Good News (Really) – Porsche Macan Gets Another Recall
Porsche will begin recalling the Macan April 10, 2020. The recall pertains to a fuel leak that could potentially be hazardous and involves all models produced between 2015 and 2018. This is the third time a recall for the Macan has been issued. So far, each recall has been focused on different aspects of the fuel delivery system.
It’s easy to see the recall of a car as a big issue and many pundits take the approach of bashing a manufacturer for having to recall a vehicle. There is another side to this argument….
It’s clear that initial generations of vehicles such as the Macan tend to have issues that are subsequently fixed in revised models. Stating the obvious, the design of the fuel delivery system on the Macan clearly wasn’t up to par – recall three seems to confirm that.
The Latest Recall
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) campaign No. 20V077000 states that a fuel leak could occur on Porsche Macan, Macan S, Macan GTS and Macan Turbo models manufactured between model years 2015 and 2018. The recall documents suggest that, “in certain rare circumstances, the fuel pump service cover can deflect and put pressure on the flow nozzle on the filter flange of the fuel pump. This can result in hairline cracks potentially leading to fuel seepage and fuel odor.” That kind of gas, OK.
Porsche believes this issue affects less than 1% of the vehicles in the production range, however, it proceeded to undergo a voluntary recall campaign that starts in April 2020.
Previously, in 2015 Porsche recalled more than 21,000 Macans for a leaky low pressure fuel line and in 2017 recalled more than 51,000 Macans for similar issues on the vehicles with the enhanced performance package.
Good News
Porsche started to investigate the problem when an unusual parts demand began in June, 2019. Porsche paid attention to the unusual demand for parts and began to “conduct a deeper part analysis to study the protrusion of a reinforcing rib of the service cover as the potential cause of the issue,” the reports say.
The good news here is that Porsche has systems in place to identify problems based on part demand. With less than 1% of vehicles affected, one might conclude that many manufacturers would simply issue a service bulletin for their technicians and wait for customer complaints. Porsche seems to have adopted a very diligent approach to the three fuel system recalls on the Macan. While that might be a pain to have to return the car for recall work and an obvious design oversight, the fact that Porsche is constantly monitoring the repair and parts requests on this vehicle has to be good news for the owners.
We’ve seen the results of manufacturing mishaps ignored by companies and the subsequent lawsuits. We’ve also seen the infamous diesel coverup scandal from porsche’s parent company. However, mistakes happen in design and manufacturing – it’s not the mistake that counts, it’s how you set it right that’s important. Porsche is doing the right thing with this recall, so be happy!