount it so the driver actions can be recorded if this happens again assuming you have the guts to drive it again. Since there are no fault codes they will not admit to a problem. A letter to the home office is in order as well.

justabout

I lost the hydraulic steering assist on a pickup truck. Impossible to steer at low speeds but highway speeds were not a problem. How fast were you traveling?

gtr

Another reason to go back to hydraulic steering. This is crazy and they better do some investigating.

custerdog

I was going about 65 mph and agree, I believe the power steering went out. Very hard to move the wheel but not impossible. However, when it occurred, the wheel just stiffened dramatically and I assumed it was locked. Only when I had no choice but to move it or crash did I get it over a bit in time.

If they tell me they can't figure out the problem they'll be keeping the car there and they can sue me for the balance. And I'll countersue them and ensure that the world knows that but for a minor miracle I didn't crash at high speed due to their malfunctioning car. I drove a Mercedes (about 9 of them) over the past 20 years and never had a problem like this once. My patience with Porsche is about at the end -- five months after getting my first one.

custerdog

Just lane change assist I believe.

fgv1it

Check if you also had "lane keep assist" on. I found it to be very intrusive and strong on my car, to the point that several times I had to wrestle the steering back to where I wanted it when the system was taking me where I did not want to go. The system is now permanently "off" in my car, and everything is back to normal.

custerdog

That was not it at all. I've had that happen with the lane keep assist and this was nothing like it. The wheel felt completely locked and very hard to move. And I was in my lane when it occurred. Completely different feel and it lasted for minutes.

method.man

Wow that's crazy, I'm glad you and your kids are safe. I'm in the market for a new Panamera and hearing about this issue makes me concerned. Keep us updated!

gtr

On the Macan forum someone had a shorted out steering column control unit. Keep us posted and stay safe.

custerdog

UPDATE: A new power steering rack was ordered from Germany -- I'll be lucky to get the car back at the end of next week, which means two weeks without the car. I can't say that I've received any concrete assurance as to why the steering failed, other than "that's what the engineers said."

Does Porsche really expect leaseholders to pay the full amount of the monthly charge when they're fixing the car for weeks at a time through no fault of mine -- and solely due to their vehicle failing?

cerbomark

Well you can keep track of how long the car is out of service and if it continues to happen Lemon Laws may get you out of the car and out of payments when the car was tied up. I haven t heard of this too often with Porsche though. They will settle long before the law requires them to list that car as a lemon. Sounds like a first year, new design, glitch. Although a big issue after reading your experience I think it will be fixed the first time IMO.