— Porsche must continue to battle a Taycan battery lawsuit after the judge denied Porsche's motion to compel arbitration and refused to dismiss the entire class action lawsuit.
According to the Porsche Taycan lawsuit, the 800-volt lithium-ion batteries can catch fire in these vehicles.
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan 4S
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan Turbo S
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan 4 Cross Turismo
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan S Cross Turismo
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan GTS
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo
- 2020-2024 Porsche Taycan Turbo
Porsche has clearly had problems with Taycan battery fires because three battery recalls (here, here and here) have been issued. The Porsche class action was filed after the recalls by alleging the Taycan recalls failed to repair the battery fire dangers.
The Porsche Taycan high voltage battery module can suffer from a short circuit which can cause a battery fire.
The owners who sued argue Porsche hasn't done enough with the recalls because the automaker should buyback the Taycans. If not, all the high voltage Taycan batteries should be replaced with batteries that won't catch fire.
Those owners also complain their Taycans are worth less than they should be due to the recalls and risk of battery fires.
According to the class action, Taycan customers lost use of their vehicles when Porsche warned them to charge their vehicles to only 80% maximum battery capacity until the vehicles were repaired. This decreased the advertised range of the Taycan and forced customers to charge the batteries more often.
Motion to Compel Arbitration Denied
Porsche told the judge four of five original plaintiffs signed valid binding arbitration agreements, which means those owners should not be included in the class action.
"Purchaser hereby agrees that all claims, disputes or controver sies arising from or relating to the sale or servicing of the motor vehicle purchased hereunder, and any related goods or services, will be resolved by binding arbitration. Purchaser understands that by entering into this arbitration agreement, purchaser gives up his or her right to have claims, disputes or controversies decided in court. Further, purchaser shall be barred from pursuing class action claims or class-wide arbitration claims." — Porsche Taycan Arbitration Agreement
However, Porsche failed to convince the judge regarding arbitration, causing the judge to completely deny the automaker's motion.
In addition, the judge denied Porsche's motion to dismiss the Taycan class action lawsuit except for a few claims that were dismissed, for now. The judge did dismiss all express warranty claims and a negligent misrepresentation claim from one plaintiff.
But the judge dismissed those few claims without prejudice which allows the plaintiffs to modify and refile their claims.
The Porsche Taycan battery class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta Division): Miodrag Kukrika v. Porsche Cars N.A., Inc.
The plaintiff is represented by Caplan Cobb LLC, and Gibbs Law Group LLP.