Porsche tells 911 GT3 owners to park their cars over engine fires

In any given year, automakers issue hundreds of recalls for safety defects on their vehicles. In a few rare cases, the defect can be so dangerous than an automaker will tell owners to stop driving and have their car towed to a dealership rather than risk saying on the road. Today, another such order arrived from an unlikely source: Porsche, which is struggling to find why its $120,000 911 GT3s are setting themselves on fire.

This morning, the German automaker said it would tell all 785 owners worldwide of the 2014 edition of the 911 GT3 to park their 475-hp sports cars immediately and wait for a hauler to take them to the nearest dealership. That order comes after reports of five 911 GT3s catching fire in Europe, including the one in Germany shown above. According to local police, the driver heard strange noises from the engine, and stopped the car just as flames began to emerge. No deaths or injuries have been blamed on the flames to date.

Porsche says it's still studying the problem to find a cause, and it's not the first time an expensive sports car showed a tendency for self-immolation; three years ago, Ferrari had to perform a similar recall on the 458 Italia. Until Porsche finds and fixes the problem, 911 GT3 owners will have to settle for a slower but less-flammable set of wheels.