991.2 GT3 - Colours. Spec. Q+A. etc etc..
Discussion
isaldiri said:
browngt3 said:
Be careful with Ferrari weights. They always quote a dry weight and maybe a bit like their claimed bhp - a little optimistic.
Well Porsche quote a kerb weight that is nowhere near any customer car too given they have every single weight saving option or option delete in the quoted factory weight. Both are imo equally misleading as they are not achievable.
RBT0 said:
Any of you guys aware of an official recall for the vehicle tracker? What's the work supposed to be done on the car?
There are two tracker related issues. First, there are the random emergency calls the car makes to the monitoring centre. The tracker thinks (incorrectly) the air bags have deployed and makes the call. You see a message in the driver display and usually, in my case, the call fails anyway. The problem only applies to the GT3 and GT3 RS and there is a recall to replace the airbag control unit. I don’t know whether it’s actually just a software update or whether there is a hardware integration issue between the air bag controller and the Vodafone/Automotive box.
The second issue which seems to apply across the model range is that the tracker freezes/stops operating so that Vodafone can no longer see your car. You can tell if your tracker has stopped working because the Car Connect app is no longer updated.
The solution is to perform what they call a hard reset on the Vodafone tracker. If it happens a second time, the protocol is that the Vodafone tracker itself is replaced.
All fine you may think until I tell you that to get at it, the whole dash has to come out. 8 hours, over £1200 at retail labour rates. It’s a huge job and my car has just been through it and it remains to be seen whether there are creaks, rattles and cosmetic damage. The dash goes in at the factory with the doors off and getting it out of the car with them on is much more difficult.
Porsche do not seem to know what is causing the tracker to get into this state but there is no vehicle tracking - and maybe no insurance - when it has failed. I can’t help feeling that this reset is clutching at straws and because neither the hardware or software have changed, you only need the same conditions for it to fail again. Fine, I suppose, when the car is in warranty, a nightmare when the warranty runs out.
And just to underline how big a job it is, I asked the OPC what the steps were to do the hard reset...
· Airbag
· Steering wheel
· Stereo
· Centre console
· Air vents
· Glovebox
· Cup holder
· A pillars
· Trims around steering column
· Trim with ignition switch in
· Sport chrono clock
· Speakers in dashboard
· Dashboard side trims
· Whole dashboard
· PCC bracket
· PCC control unit
I know Porsche will want to make the tracker difficult to get at in case of theft but in other Porsche models, it’s under the passenger seat.
· Airbag
· Steering wheel
· Stereo
· Centre console
· Air vents
· Glovebox
· Cup holder
· A pillars
· Trims around steering column
· Trim with ignition switch in
· Sport chrono clock
· Speakers in dashboard
· Dashboard side trims
· Whole dashboard
· PCC bracket
· PCC control unit
I know Porsche will want to make the tracker difficult to get at in case of theft but in other Porsche models, it’s under the passenger seat.
And just to underline how big a job it is, I asked the OPC what the steps were to do the hard reset...
· Airbag
· Steering wheel
· Stereo
· Centre console
· Air vents
· Glovebox
· Cup holder
· A pillars
· Trims around steering column
· Trim with ignition switch in
· Sport chrono clock
· Speakers in dashboard
· Dashboard side trims
· Whole dashboard
· PCC bracket
· PCC control unit
I know Porsche will want to make the tracker difficult to get at in case of theft but in other Porsche models, it’s under the passenger seat.
· Airbag
· Steering wheel
· Stereo
· Centre console
· Air vents
· Glovebox
· Cup holder
· A pillars
· Trims around steering column
· Trim with ignition switch in
· Sport chrono clock
· Speakers in dashboard
· Dashboard side trims
· Whole dashboard
· PCC bracket
· PCC control unit
I know Porsche will want to make the tracker difficult to get at in case of theft but in other Porsche models, it’s under the passenger seat.
Many thanks for your explanations.
So to make it clear, the first is a recall on Airbag Control Unit (which I think should be called restraint control module) and the other one, not a recall?, is an issue where if tracker fails to work for second time in a row then it must be restarted with almost all cockpit down to do it (sounds strange...)?
How many of the second cases, you said across model ranges, i.e. all Porsches? Is there an official recall for this as well, or random issue?
So to make it clear, the first is a recall on Airbag Control Unit (which I think should be called restraint control module) and the other one, not a recall?, is an issue where if tracker fails to work for second time in a row then it must be restarted with almost all cockpit down to do it (sounds strange...)?
How many of the second cases, you said across model ranges, i.e. all Porsches? Is there an official recall for this as well, or random issue?
Yes, the first is simply fixed by replacing the airbag control unit. I’ve been rattling Porsche’s cage about this and the delay in getting the fix out was to do with sourcing replacement hardware.
If the tracker hangs up, the first response is to do the hard reset which requires the dash to come out. If it happens a second time, the vodafone module is replaced which of course requires the dash to come out a second time.
If you can see the car with the app, all is fine. If it stops refreshing - and mine did when the car was on Skye - you will get a message from Vodafone to say the unit has failed its diagnostics.
It looks like the Vodafone unit is failing in Porsche’s application or customisation of it and you can imagine finger pointing given the cost of fixing it. Truth is, I have zero confidence that Porsche understand what’s happening or can even reproduce the problem. It is in any case bad hardware practice not to include a watchdog timer which will reset everything if the processor hangs up. But who knows?
If the tracker hangs up, the first response is to do the hard reset which requires the dash to come out. If it happens a second time, the vodafone module is replaced which of course requires the dash to come out a second time.
If you can see the car with the app, all is fine. If it stops refreshing - and mine did when the car was on Skye - you will get a message from Vodafone to say the unit has failed its diagnostics.
It looks like the Vodafone unit is failing in Porsche’s application or customisation of it and you can imagine finger pointing given the cost of fixing it. Truth is, I have zero confidence that Porsche understand what’s happening or can even reproduce the problem. It is in any case bad hardware practice not to include a watchdog timer which will reset everything if the processor hangs up. But who knows?
Replacing the airbag control unit - the subject of the recall - is easy and non-disruptive.
I get conflicting information about how often they are doing a reset but it seems to apply to cars that support the phone apps and across the model range. So it was never a problem with my departed 997.2 turbo and has not been a problem with my 991.1 GT3 but was quickly a problem with my 991.2 GT3.
What’s surprising is there hasn’t been more noise about it on here if resets are being needed as often as the dealer says. To be honest though, I don’t really know who to believe because all the time, you are talking to people who don’t know their arse from their elbow.
I suspect it’s not just a question of power cycling the thing; it may be something more complex like corrupted non-volatile memory. A hard reset would reformat it to reset the device and there may be a magnetically operated reed switch inside so powering it up with a magnet held in a particular position will do the reset. Obviously, details are hard to come by.
I get conflicting information about how often they are doing a reset but it seems to apply to cars that support the phone apps and across the model range. So it was never a problem with my departed 997.2 turbo and has not been a problem with my 991.1 GT3 but was quickly a problem with my 991.2 GT3.
What’s surprising is there hasn’t been more noise about it on here if resets are being needed as often as the dealer says. To be honest though, I don’t really know who to believe because all the time, you are talking to people who don’t know their arse from their elbow.
I suspect it’s not just a question of power cycling the thing; it may be something more complex like corrupted non-volatile memory. A hard reset would reformat it to reset the device and there may be a magnetically operated reed switch inside so powering it up with a magnet held in a particular position will do the reset. Obviously, details are hard to come by.
blueSL said:
What’s surprising is there hasn’t been more noise about it on here if resets are being needed as often as the dealer says. To be honest though, I don’t really know who to believe because all the time, you are talking to people who don’t know their arse from their elbow.
.
I don't complain because mine has been disabled by Porsche GB until the recall is sorted so I don't get the sodding annoying false alarms....
RBT0 said:
Cheib,
You're talking about Airbag false signal, which is easy fix (and I believe subject of official Porsche recall).
How do you insure your car if tracker disabled?
BlueSL is talking about Tracker Reset / Replacement
I've not had any tracker problems, thankfully, but did have to get the airbag issue disabled. That was a year ago and I haven't heard anything from Porsche or the dealer in relation to a recall to resolve it. Is this being managed as an official recall, with letters coming out, or is the onus on the customer to chase do you know?You're talking about Airbag false signal, which is easy fix (and I believe subject of official Porsche recall).
How do you insure your car if tracker disabled?
BlueSL is talking about Tracker Reset / Replacement
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