IllustrationReversing camera is unusable. When shifting into reverse the reverse camera can black out or freeze. More commonly after the last software update the reverse camera has been lagging about a second behind the actual car location leading to severe disorientation.
2022 Polestar Polestar 2
Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations
More warning signs than most Polestar 2 years
Owner complaints for the 2022 Polestar Polestar 2 are substantially higher than the model-year median of 114.
About this comparison →How this year compares
Owner complaints by model year
Compare all Polestar 2 years →Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.
What owners reported most
All reported categories
Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.
When problems were reported
Mileage at the reported incident
Limited mileage data: 5 of 305 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.
NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.
What to inspect
Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.
- Back Over Prevention. Review the 209 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Electrical System. Review the 46 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Visibility/wiper. Review the 20 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
1 crash reports0 fire reports0 injury reports
What owners actually said
305 reportsI am reporting an ongoing safety-related malfunction with the rear camera and infotainment system that occurs several times per week and has been reported to Polestar previously, without resolution. When shifting into reverse, the rear camera consistently fails to display. The screen shows a “Rear camera unavailable” message, f…
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I am reporting an ongoing safety-related malfunction with the rear camera and infotainment system that occurs several times per week and has been reported to Polestar previously, without resolution. When shifting into reverse, the rear camera consistently fails to display. The screen shows a “Rear camera unavailable” message, followed by a blank screen. Attempting to resolve the issue by shifting between drive and reverse, switching screens, or restarting the vehicle does not restore camera functionality. In multiple cases, parking the vehicle, exiting, and attempting again still results in a non-functional camera. After receiving the most recent recall update, the problem worsened significantly. Prior to the update, the issue occurred intermittently. Since the update, the rear camera fails to display approximately 95% of the time when shifting into reverse. This problem presents a substantial safety hazard by removing rear visibility during normal operation and parking maneuvers. Software updates have made no improvement, and the malfunction remains unresolved. I request investigation and remediation, as this is a persistent safety defect affecting normal vehicle operation.
Rear view camera lags badly and will freeze when putting the car into reverse. Almost backed into a pole due to lag of the camera
Started car and put in reverse. Back up camera stops working mid reversal.
Backup camera only works about 50% of the time. It frequently gives “camera unavailable” error
The back up camera doesn’t work even after there was already a safety recall. It Constantly crashes and says “camera not available. The issue has been happening for months. Polestar has failed to address the issue even though they claimed that an earlier software update should have fixed it.
What failed? There have been a couple instances of the screen (IHU) rebooting while just driving down the road. This temporarily disables the HVAC (including defroster) and turn signal sounds. It is unclear which ADAS functions are impacted. It is available for inspection upon request, if you visit me in NC. How was safety pu…
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What failed? There have been a couple instances of the screen (IHU) rebooting while just driving down the road. This temporarily disables the HVAC (including defroster) and turn signal sounds. It is unclear which ADAS functions are impacted. It is available for inspection upon request, if you visit me in NC. How was safety put at risk? Disabling the defroster could cause the windshield to fog up quickly, and the distraction of the IHU rebooting could cause the driver to focus on the issue instead of the road. Safety related ADAS functions may also have been impacted, that is unclear. This has not been confirmed or reproduced by a third party, it has only happened a couple of times and is fairly random. If I had to guess it's an OOM (out of memory) condition in the IHU caused by an under-spec'd IHU plus a memory leak somewhere. Has it been inspected by anybody else? Nope. Where there any warnings? The IHU was more sluggish than usual, but there were no other warnings.
What component or system failed? The backup camera regularly fails to show the view behind the vehicle, with the message "camera not available". This appears to be connected with an overloaded / underpowered computer / IHU. Safety is put at risk because the rear visibility is limited when the backup camera is not functional, a…
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What component or system failed? The backup camera regularly fails to show the view behind the vehicle, with the message "camera not available". This appears to be connected with an overloaded / underpowered computer / IHU. Safety is put at risk because the rear visibility is limited when the backup camera is not functional, and the failure is a distraction to the driver. The dealer has seen the problem but says another firmware update to fix it might be coming at some point. The vehicle has not been inspected by anybody else, because it's a model/year-wide known issue. There were no warnings prior to the failure. This has occurred on many dates, including today.
What component or system malfunctioned: Rear auto brake, but the underlying issue may be the underpowered processor / IHU Is it available to inspect? Only if you want to visit me in North Carolina, but you're welcome to look at the car. How was the safety at risk? After leaving a parking space (with a fairly tight exit), and p…
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What component or system malfunctioned: Rear auto brake, but the underlying issue may be the underpowered processor / IHU Is it available to inspect? Only if you want to visit me in North Carolina, but you're welcome to look at the car. How was the safety at risk? After leaving a parking space (with a fairly tight exit), and placing the car in Drive and driving forward, there were two instances where rear auto brake activated (Despite driving forward) and caused sudden deceleration of the vehicle. Safety would have been at risk if this happened on a busy street; there were no damages or injuries because this happened on a quiet residential street with no traffic. Reproduction - has not been reproduced at all, it was a one-off. Reported to others - not yet, but I do plan to report it to the manufacturer. There were no warnings prior to the failure.
Backup camera becomes not available when backing up multiple times.
Official recalls
425V615000 · Back Over Prevention:software
Sep 15, 2025
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.
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: 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.
25V280000 · Back Over Prevention:software
Apr 25, 2025
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."
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: 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.
24V477000 · Back Over Prevention: Sensing System: Camera; Equipment:electrical:infotainment:software
Jun 26, 2024
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."
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: 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.
Additional source detail variants (2)
Equipment:electrical:infotainment:software
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."
Consequence: 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.
Back Over Prevention: Sensing System: Camera
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."
Consequence: 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.
21V110000 · Electrical System:propulsion System:traction Battery:management System/energy Control Module (bms/becm):software
Feb 24, 2021
Polestar Automotive USA, Inc. (Polestar) is recalling certain 2021-2022 Polestar 2 vehicles. The Battery Energy Control Module (BECM) microprocessor may reset and cause the high voltage system to disconnect.
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: A disconnected high voltage system can cause a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Polestar will notify owners, and the software will be updated by a dealer, or through an over-the-air (OTA) update, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 23, 2021. Owners may contact Polestar customer service at 1-800-806-2504. Polestar's number for this recall is R10079.
Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗
NHTSA investigations
2RQ25004 · Loss Of rear-view Camera Image
Opened Jul 9, 2025 · Closed Aug 28, 2026
Status: closed (inferred from source dates) · Back Over Prevention: Sensing System: Camera
On July 9, 2025, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Recall Query (RQ) 25004 to investigate and review the effectiveness of the remedy for Recall 25V-280.Polestar initiated Recall 25V-280 to address shortcomings in the remedy for Recall 24V-477, which intended to address rear camera outage conditions. Consumer complaint traffic reporting rear-view camera outages after receiving the remedy for 25V-280prompted the RQ opening. On July 7, 2024, Polestar initiated Recall 24V-477 to address issues with the rear-view camera display in certain Model Year (MY) 2021-2024 Polestar 2 vehicles. According to Polestar, this failure was due to a memory allocation error in the IHU. To address this error, the remedy, provided by an over-the-air (OTA) software update , shortened the retry times of the camera streams and removed the rendering of the map in the driver display during backing events to release the graphic memory for the rear-view camera. On April 25, 2025, Polestar initiated Recall 25V-280 to address similar issues with the rear-view camera display in certain MY 2021-2025 Polestar 2 vehicles. The recall remedy consisted of an OTA software update intended to correct a synchronization error between the Parking Assist Camera (PAC) and the Infotainment Head Unit (IHU). The updated software would maintain the high-speed signal connection between the PAC and IHU, instead of toggling on and off by request. ODI has received two hundred seventy-five (275) Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQ) alleging failure of the rear-view camera to display after receiving the remedy for Recall 25V-280. Consumers reported that the rear-view camera failed to display once the vehicle was initially placed in reverse, as well as losing the rear-view image while the vehicle was traveling in reverse . Failure to display the rearview image will reduce the driver’s visibility in a backing event, increasing the risk of a crash. On July 18, 2025, ODI sent Polestar an Information Request (IR) letter requesting data for vehicle production, field incidents, and any modifications related to the backup camera and its software. ODI also requested information pertaining to Polestar’s internal assessments, problem resolutions, and their assessment of the alleged defect. On September 15, 2025, Polestar issued Recall 25V-615, which sought to remedy the failure of Recall 25V-280. Polestar acknowledged that the prior remedy was insufficient and that further engineering analysis would be required for final software development and validation. Polestar worked with its supplier (Volvo) and began validation of the new software in February 2026. On April 20, 2026, Polestar released the remedy for Recall 25V-615 via an OTA software update. The update provided general stability improvements to the operating system, as well as bug fixes for the rear-view camera. Since the deployment of the 25V-615 remedy, ODI has received only 3 VOQs alleging a rear camera outage, yielding a complaint rate of 0.01% for Recall 25V-615. ODI assessed the conditions that led to the 25V-280 remedy failures and the countermeasures deployed to prevent recurrence in vehicles that received the remedy for 25V-615. To measure its efficacy, ODI analyzed materials produced by Polestar in its responses to ODI’s July 18, 2025, IR letter and additional materials Polestar furnished in response to email requests and a technical meeting in 2026.ODI also reviewed information Polestar provided in response to another IR letter NHTSA sent on March 25, 2026, requesting additional information related to the decision-making process for correcting the remedy failure of Recall 25V-280. On June 10, 2026, at the request of ODI, Polestar presented a technical briefing of the remedy for Recall 25V-615, which included both completion rates and remedy failure counts. ODI has monitored the remedy for Recall 25V-615 since April 2026 and has observed the failure rate to remain low. ODI is closing this RQ following manufacturer action in the form of Recall 25V-615. The Agency will continue to monitor the remedy and reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. To review the ODI reports cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
DP22005 · Pedestrian Alert Sounds
Opened Jan 27, 2023 · Closed Aug 7, 2023
Status: closed (inferred from source dates) · Electrical System:propulsion System
NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.