drSedz

I have a 2014 Cayenne GTS. Love it to death. I have taken care of it well, and it has 85,000 miles on it. I will keep it until it dies.

My question:
In the last year, each of the four door locks has failed and needed replacement at the cost of $800 per pop. Does this sound normal?

Also, I recently had to change the battery last week, as I noticed that on start up, the car had to really "work" to get started initially on cold start in the mornings, and I didn't want to wait until one day it just didn't start. So I took it in and they told me the battery was loosing juice, and should be replaced. This cost me $550 dollars.

Lastly, since the battery change (this may just be a coincidence), the seat heater on the driver side stopped working. When I push the button to turn it on, the lights turn on fleetingly, then it turns off immediately. I took it in yesterday and they said that likely the circuit is failing somewhere in the filaments in the seat itself, and that they have to remove the leather/cushion and replace the element in the seat. This will cost an estimated $800.

Does anyone else have any experience with any these failures in this generation of Cayenne?
Do these rates of service/maintenance sound reasonable to everyone?

The place I take it to is not a Porsche center, but rather a high end Porsche specialized shop.

Thanks advance for any answers to my questions!!!

Visualistics

Door lock failure is common. Not sure having all four go out is as common, but they are a known fail point. My driver side rear lock actuator is inop right now. Seems that $800 is in the range for replacement part and labor for that job based on some of the other threads about it on here.

No clue on the seat heater issue.

drSedz

Thanks so much man. Really appreciate the reply!

Silberdachs

Seat heater can be the heating element failing, thermocouple wire breaking in the lower seat portion or an unplugged connector. OBD scan should tell if it's the element or one of the other two.

Broken thermocouple wire costs $0 and just needs to be resoldered together, but will require the seat to be taken apart.

First check if all plugs are connected under the seat, could have happened when removing the battery.

drSedz

@Silberdachs
Thanks for the response. They checked it and they are saying they have to get into the seat to fix the problem, and that they had to order a new cushion/foam to replace the old one once they open the seat up and remove the leather. Total cost for the job is estimated at $800.

Am I being too paranoid about the fact that this happened right after they changed the battery? I talked to them (the shop) and they say it is not the connection, and that they checked it. I'm thinking to take it somewhere else to get another opinion. Or should I just pay the $800 and get it over with?

Would love your thoughts.....Thank you.

fourthirteen

This. I bet they pulled a wire loose or something when removing the seat.

Nhirsch

A little late for this comment but I had rear passenger door unlock issues but found when I charged the battery it worked again. Wonder if with the new battery whether you'd have had to replace the door locks?

drSedz

Uggggggggg

john weires

I was quoted $1,100 for parts and labor to replace a door lock (passenger rear) by my local Porsche dealer. They refused to sell my independent repair shop the part so I could save some money there.
I contacted my original dealer who sold me the car and they sold me the part for about $250. My independent installed it for another $200. Total bill $450.

DeltaPilot1

Rear Door Lock failures on the 2011 Cayennes are quite common. Actually they used this same rear door lock on all 2011 Porsche's, VW's and Audi's. Same part. Both of my rear locks failed. I bought two OEM locks from Marin Porsche for $185 per lock. There is a great video on Utube on how to do the repair. It is from Japan and is NOT in english, but is excellent at SHOWING how to install the locks. Not hard but labor intensive. Now all locks work the job was done for $370, not $1,600 as was quoted by local Porsche dealer. Good luck.

DeltaPilot1

I can help you do this since I am in Fort Collins. Text 970-988-3199

Needsdecaf

I think the driver's rear door lock is the ONLY one I have heard of being an issue on. And yes, I paid $800 and change to do it.

drSedz

Ok. So based on some suggestions on here about the seat warmer connection possibly being accidentally disconnected during the battery change, I called the shop that changed my battery, and asked them to check the seat again to see if they dislodged any connections. At first they got defensive about it, but eventually agreed to have me back in to check. So I went over there during my lunch break today, and hey removed the seat and checked all connections.... everything was in tact apparently. They also mentioned that because the seat warmer lights turn on initially when pressed before they shut off, that it is unlikely it was a disconnected connection. They attached the seat back to the car, and they tech mentioned he thinks its a "bad filament/heater mechanism" in the chair seat itself. They pointed to the new foam they ordered for my seat, and asked me if I wanted to schedule the repair. I told them I would call back.

For good measure, on my way home from work I noticed a RED WARNING light on my dash next to the tachometer. It appears to be the red airbag warning light.... Anyone know if this light may be going because of something they did when they lifted the chair to check the warmer connections? Please advise. I really want to be able to trust my repair shop... If anyone lives in Marin County or North SF Bay and has a repair shop they trust, please DM me. I'm beginning to lose faith in these guys.... There are tons of old school P cars at this shop being worked on, so they seem to have the trust of many owners... so this may be a one off situation, but they don't treat me with high level service that I would expect.

Much appreciate everyone's input up until this point as well. It feels like I am less "in the blind" with some of you guys behind me.
Cheers

TonyVan

I have a 2013 GTS and my drivers seat had the same symptoms.
Press the seat heater button and it would illuminate for a second and go out.
Im a big fan of heated seats and while it was at the dealer, for a thermostat housing replacement,
I asked them to check it. They investigated and told me the same thing. Bad heating element.
I believe the repair was about $1,000. and did not include replacing the foam or leather.
$800. sounds like a reasonable price.
Tony