Weird Smoke and Burning Smell from Air Vents in My Macan 4 – Anyone Else?

[Fly4ever]

...it's just so pity OP @piter95 "lost" his car because of this...!As it turned out it wasn't any serious defect after all...!

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[piter95]

...it's just so pity OP @piter95 "lost" his car because of this...!As it turned out it wasn't any serious defect after all...!

Yeah! That’s so much true… ? I can still see anyway some random software issues happening to people here and there! But overall, I would wait at least 2 more generations before you switch back

 

[krissrock]

man, i see it as opportunity to get the next model run... I kinda wish something would happen to mine!!
let em take it back...and I'll be ready to order the next one with new options!

 

[shawn]

Hey folks!

I’m curious if anyone else has experienced this issue with their Porsche Macan. I took delivery of a Macan 4 on October 1st and have driven over 3,500 km so far.

Recently, I’ve noticed a strange smell, like something burning, along with some smoke coming from the air vents when I’m driving at speeds of 130 km/h (80 mph) or higher, with or without the climate control on.

I’ve included a video below to show exactly what’s happening. This was the second time I got smoke during the drive, the first time was muuuch way worst. A lot of white smoke came in and I stopped.

Video Link as it's too big to post: LINK

Here’s what’s happened so far:
1. First Trip to the Dealership: Brought it in right away, and they did a quick check but said everything seemed fine.

2. Second Visit: I brought it back a couple of weeks later as the burning smell hadn’t gone away. This time, they kept the car for over a week, and today I got a call saying that even their demo car is showing the same issue.

So now I’m wondering – are we looking at a potential recall? Is this a problem with a particular component, or could it be something that gets worse over time?

Would love to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience or if you’ve managed to find a solution.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi Piter95

did you get this resolved? There is a related fix in the latest recall software update in case it’s still unresolved I thought I would mention it

 

[Bl4stermaster]

This happened tome on my 2025 4S.

3800 miles on it. Driving 60mph on the highway, turn the AC off for the first time and suddenly the cabin starts filling up with increasing amounts of black smoke and a clear strong burning smell. The smell was coming from the vents and I figured it could be related to the AC as I didn't remember ever turning it off.

I turned it back on to the last temperature I had it before the burning started and the smoke and smell subsided.

Service Center was way less than helpful. I had to insist 5 times for them to take this seriously. They kept the car, did manage to reproduce the issue, and found an open bulletin on this. They replaced the passenger side AC unit at no cost.

Don't take no for an answer folks. This was super scary and dangerous to have an electric car catch on fire.

The initial recommendation from the service agent was 'just go drive again and if it happens again we can look at it'. That's not acceptable for an electric car.

Bulletin was SY 828055

 

[Bl4stermaster]

I should add, I would have expected a recall for this. I reported this to NHTSA as a safety issue so that hopefully puts pressure on Porsche to be proactive and train service center staff better.

If you're in the US and had this happen you should report it too so we can get better safety for the whole fleet.

I love this car, it's really really great to drive. Makes me happy every time. But putting my safety at risk with an electric car catching fire on the highway is not ok.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem

 

[rjf]

Thanks to @M324 @chrisk @chatBDE and @byebye for sharing your knowledge about the cause of this issue.

Today coming home from the office - cold and damp outside - was the first time I used the interior heating to any degree in my '24 Macan 4. I set both the driver and passenger side to 75 degrees F. After about 10 minutes drive @ 65 mph on a divided highway, I started smelling an acrid smell - I looked around outside to see what might be causing it. Within a few minutes, I had a fairly large volume of hazy smoke coming out of the windshield defroster vents. I opened the driver's side window to get the smoke out, and fully prepared to quickly pull off the road if needed and grab my briefcase in case the Macan erupted. For whatever reason, the smell and smoke stopped as quickly as it had started, and I was able to take my exit towards home within about 5 minutes. I did pull over at my Porsche dealer's parking lot - well away from other vehicles - and checked the frunk - didn't see or feel anything out of the ordinary. Drove home then without issue.

My issue seems to have been caused by what's noted in the TSB above.

Thanks again everyone for putting my mind at ease.

 

[FirstEV]

The initial recommendation from the service agent was 'just go drive again and if it happens again we can look at it'. That's not acceptable for an electric car.

THIS has happened to me so many times during the past year. It saddens me that this wasn’t an isolated issue with my dealer..

 

[PrudentOcean]

I ran into this today. I am currently on a 3400 mile roadtrip and when I left my hotel in Colorado this morning it was 37 degrees, so I turned on the heater.

After 15 minutes of driving I suddenly saw smoke coming from the vents behind the windshield, and smelled a strong burning odor.

I don’t have time to get this looked at on the roadtrip (nor are there any dealers nearby), so I will make do with the heated seats and steering wheel until next week.

 

[FirstEV]

I ran into this today. I am currently on a 3400 mile roadtrip and when I left my hotel in Colorado this morning it was 37 degrees, so I turned on the heater.

After 15 minutes of driving I suddenly saw smoke coming from the vents behind the windshield, and smelled a strong burning odor.

I don’t have time to get this looked at on the roadtrip (nor are there any dealers nearby), so I will make do with the heated seats and steering wheel until next week.

I am flabbergasted by the amount of patience and endurance most customers have toward these things. I do understand that you are in a peculiar situation, but anyway.

 

[PrudentOcean]

I wouldn’t call it patience, there just isn’t a good option. The nearest dealers are hundreds of miles away from where I’m at, and getting the car diagnosed and fixed is probably going to take at least a day or two at best.

I have scheduled a service appointment back home for next week. This is the first time the car will be at the dealer since I took possession in February of this year, except for the heater issue the car has been trouble-free.

 

[TomekGnomek]

Funny thing - just when I thought everything was perfect after the latest software update, yesterday I had smoke and burning smell coming off the vents on highway. Perhaps it has something to do with low temps...

 

[M324]

What I really do not understand is that there is no recall for this issue, even though Porsche should know which cars were delivered with this faulty heat exchanger. Instead they let customers drive around with it.

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