The Porsche Cayenne Electric.
Image: Porsche
In late November 2025, hundreds of owners of Porsche vehicles across Russia awoke to an uncomfortable reality: their expensive luxury cars had turned into immobile “bricks.”
Engines failed to start, fuel delivery was cut, and drivers found themselves stranded, not because of mechanical breakdowns, but because of a failure deep in the cars’ digital infrastructure.
The culprit appears to be the factory-installed satellite security system, known as the Vehicle Tracking System (VTS), which is mandated on many Porsche internal-combustion models sold in Russia since ~2013.
When the VTS lost communication with its satellite network, it automatically triggered a “hard immobiliser” designed to prevent theft, shutting down engines and blocking fuel supply, even if the rightful owner was at the wheel.
The effect was sweeping: reports from cities from Moscow to Krasnodar described everything from cars that refused to start while parked to vehicles dying instantly after ignition.
One dealer, Rolf, the largest Porsche-dealer group in Russia, said that service calls surged starting November 28, and “any Porsche” with an internal-combustion engine and VTS could be affected.
Some owners reportedly restored function temporarily by disconnecting the battery for hours or by having technicians manually reset or remove the VTS module.
What’s happening in Russia strikes at a deeper truth about connected devices, especially “smart” vehicles: while software and connectivity promise convenience, remote updates, anti-theft and diagnostics, they also shift control away from the user.
In the case of these Porsches, the manufacturer’s security system, not mechanical failure or driver error, became the gatekeeper. When the satellite link failed (for whatever reason), the cars didn’t just lose a feature; they became useless.
This isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s a systemic vulnerability. As one cybersecurity-focused commentator put it: “Remotely disabling large numbers of cars … could prove dangerous as well as disruptive.”
Moreover, the incident raises uncomfortable questions about consent and dependence. Owners once bought their cars with a sense of permanence, but what they got was a product whose usability depends on a remote connection and invisible software layers.
Part of what deepens the unease is how little clarity there is about the cause or the resolution.
At the moment, there is no publicly, technical root. Some suspect a buggy firmware update or a faulty satellite network. Others don’t rule out a coordinated cyberattack or forced shutdown.
Adding to the uncertainty: while the brand has formally suspended new deliveries and operations in Russia since 2022 (after the invasion of Ukraine), the company still retains subsidiaries in the country.
That means support and updates may be patchy or inconsistent, but owners remain tied to infrastructure they can’t fully control.
The Porsche incident in Russia underscores a tension at the heart of modern consumer technology: the more “smart” our devices become, the less control we may truly have over them.
Cars, phones, even household devices, as they shift from hardware to software, from mechanical to networked, are increasingly subject to remote decisions and external dependencies.
And when something goes wrong, whether due to technical failure, business decisions, or geopolitical pressure, users can find themselves powerless.
For consumers, the takeaway is sobering: the convenience of connectivity may come at the cost of autonomy.
And as vehicles, once symbols of freedom and mobility, become subservient to lines of code and satellite signals, we may need to rethink what it really means to “own” something.