Russian INOPERATIVE
December 4, 2025
Alex KiersteinBricked Porsches have Russian owners paranoid about Western electronics warfare. Let me say this: the truth is out there.
There are a lot of theories about why Porsche cars and SUVs in Russia are refusing to start. A dealership there suggested Western interference, according to The Daily Mail. Electronic warfare, retaliation for the country’s war in Ukraine, perhaps. “It’s a warning sign about which brands can be trusted,” a jilted Porsche owner complained after his Porsche refused to start outside a pizza place, the paper reported.
The root cause is, allegedly, the Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) installed on some Porsche models. These systems provide tracking, a layer of theft protection. And the theory goes, among owners, that Porsche (or a Western power) flipped a switch, bricking a conspicuous Western luxury brand’s vehicles in a petty form of electronic warfare. Or maybe something less nefarious, but equally maddening to these owners (and the dealer techs trying to revive them).
“It is not known whether the problem lies in the impact of electronic warfare (EW) measures or a signal from the manufacturer,” a Porsche Rusland LLC rep told the paper.
Even some Volkswagen, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz products are affected. It brings up broader concerns about the ability of a vehicle to arbitrarily be rendered inoperative. Is this the dark side to connected cars? Can planned obsolescence play out in unsupported vehicles being disabled with the flip of a switch?
It would be interesting, and perhaps fitting, if this was true in the Russian case. It’s not far-fetched to imagine that a Western power could build in a back door and turn off cars in countries it doesn’t like.
I think the answer is something else, based on a conversation with a Porsche representative in the U.S. The thing is, Porsche’s VTS isn’t a unitary device found in all models worldwide. Instead, it’s a third-party device that combines several functions, which may include a secondary security key (sometimes called a Driver Card), a SIM card for tracking stolen vehicles, et cetera. VTS may include an ignition interlock.
It is not a global product; various regions have specified providers that comply with local privacy and data handling rules, the Porsche rep told me. For example, in the Benelux countries, Clifford is the VTS provider.
Issues with VTS malfunctions leading to “bricked” Porsches are not limited to Russia. A technical bulletin filed with NHTSA (link opens a PDF) lists several vehicles that have erroneous ignition interlock claims, apparently due to faulty VTS units. The fix in this instance is, essentially, to tell the ignition interlock to ignore the signal from the VTS unit, and then remove the VTS unit entirely. Bypassing it, and not reinstalling it. It’s possible this is a temporary workaround, but the point is, American dealer service techs were already bypassing the VTS system to prevent this issue in some instances. The likelihood that a Western electronics warfare operation targeting Russia would net American Porsche prior to 2022 seems … small. This is probably a regular equipment failure.
Remember, Porsche isn’t officially operating in Russia any longer. Its former subsidiary, Porsche Rusland, appears to be running the show. As of 2022, the company ceased importing cars to the country. What links, formal or informal, remain between Porsche Rusland and Porsche and its suppliers is unclear. And likely to remain that way, given the situation.
The issue is far more likely to be a problem, whether systemic or transient, with one of the entities that enables VTS service in Russia. It could be the telecom provider that sends signal to the SIM card onboard. It could be an issue with the provider of the VTS units themselves; perhaps they are faulty, as the American ones occasionally were. The Daily Mail and others report that bypassing the VTS system seems to un-brick the vehicles, and that squares with the TSB we found via NHTSA. And the brief mention of other automakers being affected. Who provides their trackers? Could it be the same entity as Russian Porsches use?
If you want to know the truth, you’ll have to get ahold of the VTS provider for Russia. I’m not going to. I don’t want to be put on some list. They might brick my old Honda.
Oh wait. It’s not connected to anything. Maybe I’ll keep it that way.
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