2021 POLESTAR POLESTAR 2 — Complaint #2168496
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS filed January 21, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2168496 (ODI reference 11712423) concerns a 2021 POLESTAR POLESTAR 2 and was filed on January 21, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 31, 1969. The report was geocoded to Washington based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as back over prevention: warnings, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same POLESTAR POLESTAR 2 cohort independently describe similar back over prevention: warnings failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2021 POLESTAR POLESTAR 2 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I am reaching out to bring to your attention an urgent issue regarding the backup camera in the 2021 Polestar 2. The backup camera frequently fails to work when the car is put into reverse or, even more concerning, it intermittently cuts out while backing up. Given the limited visibility when relying solely on the rearview and side mirrors, this malfunction poses a significant safety risk. The inability to see small children or obstacles behind the vehicle without the aid of the backup camera is a major concern that needs to be addressed promptly. Polestar has attempted several fixes over several years, none to date have resolved the issue. Neither Polestar or NHTSA have taken this issue seriously.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2168496 |
| ODI Number | 11712423 |
| Date Filed | January 21, 2026 |
| Failure Date | December 31, 1969 |
| VIN | LPSED3KA0ML |
Similar BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS Complaints for 2021 POLESTAR POLESTAR 2
Cameras stopped working when backing out and collision with pole when reversing out
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
Camera constantly lags and glitches in and out when reversing, emergency brakes will activate without warning or any reason to do so.
The backup camera system frequently malfunctions when in use. The image may flicker black, freeze, or delay longer than 2 seconds after switching to reverse. On some occasions the camera shows as comp
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.