diff --git a/CI/tests_v2/scenarios/pod_error_scenarios/test_pod_error_scenarios.py b/CI/tests_v2/scenarios/pod_error_scenarios/test_pod_error_scenarios.py
index c6afcb13..e7005cc1 100644
--- a/CI/tests_v2/scenarios/pod_error_scenarios/test_pod_error_scenarios.py
+++ b/CI/tests_v2/scenarios/pod_error_scenarios/test_pod_error_scenarios.py
@@ -87,25 +87,51 @@ class TestPodErrorScenarios(BaseScenarioTest):
             result, ns, expected_reasons=["not enough pods match", "expected 100", "found only 2 pods"]
         )
 
-    def test_recovery_timeout_fails(self):
+    def test_recovery_timeout_fails(self, wait_for_pods_running):
+        """Verify Krkn reports failure when pods cannot recover within the timeout.
+
+        Instead of relying on a very short timeout (which is racy on fast
+        clusters), we add a readiness probe with a long initialDelaySeconds
+        so replacement pods *structurally* cannot become Ready within the
+        recovery window.
+        """
         ns = self.ns
-        before = get_pods_list(self.k8s_core, ns, self.LABEL_SELECTOR)
-        before_names = [p.metadata.name for p in before.items]
+        READINESS_DELAY = 30
+        RECOVERY_TIMEOUT = 10
+
+        # Patch deployment: use Recreate strategy so both pods roll out in
+        # parallel, and add a readiness probe that won't pass for 30s.
+        # READINESS_DELAY only needs to be greater than RECOVERY_TIMEOUT.
+        patch_body = {
+            "spec": {
+                "strategy": {"type": "Recreate", "rollingUpdate": None},
+                "template": {
+                    "spec": {
+                        "containers": [{
+                            "name": "app",
+                            "readinessProbe": {
+                                "httpGet": {"path": "/", "port": 80},
+                                "initialDelaySeconds": READINESS_DELAY,
+                                "periodSeconds": 5,
+                            },
+                        }]
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        self.k8s_apps.patch_namespaced_deployment(
+            name="krkn-pod-error-target", namespace=ns, body=patch_body
+        )
+        wait_for_pods_running(ns, self.LABEL_SELECTOR, timeout=READINESS_DELAY + 30)
 
         result = self.run_scenario(
-            self.tmp_path, ns, overrides={"krkn_pod_recovery_time": 1}
+            self.tmp_path, ns, overrides={"krkn_pod_recovery_time": RECOVERY_TIMEOUT}
         )
         assert_kraken_failure(result, context=f"namespace={ns}", tmp_path=self.tmp_path)
-        
-        # Verify no hang and logs contain namespace and expected timeout/recovery errors
+
         self.assert_failure_logs_contain(
-            result, ns, expected_reasons=["timeout", "recover"]
+            result, ns, expected_reasons=["unrecovered"]
         )
-        
-        # Verify at least one target pod name is in the logs
-        combined_lower = ((result.stdout or "") + "\n" + (result.stderr or "")).lower()
-        found_pod = any(name.lower() in combined_lower for name in before_names)
-        assert found_pod, f"None of the target pods {before_names} were found in failure logs"
 
     @pytest.mark.no_workload
     def test_invalid_namespace_pattern_fails(self):