Hundreds of Porsche cars across Russia have shut down after a Vehicle Tracking System failure caused engine lockouts. Here’s what happened, which models are affected, and what owners can do next.
It’s a voluntary anti-theft measure I believe. Prevents it from being started without the owner’s consent. Which immobilizers are also supposed to do, but we all know how well those work.
If I owned a Porsche in Russia, I would also get something like that tbh. Luckily I don’t live in Russia, nor do I have a Porsche anymore and mine was too old for this kinda shit anyway
Feature is based on the same tech implementation as these SOS/Service call buttons almost every modern car has. It uses IoT sim.
People who have SOS/Service call button in their cars are also falling under this issue except it would only affect cars that has been outside of russian cellular towers for over 72h.
Also, maybe this is happening due to Porsche not willing to extend IoT sim subscriptions for russian citizens making their sims essentially to be disabled. But I am not sure how car manufacturer IoT sim contracts work. For a typical company/private person IoT sim contract is for 10 years with typically 1gb of data for the same timeframe. If car manufacturer contract is similar to that, this may be the reason why their cars are bricking.
Would kinda make sense, around 2015 was the time when these things were starting to get fairly common in high end cars. 2015 was also a facelift year for the second gen Cayenne, so it may well be that they introduced new features. I’m assuming a lot of those cars are Cayennes, because it’s the most commonly sold model and the stereotypical cars of New Russians are luxury cars and SUVs, not sports cars. Though of course that is just a stereotype.
I mean if I was a rich ethnic Russian in either of those cities, I’d probably love it.
I’m Estonian though, don’t speak any more Russian than yes, no, please, thank you and go fuck yourself. Of course I also understand when being asked for a cigarette - an absolute necessity in Estonia (though these days you’re very unlikely to get attacked for not providing said cigarettes - 20-30 years ago was different, but I wasn’t exactly old enough to smoke then)
But overall I’m glad I don’t live in Russia because I don’t agree with the politics. Even before the current war, I’m sure I would’ve been seen as a dissident. I’m sure the people of Russia are actually mostly very nice. It’s also cheaper than a lot of western countries so working remotely, I’m sure I would’ve been able to live very comfortably before the war. I just wouldn’t ever want to live under Putin rule and I wouldn’t really want to live in a country with so many nationalists (US, if I ever moved there, would be a bit easier, because it’s more about race than nationality and I’m white)
Yeah, but at the same time - the weather in Vyborg is fine by me, and the weather in Narva\Ivangorod. But the place between them (one the coast) is somehow far more depressive.
And I don’t think I’ve heard Helsinki being called depressive.
It’s something about planning, perhaps? Streets are laid out so that you feel as if you were in a military location. People live in those historical beautiful buildings as if they were birds making nests under the roof, as if people were not the main thing there.
And places around SPb, like Strelna, are also not depressive at all. At least in my perception. That air flavored with Baltic salt, every sea smells differently, the Baltic water smell is nice, in some way similar to Coca-Cola.
It’s a voluntary anti-theft measure I believe. Prevents it from being started without the owner’s consent. Which immobilizers are also supposed to do, but we all know how well those work.
If I owned a Porsche in Russia, I would also get something like that tbh. Luckily I don’t live in Russia, nor do I have a Porsche anymore and mine was too old for this kinda shit anyway
Feature is based on the same tech implementation as these SOS/Service call buttons almost every modern car has. It uses IoT sim.
People who have SOS/Service call button in their cars are also falling under this issue except it would only affect cars that has been outside of russian cellular towers for over 72h.
Also, maybe this is happening due to Porsche not willing to extend IoT sim subscriptions for russian citizens making their sims essentially to be disabled. But I am not sure how car manufacturer IoT sim contracts work. For a typical company/private person IoT sim contract is for 10 years with typically 1gb of data for the same timeframe. If car manufacturer contract is similar to that, this may be the reason why their cars are bricking.
Would kinda make sense, around 2015 was the time when these things were starting to get fairly common in high end cars. 2015 was also a facelift year for the second gen Cayenne, so it may well be that they introduced new features. I’m assuming a lot of those cars are Cayennes, because it’s the most commonly sold model and the stereotypical cars of New Russians are luxury cars and SUVs, not sports cars. Though of course that is just a stereotype.
Living in Russia in Moscow/Petersburg is actually really nice these days.
I mean if I was a rich ethnic Russian in either of those cities, I’d probably love it.
I’m Estonian though, don’t speak any more Russian than yes, no, please, thank you and go fuck yourself. Of course I also understand when being asked for a cigarette - an absolute necessity in Estonia (though these days you’re very unlikely to get attacked for not providing said cigarettes - 20-30 years ago was different, but I wasn’t exactly old enough to smoke then)
But overall I’m glad I don’t live in Russia because I don’t agree with the politics. Even before the current war, I’m sure I would’ve been seen as a dissident. I’m sure the people of Russia are actually mostly very nice. It’s also cheaper than a lot of western countries so working remotely, I’m sure I would’ve been able to live very comfortably before the war. I just wouldn’t ever want to live under Putin rule and I wouldn’t really want to live in a country with so many nationalists (US, if I ever moved there, would be a bit easier, because it’s more about race than nationality and I’m white)
If you’re relatively rich that is.
Living in Petersburg being nice? I dunno
The one in Florida certainly sucks.
I was thinking more about all the dismemberment and depression jokes about the one on Neva with the Aurora cruiser docker yadda-yadda
It’s the weather, probably. Something for the natives, and Finns maybe.
Yeah, but at the same time - the weather in Vyborg is fine by me, and the weather in Narva\Ivangorod. But the place between them (one the coast) is somehow far more depressive.
And I don’t think I’ve heard Helsinki being called depressive.
It’s something about planning, perhaps? Streets are laid out so that you feel as if you were in a military location. People live in those historical beautiful buildings as if they were birds making nests under the roof, as if people were not the main thing there.
And places around SPb, like Strelna, are also not depressive at all. At least in my perception. That air flavored with Baltic salt, every sea smells differently, the Baltic water smell is nice, in some way similar to Coca-Cola.
It’s the city itself.
Interesting observations, thanks.
I also am a fan of Michael Swanwick.