It took Porsche a year and five months to come up with a fix to the recall and stop-drive order it issued for every single Carrera GT built. The suspension failure–related recall addressed a particular propensity for control arms to corrode and fail, which could lead to a crash. If you are one of the folks who own a Carrera GT, make sure you get booked in for service, because Porsche is ready to fix the issue.
Now that Porsche has a fix — and since it took so long to get here — the German automaker is offering not only to fix each and every twenty-year-old supercar free of charge, but to throw in $3,240 worth of “complimentary maintenance to bring the vehicle to roadworthiness after not being driven.” This includes a brand new set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 N-Spec tires. Bonus!
With these cars trading hands in the seven-figures, the NHTSA-instituted stop-drive was making some owners pretty antsy to drive the cars they paid for. When we first reported on this back in April of 2023, everyone assumed this would be a normal quick recall, nothing to worry about. In January of this year it was made quite clear that this wasn’t to be the case, with an estimate of Q3 2024 for the parts to materialize. Now, as Q3 2024 nears to a close, these cars are once again being made whole.
Why is Porsche offering to fix rarely-driven two-decade-old supercars owned exclusively by the well-heeled? For one thing, it’s good PR for Porsche to treat its most fervent supporters with kid gloves. For another, it’s really bad PR for Porsche if any of those wealthy dorks go driving around on worn suspension or old tires (or both) and go get themselves killed in a fireball crash. This is a little bit promotion and a little bit self-preservation.
Don’t worry everyone, Doug DeMuro can finally drive his Carrera GT again. Porsche and the government said it was OK.