2023 Polestar Polestar 2

Routine

Owners filed 114 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the back over prevention › sensing system › camera. It has been recalled 4 times.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera77
000
Unknown or Other10
000
Visibility/Wiper4
000
Electrical System4
000
Back Over Prevention › Warnings3
000
Service Brakes2
100
Back Over Prevention2
000
Vehicle Speed Control1
000
Structure › Body › Hatchback/Liftgate1
000
Structure › Body1
000

4 safety recalls

Part 573 reports
Back Over Prevention › Software25V615000
Filed Sep 15, 202527,816 vehiclesPolestar Automotive Usa, Inc.

Defect. Polestar Automotive USA, Inc. (Polestar) is recalling certain 2021-2025 Polestar 2 vehicles. The rearview camera image may not display when the vehicle is placed in reverse.

Risk. A rearview camera image that does not display reduces the driver's view of what is behind the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy. Dealers will update the vehicle software, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed June 4, 2026. Owners may contact Polestar's customer service at 1-800-806-2504. Polestar's number for this recall is RP1069. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning April 20, 2026. This recall replaces previous NHTSA recalls 24V477 and 25V280. Vehicles previously repaired under those recalls will need to have the new remedy performed.

Back Over Prevention › Software25V280000
Filed Apr 25, 202527,816 vehiclesPolestar Automotive Usa, Inc.

Defect. Polestar Automotive USA, Inc. (Polestar) is recalling certain 2021-2025 Polestar 2 vehicles. The rearview camera image may not display when the vehicle is placed in reverse. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."

Risk. A rearview camera image that does not display reduces the driver's view of what is behind the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy. Dealers will update the vehicle software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed June 20, 2025. Owners may contact Polestar's customer service at 1-800-806-2504. Polestar's number for this recall is RP1056. Vehicles in this recall that were previously repaired under 24V-477 will need to have the new remedy completed.

Equipment › Electrical › Infotainment › Software24V477000
Filed Jun 26, 202425,825 vehiclesPolestar Automotive Usa, Inc.

Defect. Polestar Automotive USA, Inc. (Polestar) is recalling certain 2021-2024 Polestar 2 vehicles. The Infotainment Head Unit (IHU) software may prevent the rearview camera image from displaying. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."

Risk. A rearview camera image that does not display decreases the driver's visibility, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy. Polestar has released an over-the-air IHU software update, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 9, 2024. Owners may contact Polestar customer service at 1-800-806-2504. Polestar's number for this recall is RP1016.

Suspension › Front › Control Arm › Lower Ball Joint23V476000
Filed Jul 12, 20233 vehiclesPolestar Automotive Usa, Inc.

Defect. Polestar Automotive USA, Inc. (Polestar) is recalling certain 2023 Polestar 2 vehicles. The front left lower ball joint may have been incorrectly installed, allowing the control arm to disconnect from the steering knuckle.

Risk. The control arm disconnecting from the steering knuckle can cause a loss of steering, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy. Dealers will inspect and replace the ball joint fastening bolt as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 10, 2023. Owners may contact Polestar customer service at 1-800-806-2504. Polestar's number for this recall is R10245.

What owners reported

Newest filings
Back Over Prevention
Filed Jul 8, 2026CO

The contact owns a 2023 Polestar Polestar 2. The contact received notification for NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V615000 (Back Over Prevention). The vehicle was taken to the dealer for the recall repair; however, the dealer informed the contact that the recall remedy could not be completed because previous software updates were not completed. The contact stated that the dealer would only complete the recall if the previous software updates were completed, and the updates were not covered under the recall. The contact stated that the dealer failed to complete the software updates previously. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact had not experienced a failure.

Structure › Body › Hatchback/Liftgate
Filed May 8, 2026CO

Over the last 1.5 months, the liftgate system on the vehicle has failed to fully close and latch. The vehicle shows the liftgate as unsecured and the liftgate has play despite being partially latched. Investigation of the vehicle shows that the tailgate damper drive unit wiring harness is designed in a way that the wires pinch and short to ground. This design flaw causes the vehicle to lose communication with the position sensors in the tailgate damper drive unit and prevents the tailgate from closing fully.

Back Over Prevention › Warnings
Filed Mar 31, 2026CA

Polestar 2 software version 4.2.13. While reversing out of a parking spot the rear camera briefly turned on, but after a second, the infotainment system crashed, with the screen shutting off. The infotainment system automatically rebooted after ~1min of driving. This system crash also temporarily disabled rear cross traffic alert and the parking sensors. Backup cameras are a federally mandated safety feature which reduce the risk of collisions when reversing. Without this safety feature, the risk of a collision increases.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Mar 30, 2026CA

The backup camera consistently fails and displays a "Backup Camera is Temporarily Unavailable" message. Polestar is only issuing a software fix for this on model year 2026 Polestar 2s and a solution has not been offered for over 8 months now.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Mar 18, 2026PA

The rear camera on this car has been having issues for well over a year. The dealership says they are well aware of the issues and that it's common but there is nothing they can do about it and that I just need to wait for an update to eventually come. They do not know when the update is coming. This has been an ongoing issue that is a big safety issue. The rear visibility on these cars is bad to begin with, so the rear camera is essential for safety. it either doesn't go on at all every other time I try to go in reverse, or it will just cut off mid-reverse driving. This is just on top of all the rest of the infotainment system issues this car has.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Mar 16, 2026OR

Rear‑view camera intermittently fails to provide a usable image when shifting into reverse. Symptoms include delayed activation, black screen, frozen frame, or extremely choppy video. This results in intermittent loss of rear visibility and does not comply with FMVSS 111. The defect has persisted for several years despite multiple Polestar software updates and multiple NHTSA recall campaigns intended to correct the issue. The failure is reproducible and appears strongly load‑dependent. It occurs most often immediately after vehicle startup or when the infotainment system is busy with background activity such as app initialization, updates, or UI redraws. Under these conditions, shifting into reverse frequently produces no usable camera image. If I wait several seconds for the system to stabilize before shifting into reverse, the camera usually works, which indicates a resource‑contention or performance‑limitation issue within the Intel Atom–based infotainment head unit used in earlier Polestar 2 vehicles. The recall remedies have not resolved the defect, and the failure continues to occur under predictable, real‑world conditions. Because rear‑view camera activation is time‑critical for detecting pedestrians, children, pets, and obstacles, this ongoing defect presents an unreasonable safety risk. The repeated failure of software‑only remedies suggests the underlying cause may be hardware‑related. Newer Polestar and Volvo vehicles equipped with the Snapdragon‑based infotainment

Visibility/Wiper
Filed Feb 12, 2026CO

When put into reverse, display just shows Camera is temporarily unavailable. This is after the OTA update 4.2.13 that was supposed to fix the issue. Rear cross traffic braking is also unavailable at this time.

Power Train
Filed Feb 11, 2026PA

Constant camera issues. The rear camera only works half the time and when it does go it, it'll just cut off while driving in reverse. It's completely unreliable and dangerous. New update has affected the cars acceleration. Now when its below a certain degrees outside they changed it so the car can no longer accelerate at its normal speed and instead, barely responds when you hit the gas causing a multiple second delay before the car moves. It's incredibly dangerous and makes it impossible to move out of the way if needed in an emergency. Issue was reported and was told that just how it is now and there is nothing they can do about it. This is dangerous and not the vehicle I purchased.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Feb 5, 2026MN

Rear backup camera continues to not function reliably, even after updating to the latest firmware 4.2.13

Visibility/Wiper
Filed Dec 28, 2025TX

After multiple software OTA updates due to previous NHTSA recalls, the rear backup camera consistently has issues to where the image of the rear of the vehicle cannot temporarily be displayed.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Dec 4, 2025TX

Despite a recall, rear camera does not activate when putting the car into reverse. This poses immense safety risks as the rear of the vehicle is poorly visible from the driver seat and mirrors when backing up. I have previously noted this instance a few months ago after the recall for this issue, and yet the issue is persisting. There are no warnings or indicators of an electrical or other problem. I have not taken this in for servicing for this problem. But this issue is reproducible every time getting into the car and putting it into reverse, on the center display where the cameras would display, an error message appears, again, exactly as occurred prior to the recall. In summary, despite recall, rear view cameras/backup cameras do not properly work when putting the car into reverse to reverse.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Dec 4, 2025IL

Car rear camera constantly freezes, doesn’t appear or just stops during vehicle usage

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Dec 1, 2025MA

An ongoing issue with Polestar 2 vehicles has been its unreliable rear camera. When reversing, the rear camera does not always engage, leaving either a blank space on the dashboard screen or sometimes the phrase “Rear camera currently unavailable”. This continues to occur despite software updates from the manufacturer.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Nov 12, 2025CA

-The rearview camera fails intermittently when gearshift is placed in reverse and when the car drives in reverse. -Passengers and pedestrians are at risk of collision due to restricted view around vehicle. -I have not reported the problem to the dealer or manufacturer because they are well aware that this problem exists, although they claim it was remedied by software updates. -I have not had my vehicle inspected by anyone to date, but will do so if the problem is not effectively addressed soon. -There is a warning message at the time the vehicle is placed in reverse that the rearview camera is temporarily unavailable. -The problem, and the error messages, have been recurring for months. -In addition, as a result of the software changes, the vehicle radio and Google maps fail intermittently.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Oct 14, 2025OH

The back up camera repeatedly fails, and does not work, when I put my car into reverse.

Electrical System
Filed Oct 10, 2025IL

Infotainment system continues to be intermittently unresponsive. Today, the system was totally frozen which made it so heat/air conditioning could not be controlled, no sound for turn signals were present, and backup camera was not functioning.

Unknown or Other
Filed Oct 1, 2025NJ

Rear camera does not work quite often and I get a message that the system the rear camera is unavailable. This is a safety hazard when reversing the vehicle. Polestar stated that the new software they released a few months back would fix this but it did not fix it at all (software version 3.6.4)

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Sep 25, 2025MN

I received the NHTSA Recall No. 25V-280 and had the vehicle updated to Software 3.6.4 in July 2025. Following this update I still have issues with the rear camera while the vehicle is in reverse. This includes 1) the camera not available with the system showing this error, 2) the camera not available with the screen continuing to show content not related to the camera, and 3) when the camera is available there are refresh issues that cause interrupted visibility concerns.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Sep 10, 2025NJ

The rear view camera does not always work when putting the car into reverse and gives a "Camera Unavailable" error. My car is on the latest software revision which was supposed to resolve this, but it is still occuring. With the very small rear window, having a 100% working rear camera is imperative.

Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera
Filed Aug 25, 2025NY

The reserve camera shows unavailable after the recall software update. My car is on 3.6.4 and camera unavailable happened twice in one day.

20 of 114 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 2022
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
20251200Routine
202424500Routine
2023 — this page114400Routine
2022305400Above average
2021147500Routine

Compare every Polestar 2 year →

Reading this record

No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.

Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

Recall repairs are free for as long as the recall stands. Check whether a specific car still has open work at NHTSA's VIN lookup.

Most recent recall on file: Sep 15, 2025. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.