Red Circle of Death

[skshimer]

I had an interesting situation yesterday. When my wife and I got into the 2025 Macan 4 it tried to connect to her iPhone since I didn’t have mine. It gave some type of message about an error connecting to her phone, which I tried to cancel but it popped back up. I ignored it and tried to put the car in gear and got the red circle of death. I tried to reboot the PCM with the volume knob but nothing would happen. After a lot of cussing at the car my wife turned off her phone. I was then able to reboot the PCM and the red circle of death disappeared and we drove home. Just an FYI about how fickle the software can be.

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[RunningOnSolar]

When was your software last updated? My car was remarkably improved by an update in September. (No lock and walk incidents since). I’m scheduled for WSJ0 this week. We will see how that goes…

 

[pss]

Just curious, and slightly off topic. I have my first Macan on order right now. These software updates, do they come over the air or do you need to take it in for them to install?

 

[RunningOnSolar]

Just curious, and slightly off topic. I have my first Macan on order right now. These software updates, do they come over the air or do you need to take it in for them to install?

You can enable OTA updates in the MyPorsche app. Supposedly updates to navigation and voice control happen this way. However, Porsche has been very cautious about major software updates due to cars being bricked and needing PCM replacements to fix the problems. My dealer had some instances of this with the loaner cars. I‘ve had 2 software updates at the dealer over a year and a half of ownership. The 3rd (as previously mentioned) is due this week.

Rivian and Tesla have a better track record for OTA updates explaining the recent software partnership between Rivian and VW Group. Hopefully this situation will improve in the future, but there is no guarantee that current cars will benefit.

BTW: Some internal publications say that the WSJ0 update requires dealers to submit a checklist for the software update. This suggests that some of the software update issues are being blamed on dealers not correctly following procedure.

Having been a software developer, I know that it is possible to make software foolproof, but not damn foolproof (and foolproof is very hard).

 

[skshimer]

When was your software last updated? My car was remarkably improved by an update in September. (No lock and walk incidents since). I’m scheduled for WSJ0 this week. We will see how that goes…

June 2025 when I bought the car. I have had very few problems. This was my first circle of death. Obviously not a real problem, just a software glitch.

 

[seraphmoss]

When my car works correctly, don’t do updates. Sometimes new updates to Apple iOS cause hassles with connecting (I’ve had that in an electric Chevy too). That’s when I update. Go to the dealer.

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