2021 Polestar Polestar 2 Electrical Problems

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.

NHTSA ID

11735978

Incident

Apr 26, 2026

The On-Board Charger failed under normal conditions, leaving the car unable to be charged by any AC charger, this is a common issue that I have seen reported on several forums, and should be addressed.

NHTSA ID

11700701

Incident

Nov 17, 2025

The backup camera has progressively been made worse by software updates. It is often nonfunctional, shows a black screen, or excessively flickers, making it hard or impossible to see.

NHTSA ID

11691248

Incident

Oct 3, 2025

After applying the latest update to fix the recall, the camera and infotainment system performs worsee than before. The rear camera stops displaying almost 95% of the time, the only time it does work is if you get back in the car before the system goes to sleep .

NHTSA ID

11688788

Incident

Aug 28, 2025

Upon entering the vehicle and starting a drive, inexplicably, no audio sounds were playing inside the vehicle. This includes the infotainment system but also the turn/hazard signal clicking, and likely any additional audible alerts that are necessary to drive safely in all conditions. Volume control did not make any difference. Restarting the infotainment system by holding the home button on the screen bezel for 30 seconds, while still driving the vehicle, and waiting longer for the software to reboot, eventually fixed it. There are additional reports of this online.

NHTSA ID

11671269

Incident

Jul 3, 2025

Rear view camera unavailable when car is put into reverse. Blank screen or lagging screens when backing up can put myself and others at risk of harm or great bodily injury. Car has been serviced for this recall previously and has not been resolved. Manufacturer will need to upgrade the system hardware because the updates alone do not fix it.

NHTSA ID

11668935

Incident

Jun 24, 2025

Polestar has issued several software updates over the past year that have resulted in serious safety issues: A previous software recall for issues with the vehicle's backup camera has not fixed the issue. About 50% of the time, the vehicles backup camera flashes, freezes, and then fails while reversing before eventually displaying a "Backup Camera Not Available" message. The issue is that this all happens while reversing in motion, meaning it's distracting and dangerous. Similarly, the vehicle's automatic emergency rear braking engages erroneously about 20% of the time while revering. This happens when the system is slow to respond and seems to mistake shadows as objects. It has almost resulted in causing a collision twice now while I was driving. On occasion, the passenger side mirror will fail to raise from the folded position preventing the vehicle from driving safely. The manufacturer continues to claim that software updates have or will fix these issues, however none have been resolved. These issues are not unique to my vehicle either, as they are widely reported online. The vehicle's software has serious safety issues and needs to be resolved. Thank you.

NHTSA ID

11642017

Incident

Feb 6, 2025

There was a recall due to the rearview camera not coming on when the car is put in reverse. My car was at the shop 3 times for this issue to be fixed and they are unable to fix it. Now the site says there are no recalls on my car. How do I get this fixed? They should be fined for letting this go for years and still not resolving it. They're still selling cars knowing the issue is unresolved.

NHTSA ID

11630587

Incident

Dec 11, 2024

This car will periodically lose all interior audio function. This includes safety alerts like parking, forward collision, rear collision, cross traffic, and any other alert you can think of including the sound the turn signal makes. Bluetooth audio and radio also unavailable. This is a commonly documented problem as noted by Polestar enthusiasts on Reddit and other forums. Some can fix the problem by performing a reset of the infotainment system. I have had instances in which resetting this system made no difference. The car was unfit by US safety standards until the next day if lucky enough to see the issue self correct. I have only had this car for 4 months, but every week or so this issue has happened at least once. This is an unrecoverable safety issue with risk of assumed safety features arbitrarily not working.

NHTSA ID

11605299

Incident

Jul 30, 2024