Backup Lights Fail To Illuminate

What NHTSA is examining

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has completed its review of a defect petition received on November 20, 2020 requesting an investigation into the failure of reversing lights to illuminate in certain Model Year (MY) 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera vehicle with manual transmissions. The reversing lights fail to illuminate when the subject vehicles are shifted into reverse.The reversing lights provide a warning to other drivers and pedestrians when the vehicle is reversing. The reversing lights also provide some illumination for the driver when reversing at night. Failure of the reversing lights can cause an increased hazard to the vehicle, its occupants, surrounding vehicles and nearby pedestrians. As of April 14, 2021, NHTSA has identified only one consumer complaint alleging a failure of the reversing lights in NHTSA's database. This complaint was received from the petitioner. Neither NHTSA nor Porsche have received any allegations of crashes or injuries associated with the failure of the reversing lights to illuminate.Porsche determined that the reversing lights on the MY 2012-2015 Porsche Carrera vehicles were becoming inoperative due to the failure of the transmission side actuation mechanism. Porsche determined the weld between the shift rod and the stopper plate was below manufacturing specifications in some vehicles due to production weld process variations. Porsche modified production weld specifications to improve the strength and consistency of the weld joint…

Vehicles under investigation