Water and Electricity Are a Bad Mix, Polestar 3 Shows
It’s always frustrating and admittedly troubling when water manages to leak into a car, but not as much as when other problems arise as a direct result. Take the Polestar 3, for instance. A weak spot has just been discovered on the new electric luxury crossover, and things are serious enough to warrant a safety recall.
Exactly 1,100 units are affected in Canada. In some cases, water could leak into the connector between the front motor compartment’s wiring harness and the front bumper’s wiring harness. “If this happens, there could be a loss of power steering,” according to the recall notice posted by Transport Canada.
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It’s also possible that certain driver assistance systems stop working properly, including the pedestrian warning system and parking assistance system. By the way, just behind the closed grille is what Polestar calls the "SmartZone," which is where the various sensors for the aforementioned systems are housed.
Not only that, but the problem could even cause the vehicle not to start, the parking brake not to release and/or different warnings to display on the screen.
Considering all of the above, it’s easy to understand the need for a recall, since vehicle control would be compromised and the risk of an accident would be increased.
Polestar will soon notify owners by mail, asking them to schedule a service appointment to replace both the front bumper wiring harness and the connector on the front motor compartment’s wiring harness. Curiously, there is no mention of a fix that would prevent water from leaking into that particular area of the vehicle in the first place.
This is the second recall for the Polestar 3. The first, issued in May, affected only 287 units in Canada due to a software issue that could prevent the rearview camera from displaying. The solution involved a simple over-the-air update.
All Polestar 3 crossovers sold in Canada are manufactured at a plant in South Carolina. Despite the Canadian countertariffs on non-CUSMA-compliant U.S.-made vehicles, retail prices have not yet changed at the time of writing and remain at $96,000 for the Long Range Dual Motor model (507 km range) or $103,200 with the Performance Package (449 km range).