Vehicle recalls are a touchy subject for Porsche at the minute. The breeze blowing over the
flaming GT3 debacle
has just about put out those fires - and no sooner has that issue been addressed, Stuttgart is having to battle some over-zealous safety procedure Stateside.
This week the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in America issued what it calls a recall notice for defective rear axle control arms on the 918 Spyder.
Faulty components found in rear suspension linkage
The note affected five American market cars built between May 7 and June 18 2014, which were fitted with faulty rear suspension components that,
according to the NHTSA
, "may break, causing difficulty controlling the vehicle." Language that, inevitably, caused some 'new Porsche recall' headlines.
Thing is, it was Porsche who found the problem itself. In the note it submitted to the NHTSA (it's a requirement for manufacturers to keep them updated), Porsche stated, "Internal tests have shown that the rear axle longitudinal and transverse control arms from a certain production batch do not meet the required specifications and may have been installed on some vehicles."
Handily, it also submitted a timeline of events, viewable here and summed up as follows:
"June 26 2014: Failure of component during heavy-duty durability testing (extreme race conditions) on the Porsche AG race track and testing facility in Nardo, Italy.
"June 27 2014: Contact with supplier via telephone informing them of failure.
"July 18 2014: Decision for worldwide recall and stop sale notification followed by directcustomer telephone contact informing them not to operate vehicles on the race track."
Never any question of failures in normal road use
So when did the NHTSA publish Porsche's own recall memo? September 9 2014. Two months after Porsche took action to rectify the problem - which, incidentally, it didn't have to notify customers of in the US anyway because "no such vehicles were in the dealer inventory."
Naturally, PH spoke to a Porsche spokesperson to find out if any European or UK cars were affected (the answer was none) who told us, "The problem was spotted and resolved in production, with any vehicles in transit immediately remedied before delivery."
Yes, it could have been a safety issue, but the defect only reared its head under extreme testing conditions. Don't forget, the 918 relentlessly pounded around the Nordschleife for weeks - hammering kerbs and eventually setting that 6min 57sec lap record - without any real problems. There's procedure and then there's procedure. It seems here Porsche has been a victim of a mix of its own transparency and thoroughness, and US institutional legislation here.
A few now ex-Porsche customers might not take that view following singed backsides, but don't believe the hype. Porsche seems to have had it in hand all along.