FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSPolestar 2
Top three failure systems, annotated from 596 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
Tyres are 71% of everything that fails a Polestar 2
5,894 inspections in a single year make the 2 one of the better-documented electric car. Tyres cause 70.6% of its failures; tyres take 3.0× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The three-year vs four-year picture
AT THREE YEARS OLD10.8%
2 failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.
AT FOUR YEARS OLD14.1%
2 failure rate, against 8.9% for petrol.
At three years old the Polestar 2 fails 10.8% of the time, over the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 4 years that reaches 14.1%. Tyres cause 70.6% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // TYRE SECTION396 certificates in 2024
The tyre that wears from the inside
Tyres take 70.6% of the defects that fail this car, 3.0× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "A tyre seriously damaged", recorded 396 times in 2024.
SECTION // TYRES CONCENTRATIONYear 3 crossover
Where the curve bends
The crossover with petrol happens around year 3. From there the 2's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.
Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
What to check
Check tyre age and tread across the full width, inner edge included. Electric cars wear tyres faster; a cheap mismatched set on a used car tells you how it was run. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.
3 inspection points:
✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age
✓ Free DVSA MOT history check
FIGURE 3 // FAILURE RATE BY AGEvs petrol, diesel and all electric cars
Points hidden where fewer than 50 cars of that age were tested. Dashed lines are the same-age petrol and diesel fleets.
Data sheet
- Inspections
- 5,894
- Passed
- 5,227
- Failed
- 596
- Passed after repair
- 71
- Failure rate
- 10.1% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 3.2 years
- Best year
- 3 yrs · 10.8%
- Worst year
- 4 yrs · 14.1%
- Top cause
- Tyres 70.6%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs petrol/diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 70.6% | 3.0× more | |
| Suspension | 1.6% | 8.5× less | |
| Brakes | 0.5% | 37.4× less | |
| Visibility | 7.2% | 1.7× less | |
| Lighting | 8.5% | 1.9× less | |
| Steering | 0.2% | 15.5× less | |
| Body | 5.8% | 1.4× more |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- A tyre seriously damaged396
- A tyre cords visible or damaged239
- Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements93
- A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc53
- An obligatory rear fog lamp missing, or a front or rear fog lamp inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning53
- Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view24
Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.
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Where it holds up
- Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (1.6% of defects vs 13.6%)
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.5% of defects vs 18.7%)
- Visibility fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (7.2% of defects vs 11.9%)
- Lighting fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (8.5% of defects vs 16.5%)
Where it fails
- Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (70.6% vs 23.7%)
- Body take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (5.8% vs 4.1%)
- At three years old it fails 10.8% of the time, above the 8.2% of petrol cars the same age
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- POLESTAR 2 PILOT PLUS EV AWD3,128
- POLESTAR 2 EV FWD1,172
- POLESTAR 2 PLUS EV FWD632
- POLESTAR 2 PLUS EV AWD497
- POLESTAR 2 EV RWD198
- POLESTAR 2 EV AWD168
- POLESTAR 2 PLUS EV RWD97
- 22
OWNER REPORTS // MATCHED TO RECORDED DEFECTS0 read · 0 matched
No owner discussion has been matched to this car's recorded defects yet. Reports are re-collected every quarter; the figures on this page do not depend on them.
Summaries written by us, never quotes; every entry links to its source. Owner reports have no denominator and never feed the failure rate.
SIMILAR CARS IN THE DATAclosest rate and age, other brands
Three things the data shows
- 5,894 inspections in 2024 make this one of the best-documented electric cars in the data.
- Tyres take 3.0× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- Failure rate rises from 10.8% at 3 years to 14.1% at 4: a gentle ageing curve.
LIMITS // WHAT THE INSPECTION DOES NOT TELL YOU
No battery health, no motor, no charging performance. The test covers brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, lights, visibility and structure. A car with a badly degraded battery passes as long as it stops and steers. Read this page as evidence about the chassis, not the powertrain. Cars are tested from their third year, so the newest model years are missing; every figure carries its sample size for that reason. Full methodology.
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