Porsche Recalls 190,000 Vehicles Across 17 Years for Wonky Headlights

Image: Porsche

Many Porsches have just been recalled — approximately 193,000 in total, covering four models released between 2003 and 2020. That’s a lot of cars! The culprit is a missing headlight part that doesn’t inhibit their function, but does make it easy to misalign them, causing visibility issues for drivers and fellow motorists alike.

The headlights on 17 model-years’ worth of Cayenne, Cayman S, Panamera and Macan models should have come equipped with a “horizontal adjustment screw cap,” designed to prevent you from tweaking the low beam’s alignment beyond the acceptable, legal range. The recalled cars do not have this cap, making it possible for an owner or mechanic to reposition the low beams too far to the left or right, fail to properly light the path ahead and, likely, blind oncoming drivers.

Of course, Porsche will add these caps free of charge, and letters to affected owners are expected to be mailed by the end of October. If you’re curious whether your Porsche is affected, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website contains a list of all relevant vehicles, and you can use the site’s VIN lookup tool to seek out the status of your car specifically.

What makes this recall particularly interesting is that it covers a wide range of vehicles built over several generations — but crucially, not all of them. For example, the earliest vehicle with this issue is the 2003 model-year Cayenne, but some variants of the SUV through 2016 are also included. The Cayman S is on the list as well, but only the 2014 one, and no other trims.

The result is a manufacturing foul-up that transcends multiple product redesigns. How weird? I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Porsche’s best headlights don’t share this problem. It’s just another reason the fried eggs are unassailable.

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Regardless of the make and model of your car, it’s important to periodically check to see if your vehicle is eligible for a recall. Here’s exactly how you can do that.