2021 Polestar Polestar 2 Recalls & Complaints

Incident: May 20, 2026 · Filed: October 14, 2026

I am reporting a recurring, unresolved propulsion-system fault affecting my 2021 Polestar 2 Dual Motor. Since 2025, this vehicle has experienced repeated electrical and propulsion-system problems, including an incident in November 2025 when the vehicle became immobilized and would not engage Drive or Reverse. That incident was resolved after the 12-volt battery was replaced. During 2026, the vehicle repeatedly displayed the warning "Propulsion System Service Required." These warnings have occurred despite numerous repair attempts involving major high-voltage electrical components. Polestar service documentation identifies diagnostic trouble codes involving the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM), including P0AE300, P0ADB00, and P0C7800. These codes concern high-voltage contactor control and precharge-system operation. Additional diagnostic codes have been recorded in the onboard charging system. Repairs during 2026 have included replacing the Battery Energy Control Module, the onboard charger twice, the high-voltage air-conditioning compressor twice, and high-voltage switching or precharge components. In June 2026, the vehicle was returned following repairs, but the propulsion warning recurred within approximately 50 miles. On September 23, 2026, Polestar Princeton returned the vehicle after replacing the onboard charger for a second time. The service department indicated that the vehicle was operating as designed. On September 25, 2026, approximately two days after this repair, the "Propulsion System Service Required" warning returned. I photographed the warning and notified Polestar Princeton and Polestar Customer Engagement. The warning persisted across vehicle shutdown and restart attempts. I returned the vehicle to Polestar Princeton on approximately September 27, 2026, where it remains. I have not received confirmation that the promised higher-level engineering evaluation

Incident: August 5, 2026 · Filed: August 5, 2026

Rear driveshaft/axle shafts failing at 39,000 miles on a 2021 Polestar 2. Symptom is a ticking/clicking noise during deceleration at low speed cadenced to wheel speed. Polestar issued Technical Journal TJ 36854.1.0 in March 2024 acknowledging this as a known issue on 2021-2023 model year vehicles with VST Operation Number 46602-2. Despite this being a documented manufacturer defect, Polestar is not covering the repair outside the bumper-to-bumper warranty period. Quoted $2,547 for both rear axle shafts at an authorized service center. This defect affects multiple vehicles across multiple model years and warrants investigation for a formal recall.

Incident: June 22, 2026 · Filed: June 24, 2026

Center entertaiment touchscreen which provides visiblity for the rear camera as well as the backup sensors and A/C controls for front defogger went is completely blank. Polestar2 logo appears, but no longer boots. This causes the rear camera to be completely useless.

Incident: April 14, 2025 · Filed: June 16, 2026

Well backing out of a parking space at the grocery store. My rear camera failed to activate even after several times trying to get the camera to work. I decided to try and back out by just looking over my shoulder, but could not see through the back window and collided into a shopping cart. None of the advanced systems activated no object detection, no camera and no collision warning.

Incident: April 26, 2026 · Filed: May 6, 2026

Vehicle Info: 2021 Polestar 2 74,765 mi Software version 5.0.10 About 2 weeks ago, I updated to the newest OTA update 5.0.10, which may be unrelated. 1 week ago, the normal start-up safety procedure flagged the airbag and instructed me to find a service station immediately. I scheduled an appt and I was charged $300 diagnostic fee. It's unclear if the airbags would deploy in a collision based on the fault. The service manager shared with me that there are two reasons for the issue in his experience - 1. the vehicle was in a collision and the sensors fail to lock out or 2. there is wiring under the seat that failed either at the harness or on the wire directly. #1 can be ruled out by the vehicle history report and the car was never in a collision. #2 is the only viable reason based on vehicle use. If this is the case, it's a design flaw that must be addressed by the manufacturer. More investigation should be conducted to find the cause (e.g. electronic seat adjustments damaging SRS wiring, faulty electrical components, OTA software patches, etc.). Regardless, it's unacceptable for customers to bear the financial responsibility of an SRS failure.

Incident: January 5, 2026 · Filed: March 29, 2026

An update was applied last year to fix the reverse camera issue. The issue remains, sometimes the camera is unavailable, it the camera goes in to 360 degree mode. Happens about once a week or every two weeks

Incident: March 16, 2026 · Filed: March 16, 2026

Polestar has issued two recalls and claims they fixed the reverse camera issues with a software update, but they have not been remedied. When reversing, the camera screen will still often go blank, freeze, or stutter. I am not confident that the picture I'm seeing on the screen is a real time depiction of the view behind me or is simply frozen. This presents safety issues where the screen may have frozen or gone blank just before someone runs behind the vehicle, and the driver is led to believe there is nothing behind the vehicle.

Incident: February 11, 2026 · Filed: March 8, 2026

2021 Polestar 2, consistently the rear back up camera fails to display. In my case the issue did not occur until my car was updated past 3.2.8. The issue is caused by extremely dated hardware. The processor, and memory are insufficient for the more modern software that is being released. I also believe this is why my car will slam on the brakes in reverse when there is no object behind the car while I am reversing. Polestar has released a IHU hardware upgrade in other Polestar markets, but has not given any dates or information for this to be released in the US. A further software update is not going to rectify this issue, unless features are removed to fre up resources. Not a safety concern but Media will stop playing in SiriusXM and have to be restarted after 20 minutes of driving. After parking over night the IHU will take 2-3 minutes to fully wake up to be able to set navigation or activeate Apple Car play.

Incident: March 8, 2026 · Filed: March 8, 2026

Backup Camera still doesn't function when reversing after multiple recalls.

Incident: March 3, 2026 · Filed: March 3, 2026

The vehicle was serviced on 2/13 at the Polestar service center in Seattle. I believe this is when software version 4.2.13 was installed. In the last week, I've noticed a new behavior. When I accelerate from a stop, the vehicle intermittently does not accelerate as it used to. For approximately 2 - 3 seconds, I have no control over acceleration and the vehicle only operates around 5 mph. This put me in a scary situation as I was making a quick turn in front of oncoming traffic, and did not have the acceleration I expected to safely make the turn. It's happened to me about six times in the last week.