Polestar Polestar 3 Complaints (2025)

78 consumer complaints on file.

#11706772December 23, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
There were multiple cases while driving at speed where the driver's display unexpectedly and without warning turned off. I was not able to see the car's speed or gearing until the next time the car was reset.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11701760November 26, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, POWER TRAIN
I have had multiple issues with my Polestar 3. Most notably, the vehicle lost all propulsion at highway speeds. My safety was heavily jeopardized as I had to merge across multiple lanes of traffic to reach the shoulder. On the day of the incident, the car's propulsion stopped working 4 separate times. The Polestar service center did nothing other than reset the software and tell me the issue was not repeatable. Additionally, the Polestar 3 has consistently electrical issues. I've had doors handles close on my fingers, the rear hatch close on my head, I had a period of time where the driver door did not open, and many basic elements like handsfree calling and bluetooth fail regularly. I also get repeated phantom front-end collision issues where the car automatically jams on the brakes when there is no actual concern for front-end collision. Lastly, like many Polestar 3 owners, I frequently have had multiple failures of the Level 2 Charging port. For the 2nd time, I am not able to charge at home or at any other Level 2 Charger. And frequent requests from Polestar to alleviate this go unheeded. I've had to spend a ton of time and money on Level 3 charging (like Electrify America) rather than the charger I paid to install at home. Overall, Polestar 3 has been an awful experience and the vehicle should not have been released. I'm effectively a beta tester for a substandard and unsafe vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11700146November 18, 2025
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The malfunction I experienced involved the vehicle's electronic safety system, which caused the brake to apply suddenly and without my input. The service center was "UNABLE TO DUPLICATE" the specific fault during their inspection and found "NO CODES STORED," noting that the problem was intermittent and not verifiable by the technician. The car is, however, available for inspection. My safety and the safety of others were put at extreme risk because the car suddenly and unexpectedly applied the brakes while I was driving in the middle of a street, creating an immediate and severe danger of being rear-ended by other traffic. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by the dealer. The technician's notes explicitly state: "UNABLE TO DUPLICATE, NO CODES STORED," and the issue was recorded as "NO PROBLEM FOUND AT THIS TIME." The vehicle has only been inspected by a technician at the authorized Polestar service center. There has been no inspection by police, insurance representatives, or any corporate representative from the manufacturer concerning this safety defect. There were no warning lamps or messages immediately prior to the failure on November 13, 2025.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11692656October 11, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Date of Incident: [XXX] US Eastern Time Location: [XXX] Incident Type: Safety defect and vehicle malfunction due to Sudden Unintended Acceleration with multiple safety system failures On the date referenced above, while traveling at approximately 5 mph and preparing to park in a gravel parking lot, I removed my foot from the accelerator pedal to bring the vehicle to a complete stop using the normal deceleration process (with One-Pedal Mode disabled). Instead of the expected behavior, the vehicle: 1.Suddenly and violently accelerated without input 2.Drove straight into a parked vehicle at high speed, completely displacing it 3.Continued accelerating despite my attempts to control it 4.Required multiple brake applications before finally stopping 5.Traveled approximately 270 degrees across the parking lot while I desperately tried to avoid additional collisions 6.There were ~6 women that had been standing exactly where the incident happened only a few minutes before the accident, had I arrived earlier I could have hurt/killed these pedestrians Critical Safety System Failures During This Incident: •No pre-collision warnings or alerts activated •No collision avoidance sensors engaged •No automatic emergency braking deployed •No warning messages appeared on the vehicle display •No audible warning sounds of any kind •No air bag activation after my car rammed into the parked car This represents a catastrophic failure of multiple redundant safety systems that are fundamental to the Polestar 3's safety design. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11690698October 1, 2025
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
After the car is backed up in reverse, the car is placed in drive however if at a stand still you pull down on the shift lever twice the car thinks it is in adaptive cruise control and as soon as you apply pressure to the accelerator pedal the car speeds up quickly without application of pressure on the accelerator. Multiple times I had to quickly apply the brake otherwise I would have crashed into my garage. I a person was in front of the car they could be injured. The company has not addressed this issue. Also the forward collision warning system activates spontaneously and incorrectly tightening the seat belts suddenly and with force.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11690676September 30, 2025
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The Polestar 3 failed while driving with my family on 8/16/25. It had a propulsion failure (with "turtle mode") and it would only go 6 mph or less and would not go up a hill. With nowhere safe to pull over while on the hill, I had to perform an unsafe maneuver to get the car down a hill to a safe place. Once parked it showed dashes on the dashboard and would not go into drive or reverse. The car was towed--it could not be placed in neutral so had to be dragged up the platform. It was in the service center for 24 days and returned to me without anything fixed. I learned 5 days ago that the service center had requested replacement of the VCU which was denied by Polestar engineering. I feel the car was returned to me in an unsafe condition. The failure happened again recently but fortunately it was parked and would not start. No warning lights, just dashes again on the dashboard. The vehicle has now been at the repair center for 16 days now (40 days total)--the service center has requested VCU replacement which Polestar engineering has denied again. I have requested my options for buy back / lease termination--I was told it would take 4-6 weeks and customer service is not responding to my inquiries now.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11689031September 22, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The onboard charger has failed twice now in less than 1,800 miles. Bought the car new and it has been in the shop this time for 31 days and parts are not available to fix it until at least Sept. 30th. Also, Volvo Marin never seems to have loaner cars available. Horrible experience with this dealership and car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11688335September 19, 2025
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
We have owned this vehicle for about 4 months. During that time, it has displayed dozens of error messages about the vehicle's safety systems. Most commonly, it indicates that the safety systems are not available at all. There are also persistent warning lights about faults in the safety systems. Even when they are working, the ongoing warnings, issues and randomly occurring failures of these systems make them unreliable and less safe than not having the assist systems at all. Polestar service had the vehicle for over 7 weeks but still returned it to us with active safety system failure warnings.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11685476September 6, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Leased a new 2025 Polestar 3 and took delivery Dec 28, 2024. I expected some growing pains as it’s a new car model and relatively new brand, but have had to take it to the dealer and/or call support almost monthly. Most of the issues are resolved via resetting some system, but the major issue has been charging at home. Around March I had an issue where it wouldn’t charge at home and the car stayed with the dealer for 3 weeks (I had a loaner) to replace hardware. Now I’m seeing the same issue occurring which appears as: -Charger and car plug lights are correct (white on charger, green on car) -Car stays “Initializing” longer than normal -Either “Waiting” or “Error” appear onscreen and the car doesn’t charge I am stuck calling the dealer to solve this problem and in the meantime my car won’t charge (undriveable).
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11685027September 4, 2025
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
I was parking, lifted my foot off the accelerator to slow my car down, and instead my car unexpectedly went into high acceleration (note: not user error, I took my foot OFF the pedal). My car hit head-on into another car, then I steered the car sideways, and finally was able to get the car to stop by pumping the breaks several times.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11677366July 30, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Car does not AC charge
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11675494July 22, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Charging on AC power failed. Needed to replace GHCA at dealer, and happened two more times, so 3 trips to the dealer to get a new charging component. Lack of charge left us stranded.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11675357July 22, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Vehicle has had onboard charger failure twice
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11675225July 22, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
AC Charging Fail. Unable to use home charger to charge car even after polestar took car in to replace OBC.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11675085July 21, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Vehicle stopped charging on level 2 alternating current chargers
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11675066July 21, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Unable to use AC charging, faulty on board charger module. Occurred at 500 miles/2 weeks of ownership. No warnings.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11675008July 21, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
After about 3600 miles in service the car stopped charging on level-2 AC chargers. Per discussion with Polestar service the GHVC component failed and was replaced under warranty.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11674969July 21, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Module allowing at home level 2 charging failed
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11674948July 21, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, POWER TRAIN, STEERING
three issues 1) media control are not built to steering wheel. The only way to change media is to use the dial. I have to move my hand away from steering wheel and move my eye to see the control. This is a safety hazard. 2) Polestar's driver monitoring software is too sensitive to report overwhelming false alarms. The alarm triggers when turning my head on lane change, moving my eye to change media etc. When there is way too many false alarm, the system become a safety hazard per se. 3) Steering wheel hand detection sometimes don't work even when I have my hand on it. Another distraction.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11674942July 21, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
AC charger unexpectedly fails and replacement parts take 3-4 weeks to obtain. Lack of AC charging could strand a driver in an area where no DC chargers are available.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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