NHTSA complaint #11420572

Owner complaint summary

I was driving on an Interstate highway and saw the "Engine Control Error" message and advised to find a place to park. The car began decelerating and would not respond to pressing the accelerator pedal. An exit was coming up so I managed to get onto that exit and roll through the stop sign at the bottom of the ramp so that I was half in and half off the shoulder. The car wouldn't move forward or do anything other than continue with the air conditioning (thankfully). I contacted Porsche through the Breakdown call button on the PCM and they arranged for a towing service to come get the car and take me to the nearby dealership (20 minutes away). It took 3 hours for that to happen. I contacted the dealership in the meantime to see whether they could get me a loaner car or even a ride home. "No" on both. After 90 minutes, the car turned itself off while we waited for that towing service and I turned it back on to be able to use the air conditioning. It came back on and the message cleared. I was tempted to try driving it to the dealership but I was in a relatively safe place and didn't know whether the car would become un-drivable again, this time perhaps with even a worse safety outcome. I was fortunate that the car ceased to move forward right in line with an Interstate exit. I don't know how bad things could have gotten if I had been in a more precarious place. It might well have stopped right on the highway with no shoulder, a sharp turn, or a bridge leaving me no place to go.