Another recall for Porsche's 918

Porsche recall notice says front axle was fitted with chassis components from a batch whose durability cannot be guaranteed.

Porsche recall notice says front axle was fitted with chassis components from a batch whose durability cannot be guaranteed.

Published Dec 24, 2014

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Stuttgart, Germany - Porsche's R9.8 million, 654kW, limited-edition 918 hybrid supercar has been hit with a second recall.

Only three months ago the factory had to recall 45 examples to replace a sub-standard batch of rear-suspension control arms which, it said, "could break under racing conditions".

Now there's a problem with the front axle. The official Porsche statement says it "was fitted with chassis components from a batch whose durability cannot be guaranteed".

Porsche's PR spin doctors emphasise that the problem was discovered during in-house performance testing, and that there have been no reports of suspension failures while being driven by customers - which we can believe, if only because nobody who's paid the equivalent of R10 million for a sports car is going to push it as hard as the factory test drivers do.

UNDERSTATEMENT

The problem components were at first described as "fasteners" but the official recall notice says the problem is once again control arms - this time the lower front control arms on 205 of the planned 918 cars - which is all that will ever be produced.

It says they could possibly crack and break under hard usage and, in a masterpiece of understatement, "vehicle handling may be impaired".

The factory says the repairs will take about two days, and estimates that it will take six weeks to two months to supply replacement parts for all the cars involved, starting early in the new year. The release adds that the owners of all 205 cars affected worldwide have been contacted and strongly recommends that the cars should not be driven at all until the suspect parts have been replaced.

Porsche has had a rough year in terms of recalls, but has come out smelling of roses after taking prompt and effective action in each case. Earlier in the year, after a couple of 911 GT3s caught fire while being driven, the factory took the unprecedented step of replacing the complete engine of each of the 785 cars that had been built up till then.

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