Yikes - thankfully you were able to make it out of the intersection safely.

 

Needless to say, it would make me furious. I feel for you, really do.

It’s hard to believe that 2.2 update could launch the avalanche of misgivings, but at the same time, I totally now believe that it is possible ( reading about all the weirdness caused to some other cars). I will really think long and hard before I hit the download button the next time.

 

That must have been so insane - glad the other drivers were paying attention and nice job figuring out a way to get out of the road.

This reminded me of an old scare from @JPC from a year and a half ago, but in their case the car reset itself after 5 mins and was able to be driven off. Yours sounds far worse and I look forward to learning more on the root cause

I'm curious what VIN range your car is in if you'd be willing to share?

 

That must have been so insane - glad the other drivers were paying attention and nice job figuring out a way to get out of the road.

This reminded me of an old scare from @JPC from a year and a half ago, but in their case the car reset itself after 5 mins and was able to be driven off. Yours sounds far worse and I look forward to learning more on the root cause

I'm curious what VIN range your car is in if you'd be willing to share?

I’m not sure which part of the VIN I can share without giving too much info, but can confirm the car was built in 2021.

Glad you were able to drive off after a few minutes. I tried—but the car was definitely and completely borked.

 

Wow, I know how stressful that situation is!
The same staccatto occured to my polestar 2 when pressing the accelerator pedal, only option was roll backwards to a safe place.
Shutting down the polestar 2 completely for approximately 20 mins and restarting gave power back.
The car was towed 500km to autonexus (Australia) for repairs.
Polestar Australia's diagnoses was a 12 volt battery low on charge and they replaced the 3.6v back up battery.
The car has been fine since.
I hope yours is only a couple of flat batteries!

 

For what it's worth I had a similar problem on my XC40. I had about 15 seconds warning before the car just stopped in the middle of the road. I had to "bunny hop" the car off to the side. The problem for me was the BECM (Battery Energy Control Module) inside the main battery pack. I'm at 12 weeks now waiting for the repair to be finished but I "should" get the car back this week.

 

Bunny hop is a great description for what the car was doing. That herky-jerky experience. Except it was more like a hybrid turtle/bunny. 😆

12 weeks?!! Are you serious? What did you do for a vehicle in the meantime? Is Polestar somehow crediting you?

I’m on a lease (one year in) so I’ll be curious how Polestar handles my situation.

 

It’s never nice when things like this happen, but would urge caution to assume it’s a software issue rather than a mechanical one, or 12v battery issue. Glad that your ok, but would advise in future if any car just stops in a busy intersection and won’t move put the hazards on and get the hell out of the car and get to a safe place.

I’ve seen and witnessed many incidents happen where muppets are not concentrating and plough into a stranded vehicle causing serious injury to themselves and the occupant in the car. Cars are replaceable and people aren’t, I’m glad you didn’t get hurt whilst trying to put the car in a safe location.

 

Good point. I definitely evaluated the situation and considered my options. Fortunately, while it was a busy intersection, it was small enough that people weren’t traveling too fast. And where I live, people are generally good and alert drivers.

I continue to think, ‘What if this happened on a major interstate?’

 

I had this last year after the 12V battery recall. See original post. Was quite terrifying and thankfully road was wide enough for me to get out the way into a bus lane. They took the car away for about 4-5 days for a full diagnostics with a polestar engineer. Now this sounds bad but ever since I never had any problems. This includes the 2.2 update, I think mine was the only car that didn't go from miles into km.

Post Recall - Abrupt Stop breakdown | Polestar Forum (polestar-forum.com)

 

Same thing happened to me today; propulsion system warning and then it just locked up the wheels and started to stutter violently and loudly. Delivered in March, 4300km on the odometer. Both the tow truck driver and the technician told me they'd seen a lot of P2's since the 2.2 update.

 

There definitely does seem to be a huge spike of this issue surfacing on this forum since 2.2. It seemed to be a very rare occurrence before 2.2 but now, though still rare, is MUCH more frequent. This is something serious that better be fixed soon.

To all of those unfortunate enough to have this happen, you hopefully will keep us updated on the diagnosis.

 

So hard to really know how rare this really is? … just like TCAM … the “rare” word slowly is the wrong word to be used, it seems.

 

The shop informed me the inverter is fried and needs to be replaced. They should have the part by the middle of next week, but to install it they need to drop the whole battery pack so it might take some time.

 

I had the exact same problem, and they also replaced the inverter. I hope it fixes your problem.

 

You are lucky, the part is available in stock…👍🏻

 

I wonder how much this will cost once out of warranty? Couple grand every time?

 

Experienced issue this week, car completely died, busy road, got partially out of live traffic lane,no “bunny hop” either, unable to get into neutral or even tow mode. Literally stranded. Been quite the ordeal , and no update yet.

 

If any of you with this error actually get to the root cause of it, please post up what it is. As I mentioned earlier mine was with the BECM (Battery Energy Control Module). I know of another XC40 driver in Australia who's issue was their rear motor.

 

The first time I experienced this warning message, the car was still functioning like normal. My local Space took a look at it and did not find anything wrong, and they just did a software update from 2.1 to 2.2.

Three weeks later, my P2 experienced this issue again. This time the P2 was in turtle mode and cannot be put into drive. While I was waiting for the tow truck, the car was back to normal an hour later after I briefly locked the car and left. This time the car stayed at my local Space for a week, and they replaced the inverter.

It has been almost three weeks since my second visit, and everything seems running fine. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Saw on the Polestar app that the car had been moved so I called to check in and it appears the car is ready. I won't be able to pick it up until I'm back from holidays. They told me replacing the inverter fixed it.

 

Congrats! I am glad that you have your car back. Mine also has the inverter replaced for this issue, and let's keep our fingers crossed.

 

Hi Folks
Propulsion Syatem Failure happened today leaving to go onto the Motorway in the UK, on slip road waiting for assistance, let’s see what happens next. 21 plate with 10.4k miles on the clock. Completely agree with most owner’s views that we love the car but not the quirks!!! Especially when this one!!! The saga will continue!

 

So sorry to hear about your experience. It is frustrating indeed because the car is a joy to drive.

To fix this issue with my P2, they replaced the inverter, and fortunately the part was available at the time so I got my car back after one week.

Hope you have a quick (and successful) fix.

 

Had this error on the German Autobahn, the propulsion system error and battery level jumped from 42% to 20% and turtle mode, reduced my speed from 180 back to 100kmh (no choice the power was gone). barely maintaining speed at 100kmh for a few minutes ( no safe place to stop ), the reduces power slowly went away and the error message was gone again.
Maybe a stupid choice but when the error was gone for a few minutes I increased my speed a bit 150~160kmh when the error came back within 5minutes. and it did not go away anymore. When I left the autobahn with a speed of around 90kmh I stopped for about 20minutes turned the car of and left it. when I came back and turned on the car the error was still there. showing a charge of ~5%.. drove around country roads maxing out at 70kmh... after another 20minutes the error went away (change back to 20%) drove to a charger (driving very carefully) charged from 20 to 42% when the charging stopped with an error. after disconnecting the changer drove (no bunny hops, just no very low power) to a normal parking spot waited for a few minutes when the error went away again.
completed my journey driving carefully, not asking too much power, and limiting my speed to around 100-120kmh, haven't seen the error again. I feel like its a battery temp issue. (would love a bit more info on errors like these, If I am correct and this is a hot battery: I would love the be able to see the battery temp and its limit)

All of this happened with version 2.3 (got is at the volvo dealer last week because of an issue with my doors that did not lock or unlock)

 

Had this error on the German Autobahn, the propulsion system error and battery level jumped from 42% to 20% and turtle mode, reduced my speed from 180 back to 100kmh (no choice the power was gone). barely maintaining speed at 100kmh for a few minutes ( no safe place to stop ), the reduces power slowly went away and the error message was gone again.
Maybe a stupid choice but when the error was gone for a few minutes I increased my speed a bit 150~160kmh when the error came back within 5minutes. and it did not go away anymore. When I left the autobahn with a speed of around 90kmh I stopped for about 20minutes turned the car of and left it. when I came back and turned on the car the error was still there. showing a charge of ~5%.. drove around country roads maxing out at 70kmh... after another 20minutes the error went away (change back to 20%) drove to a charger (driving very carefully) charged from 20 to 42% when the charging stopped with an error. after disconnecting the changer drove (no bunny hops, just no very low power) to a normal parking spot waited for a few minutes when the error went away again.
completed my journey driving carefully, not asking too much power, and limiting my speed to around 100-120kmh, haven't seen the error again. I feel like its a battery temp issue. (would love a bit more info on errors like these, If I am correct and this is a hot battery: I would love the be able to see the battery temp and its limit)

All of this happened with version 2.3 (got is at the volvo dealer last week because of an issue with my doors that did not lock or unlock)

Nooooo! Sorry to read this. I guess it's not a 2.2 issue exclusively.

 

It happened.

Today I was driving about 25 mph and experienced the dreaded Propulsion System Failure. The car immediately started stuttering—not in a comforting way—and abruptly slowed to a complete stop. In the middle of a busy intersection.

“Stop safely.” (Like I had a choice.)
“The vehicle will stop.” (Tell me something I don’t already know.)
“Propulsion system failure.” (You don’t say.)

This was the message on the dash display.

The car would barely move at this point. And I’m stuck in the middle of a busy intersection. At rush hour.

It took me 10-15 mins to CRAWL the vehicle onto a side street. And when I say crawl, I mean I was moving about an inch per hour (new acronym alert: IPH). And even that dreadfully slow crawl was very stressful because the car would only move (and really, it was more of a staccato stutter) if I pressed down almost completely on the accelerator. This really stressed me out because the car was obviously having a complete meltdown. And what if the car all of a sudden decided to accelerate? Very dangerous.

When I finally got the car safely onto a side street, it then stopped moving entirely. Literally wouldn’t move forward. Except— it would crawl and stutter backwards. Again— very, very slowly. And with terrible mechanical pulsing noises coming from the car. The car was obviously having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Once I was in a safe location I called Polestar support. And after a few minutes they dispatched a tow truck to my location. And promised me I’d get a loaner or rental in the morning.

When the tow truck finally arrived (after 90 minutes), the car would no longer shift into any gear. The only thing that was happening when I tried to shift the gear lever was a series of sequential warning messages that would rotate on the dash display. I tried everything. Getting out. Locking the car. Rebooting the infotainment. Etc. Nothing would work. The car would not shift into any gear.

After about 10 minutes of the tow truck driver and I brainstorming what to do—and him about to winch the vehicle onto the flatbed on wheel dollys—we had a thought that the car must have a ‘Tow Mode’ or something like that. So I fumbled around the settings and eventually found it. We followed the directions and thankfully we got the car into neutral, so it could be winched onto the flatbed.

The car is currently being towed to the nearest service location—150 miles away.

Interestingly, it was about a week ago that I upgraded to 2.2. And ever since that time—in fact, it was immediately after I got into the car after the upgrade—I began receiving parking sensor and brake warnings. I could tell nothing mechanically was different in the car. But these error messages were consistently random. And then today—BOOM!—total propulsion system failure.

I’ve had my car for a year. I’ve been patient with a lot of the software issues because I truly enjoy the car. But tonight, wow, things really changed for me. Putting all the inconveniences aside, this is a major safety issue that Polestar needs to address.

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I had these exact same symptoms today. Only problem was I was doing 110km/h in lane 4 on the highway when it happened. In the last couple of weeks I have had the 'propulsion warning' message pop up twice while doing about 80km/h and before I could get anywhere to stop, the message went away.

Today the propulsion warning message popped up, followed by 'acceleration reduced' and the car slowed and wouldn't go past about 70 km/h. The road was busy-ish but thankfully I got across lanes before it slowed even more as I pulled up on the shoulder. There was a message about '12v system failure' and another 'urgent! contact service'. I was on the shoulder of a busy highway and wondered if I could limp the 2km to the next exit. I tried to pull forward and got the same "inch per hour" as you, then judder shudder judder stop.

I called Polestar assistance and they engaged the local roadside mob RACQ. I told them that the car was dead and would need lifting on to a truck. I got a call shortly after from RACQ saying that a truck with a battery charger would be with me shortly and would get me on my way. I explained that this wasn't going to resolve the issue and again said the car needed putting on a truck. The truck driver called me a bit later and said don't worry I'll be there with the charger shortly. Sigh. When the guy finally got to me, he was pretty good. We figured out towing mode and got the car on the truck.

I called Polestar again and said where are we taking the car? Are we going to Eagle Farm (the compound of the logistics firm who delivered the car) and they said yes and confirmed the address. When we got to Eagle Farm (almost an hour later) there was nobody there. I called again and asked if somebody should be meeting me and (a different person this time) said "oh I think there has been a communication mix up. Let me check". Then confirmed I had to be 40km down the highway - pretty close to whee I broke down in the first place. Luckily the truck driver dropped me home (nearby) and took the car.

Anyhoo so now I have to wait for the call tomorrow. Also need to chase them for a loan car. I can't be without a car Weds/Thurs this week.

 

I had these exact same symptoms today. Only problem was I was doing 110km/h in lane 4 on the highway when it happened. In the last couple of weeks I have had the 'propulsion warning' message pop up twice while doing about 80km/h and before I could get anywhere to stop, the message went away.

Today the propulsion warning message popped up, followed by 'acceleration reduced' and the car slowed and wouldn't go past about 70 km/h. The road was busy-ish but thankfully I got across lanes before it slowed even more as I pulled up on the shoulder. There was a message about '12v system failure' and another 'urgent! contact service'. I was on the shoulder of a busy highway and wondered if I could limp the 2km to the next exit. I tried to pull forward and got the same "inch per hour" as you, then judder shudder judder stop.

I called Polestar assistance and they engaged the local roadside mob RACQ. I told them that the car was dead and would need lifting on to a truck. I got a call shortly after from RACQ saying that a truck with a battery charger would be with me shortly and would get me on my way. I explained that this wasn't going to resolve the issue and again said the car needed putting on a truck. The truck driver called me a bit later and said don't worry I'll be there with the charger shortly. Sigh. When the guy finally got to me, he was pretty good. We figured out towing mode and got the car on the truck.

I called Polestar again and said where are we taking the car? Are we going to Eagle Farm (the compound of the logistics firm who delivered the car) and they said yes and confirmed the address. When we got to Eagle Farm (almost an hour later) there was nobody there. I called again and asked if somebody should be meeting me and (a different person this time) said "oh I think there has been a communication mix up. Let me check". Then confirmed I had to be 40km down the highway - pretty close to whee I broke down in the first place. Luckily the truck driver dropped me home (nearby) and took the car.

Anyhoo so now I have to wait for the call tomorrow. Also need to chase them for a loan car. I can't be without a car Weds/Thurs this week.

Wow, that situation is really dangerous especially @110k's.
That was the same concern I raised with CS when trying to get an answer as to what caused my propulsion failure. No straight answer!
CS would not give a report on why it failed.
First it was a flat BUB then they said they swapped out the BUB, then a low 12v battery?
No real reason or DTC report, apparently it is "proprietary" information.
It looks like they did some sort of software work but CS would not confirm it.
I hope you have better luck trying to get information out of CS as to what caused the propulsion failure.

On a happier note, my PS2 has since covered a further 6500k's without an issue.

 

Forgot to mention. MY22 LRSM and updated to 2.3 four days ago.

This means the first two times this message popped up I was on 2.2 and then on 2.3 when it failed completely.
Ambient temperature would have been around 20C the first two times, probably 28C this time.
I had only driven about 8km from home the first two times (it happened in almost exactly the same spot) and probably 40km this time.

 

It sounds like that this propulsion error does not care for system versions. The question is, is yours a hoax type, or actually hardware part going bad? …. Hopefully you get a loaner end they find out quickly.

 

I hope to find out. Though if CQP*2's comment is anything to go by, I probably won't.

One thing I forgot to mention is that when I got the warning the other week, the battery dropped by about 20%, then went back up when the error cleared. I've been watching the car in the app this morning to see when it got moved. First thing (before it got moved) the battery was about 20% down on how I left it but now that it has moved to the workshop, I can see if has gone back up. Not entirely sure what that means. They were supposed to be calling me to offer me a loaner while they haven't yet so I'll call them back shortly.

And if I get any info from them, I'll be sure to share it in here. Judging by the number of people seeing this and similar it is most definitely a common issue which Polestar needs to address.

Wow, that situation is really dangerous especially @110k's.
That was the same concern I raised with CS when trying to get an answer as to what caused my propulsion failure. No straight answer!
CS would not give a report on why it failed.
First it was a flat BUB then they said they swapped out the BUB, then a low 12v battery?
No real reason or DTC report, apparently it is "proprietary" information.
It looks like they did some sort of software work but CS would not confirm it.
I hope you have better luck trying to get information out of CS as to what caused the propulsion failure.

On a happier note, my PS2 has since covered a further 6500k's without an issue.

Glad to hear yours is good now. It is definitely a dangerous thing. It felt like I only had about 15 seconds from first warning to total failure. May have been more in the moment but that's what it felt like. On a 4 lane highway that really is not a long time to pull over safely and I could easily have been stranded in one of the middle lanes.

I will push for an answer but I'm not confident of gtting one.

 

Looks like a big job repair to replace the BECM. The battery has to be actually dropped and opened, which I didn’t know, but it’s not surprising to keep the wiring to minimum and short.

 

I got the car back today. They said all they did was reset the computer, update to 2.3 (I had already done that) and charge both the HV and 12v batteries.

I headed out earlier tonight and tried to start as normal. Car wouldn't "start" by going into gear. Took 3 goes and then it started. Weird. When I came back to the car, it would not start. I must have tried I don't know how many times. I got out of the car and locked it a couple of times, then tried some more. Nothing. Kept showing Start. System Check then shutting down again. Not sure if related but I rebooted the entertainment screen and while it was booting I tried again and the car started. It drove normally and brought me home.

So I don't know if there is still some hidden fault or if the 12v battery has died from being discharged or what. I will put a charger on it tomorrow and run a diag to see what it tells me. I saw some other comments about issues with the key. I only ever use the main fob so this seems unlikely. I'm going to be back on the phone to CS tomorrow - if they are online - or Friday. Lucky I don't have plans tomorrow.

 

Definitely doesn’t sound like a healthy car behaviour. The 12V might be the culprit, but since they just had the car and charged it, you would think they would find out if the 12V was bad.

 

Maybe they charged the 12v and it appeared to hold a charge but over a slightly longer period it is failing. I am hoping I can get some test data from it tomorrow. But I have no confidence in the car right now.