2025 POLESTAR POLESTAR 3 Electrical System Problems

Onboard charger (OBC), which is the unit that converts AC power (what home wall outlets have) to DC power (what the battery holds/uses has failed 3 times now in less than a year of ownership. Brand new car, leased from Polestar. 3/21/25 - Picked up car from Polestar Lisle, as soon as I got home from the dealership, it didn’t work out of the gate, couldn’t home charge. Ever. 5/8/25 - OBC replaced (first time) 6/2/25 - OBC replaced (second time), can’t remember when it actually failed. But this was the second repair date. 11/19/25 - OBC failed a 3rd time, first available repair date 12/26. 12/26/25 came and went, no part, no ETA. Meanwhile, I’m stuck having to pay about 3x the cost to charge at various superchargers/DC fast chargers since it can DC charge only. Paying a lease for an electric car that I can’t charge at home. Each time it breaks, I have to spend a lot of my time driving to and from the dealership for repairs, taking various less desirable loner cars (usually a Volvo XC40 or XC60). Just a big investment of my time (driving to and from dealership about a dozen times over the past 9 months), and financial cost of charging at 3x the rate, essentially at my own expense. Frustrating that a literally brand new car has had 3 pretty critical failures in less than a year of ownership and all the costs are dumped on the consumer. Paying full price for a car I can’t fully use (can’t charge at home, have to spend hours of my time just parked at charging stations)

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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).

Car does not AC charge

AC Charging Fail. Unable to use home charger to charge car even after polestar took car in to replace OBC.

Vehicle has had onboard charger failure twice

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.

AC charging fails rendering the vehicle unusable when only having access to level 1 and level 2 EV chargers. The onboard charger has been replaced by the Polestar dealer twice. They replaced it once, and it failed to rectify the issue at the dealer; so they replaced it again. After a month of downtime for this issue, we are now on the third onboard charger. Lo and behold, we have the vehicle for three days and it failed again. We’ve resorted to using DC charging but polestar is now unresponsive to our inquiries. We are uncertain whether they will continue to try fixing the issue. Or if they will just ignore us. Also, we had many other electrical and software issues that also caused another separate month of downtime. In the three months since we had this lease, we’ve only driven it on and off for one month. Two months it’s been sitting at a dealership and we are stuck with bad rental car.

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.

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.

Module allowing at home level 2 charging failed

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.

Unable to use AC charging, faulty on board charger module. Occurred at 500 miles/2 weeks of ownership. No warnings.

Vehicle stopped charging on level 2 alternating current chargers

Air conditioner is being over worked because front grill shutters won’t open

To Whom It May Concern, I am filing this complaint to formally alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to what I believe is a recurring and potentially dangerous defect in the Polestar 3 — specifically, a failure of the air conditioning system. In my case, the A/C began malfunctioning just one month after I received the vehicle. The system frequently fails to cool, blows warm air, or cycles inconsistently — even in extreme heat. This creates a safety and comfort risk, particularly in regions with high summer temperatures. While Polestar has pushed multiple software updates that claim to improve HVAC performance, none have resolved the issue. This is only one of several problems I’ve experienced with the vehicle. There has been a litany of other issues, including software instability, unreliable app connectivity, and system behavior that seems inconsistent with expected performance for a new vehicle. However, the A/C failure remains the most significant and dangerous problem. What’s more troubling is Polestar’s lack of responsiveness. I have attempted to resolve this through customer service and even escalated the matter to their legal department. I’ve received no reply. Most recently, I attempted to have my vehicle towed to the Costa Mesa, California service center using Polestar Roadside Assistance. Despite repeated efforts, I was unable to reach anyone at the service center to coordinate the tow. I was left stranded with no resolution or support. I have now exhausted all reasonable avenues with the manufacturer. Given the combination of a critical HVAC failure, unresponsiveness from the manufacturer, and what appears to be a broader trend among other owners, I urge NHTSA to investigate whether this issue warrants a safety recall or broader intervention. I am happy to provide documentation, including my VIN, service history, and records of my communications, upon request. Sincerely, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The car is unable to charge using AC. No matter what AC charge cables are used an AC Charging Fault warning comes up.

The vehicle loses 2-3% battery a day, while parked. I've communicated with several Polestars reps, from service technicians, corporate support, etc. and no one can offer a fix. Since leasing the vehicle I've estimated I've lost the equivalent of 540% of battery over six months while the vehicle was parked.

Software update latest on 06/16/25 caused airbag warning not recognizing seat belts being locked therefore airbag warning started. Loss of regenerative braking. Loss of emergency brake application. Constant alarm because doesn't recognize seat belts being locked.

Vehicle no longer charges at home, work, or any other level 2 AC charging location. This occurred 3 days after driving it off the dealer lot new in Rockville, MD on [XXX]. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

After being away for a couple days the car has been completely unresponsive. I can not access the car and doors will not open. The car had to be towed and seems to be an issue with electrical powertrain such as 12V battery that is dying for some reason. This should not be the case as car was driven before hand and should have recharged the 12V battery. This is very concerning as this can leave you trapped and have to access to the car while traveling. Please investigate as I've seen many issues with this car.

The system component that failed was the on-board AC charger (OBC). This failure prevents AC charging of the vehicle. The Polestar - Houston service team has confirmed that this hardware needs replacement. There is currently a 2-3 week wait for part, so vehicle is currently sitting at the service center. The dealer has diagnosed and confirmed that the on-board AC charger needs to be replaced. Prior to the failure, there were no warnings or symptoms to suggest that a failure was imminent. Three NHTSA manufacturer communications (DP1035, DP1037, and DP1038) are in reference to this issue.

From the time of purchase, literally since I first got home from the dealership with it, it will NOT AC charge at 110 or 220v. Multiple chargers tested in multiple locations, both home based and commercial (ChargePoint, etc), none will charge. DC fast charge works fine. Stuck with just having to DC fast charge exclusively. Took it to the dealer, took them about 1.5 hours to finally believe me, but they have identified it, but the module that needs replacement is on back order, so stuck DC charging at about 3x the home charging cost for the time being. Very frustrating on a brand new car. Reference prior NHTSA manufacturer communications (DP1035, DP1037, and DP1038).

This is a BEV. The vehicle has routine charging problems, especially with level 2 home AC charging. Parts have been replaced, but the issues persist.

The vehicle simply will not charge at any AC plug. At home I have a Type2-AC charger and the car vails to charge, at work I have access to a similar Type2-AC charge, that too fails to charge. The car will only charge at DC fast chargers and those are few and far between.

I have had the vehicle for 4 months with no charging issues. All of a sudden the other day, my car would not charge at home AC 14-50 outlet using the Polestar supplied cable at 48 amp max setting to achieve the 9-11 kW charging rate. I lowered the max amp to 15, and the car started charging at a very slow rate of 3 kW. I also tried plugging my car into a slow Chargepoint AC charger and it would not charge at all. I contacted Polestar service and after a few hours, I was finally able to get a hold of the technician and he said there is a defective OBC that needs to be changed but it would take at least 2 weeks and that he would not have a loaner available for me until May. He said it was up to me if I wanted to still enjoy my car and just deal with it charging slower at home or charge using DC fast charger instead, which defeats the purpose and convenience of having an EV to begin with.

AC Charging failure - cannot charge vehicle at home.

Vehicle reported an AC charging fault during AC charging indicating charging is not possible. Vehicle at dealer for diagnosis and repair.

The vehicle will not charge when plugged in and only charges at 1kW. The problem has been inspected and confirmed by the dealer. There were charging malfunction warnings when the issue occurred.

Charging system: fails to charge on L2 home charger 1/3 tries.

- Vehicle displays are unresponsive and stay off or black, the display shows key indicators like speed & turn signals. Because the vehicle has no physical buttons you cannot control heat, cannot use backup cameras.

On-board AC charger failure. Confirmed by dealer, parts on 4-6 week backorder. System gave two different messages. One in the driver's display reading "AC charging fault; Book a service" and a separate message in the main display reading "Critical Issue: Charging fault; Charging not possible". These appeared at around 3,400 miles, and while connected to a level 2, 40amp, charger. Attempts to use any form of AC charging after this would not initialize. This issue has been reported by MANY other Polestar 3 owners in the US and globally. There are also several NHTSA manufacturer communications related to this problem, such as DP1035, DP1037, and DP1038.

Vehicle does not charge on home charger (tesla universal wall charger with 60a breaker) at greater than 14a. Vehicle often shows error message when charging "charging interrupted". Other vehicles charge at speeds up to 50a on the charger. It is available for inspection upon request. Dealer aware of the problem. told to wait for a software update with no ETA. Error message in vehicle reads - ""charging system fault"