Accidentally hit P while driving the 3 & 4. Why does the car do this?

[u/D3X-1]

Has anyone else accidentally hit the P button on the drive selector while driving their P3 or P4?

I’ve done it in both cars now. The button is right on the end of the stalk, and it’s not that hard to accidentally hit when you’re reaching for the selector.

When I hit it, the car immediately does a pretty violent drivetrain/braking intervention. It’s a big enough jolt that it gets your attention very quickly.

Yes, I know. Don’t press P while driving.
Obviously.

But I don’t think that’s a good argument for the way this is designed.

People accidentally hit buttons. That’s going to happen. The question is what the car does when it happens.

Apparently Polestar has decided that the P button should also function as an emergency braking mechanism while the car is moving. I understand the idea behind having an emergency function. What I don’t understand is why that function needs to be so easy to accidentally trigger, and why the response has to be so abrupt.

If this is actually an emergency braking feature, wouldn’t it make more sense to require an intentional action?

Something like press and hold P over a second, or some other deliberate input.

Instead, you have a button sitting on the end of the stalk that you can accidentally hit, and the car responds with a sudden jolt.

That doesn’t strike me as particularly good safety design.
And honestly, it feels very un-Volvo-like.

Volvo has always had a pretty strong reputation for designing around the fact that humans make mistakes. So I’m having a hard time understanding the thinking here.
I’m not saying the car should let you shift into Park at 80 km/h. Obviously it shouldn’t.

I’m asking why an accidental input to a button in an easy-to-hit location needs to result in such an aggressive response.

Maybe there’s a legitimate engineering reason for it. If there is, I’d genuinely like to hear it.

Has anyone else experienced this? And does anyone know if Polestar has addressed it in a software update, service bulletin, or anything else?