Subaru Outback Complaints

1,029 consumer complaints on file.

#11475534July 24, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Multiple windshield cracks from small rocks on the highway. Crack has spread across the windshield. We have only owned the car 3 months.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11475500July 23, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, VISIBILITY/WIPER
There is a defect in the windshield. I’ve replaced the windshield twice. The first time a rock hit it and it caused the entire windshield to crack. I got the windshield replaced and a week later it cracked again. I replaced it again and 30 minutes later it happened again. My father in law has an Outback as well with the same issue. I also have a colleague with the same exact model vehicle with the same issue. I researched online and there are many owners that have complained about the same thing. When I talked to the dealership where the car was purchased the salesman seemed to have heard about the issue before. The windshield repair shop also said that there are a lot of Subarus that come through the shop with the same issue. I’ve had rocks hit my windshields in past vehicles and I have never seen them crack and spiderweb in this way. It is obvious to me that there is a flaw in the design or manufacturing of these particular windshields.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11475414July 22, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
While driving eastbound on I-90 at the top of Snoqualmie pass, the sunroof completely shattered causing small pieces of glass to cover the small children in the back and driver and front seat passenger. At the time there were no vehicles in front of us and there was a cargo carrier on the roof racks. This caused small pieces of glass to go everywhere causing small lacerations to 2 of the occupants. There were no warnings signs of this extreme failure of the glass. The vehicle was repaired by a Subaru dealership.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11475112July 21, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
We left the outback wilderness out Overnight under no trees or anything that may cause damage like that. Come outside in the morning, and bam, a 13 inch crack in a semi S shape with no visible chip from a rock. There is absolutely no reason there should be a crack, even if there was a small chip in the glass. That's the cause of poor craftsmanship and this deserves a lawsuit alone. Has Subaru of America learned nothing from what happened with the 2015 to 2016 outback and legacy models? What about their most recent lawsuit in 2019 that ranged for the 2017 to 2019 Foresters that also awarded the victim of poor windshields? Do we need to have another lawsuit? If that's the case so be it but I seriously hope the NHTSA kicks off a recall so there is no need for a lawsuit. I love Subaru, I seriously do but they haven't been doing so well with their windshields, their Infotainment systems, and engines.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11475109July 21, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Our 2020 Outback dashboard display randomly goes black and hard resets. It also appears that the eye sight cameras, collision detection, and other features disable at the same time. This has occurred about a dozen times since purchase.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11475001July 20, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
SafeLite is Unable to calibrate vehicle EyeSight after non-OEM windshield replacement. Yes the vehicle is available for inspection upon request. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. There have been two attempts to calibrate the vehicle EyeSight by SafeLite. The dealer says the EyeSight with a non-OEM windshield can not be properly calibrated. According to Subaru, the 2022 model requires that OEM glass be used for windshield replacements on models that are equipped with the EyeSight Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS). Lane detection works randomly, periodically there a warning beep showing a vehicle icon between two bars and the word "Off" . In addition to the alarms, the Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) keeps nudging the steering wheel causing the vehicle to swerve. None of the front safe driving features of the vehicle can be trusted. The steering nudging problem doesn't happen when the VDC is turned off. The VDC defaults to on. To safely drive the vehicle the VDC needs to be manually turned off each time the car is started. No the problem has not been confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. I assume the vehicle logs have a record of the warnings.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11474930July 20, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Very tiny rock hit the windshield without much force but still caused a ding in the windshield. Glass appears to be excessively fragile.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11474811July 19, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Windshield spontaneously cracked while parked. I parked the vehicle around 3pm and at that time, no crack was present. I left the house at 5:30pm and in that 2.5 hours, a 12-18 inch crack appeared. There’s no visible impact point and it starts from the bottom edge of the glass on the passenger side. I have not brought it to the dealer yet as I’m working through a claim center for windshield coverage. This is the third time since I purchased the vehicle (May of 2021) that the windshield has cracked.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11474565July 18, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
The engine block of our car caught fire while it was parked and turned off. It melted the engine and hood of the car, totaling it. Thankfully, we were not in the vehicle when the incident occurred, so no one was injured. At the time of the incident, our car was parked outside our apartment building under a low-hanging tree, which was burned in the fire. Had a neighbor not noticed and called 911, the fire may have spread to the nearby apartment building and caused much more severe damage than what was already done to the car. We had no warning prior to the incident. To our knowledge, the car was in perfect condition. We had bought it brand new 16 months prior and had taken it in for its scheduled maintenance 3 times. We are unaware if the vehicle has been inspected yet or if they've discovered the origin of the problem. All we know is that the insurance company and firefighters confirmed it wasn't arson, as the fire was contained to the engine block and front end of the car, and they also confirmed we were not at fault. Vehicle caught fire while it was parked and turned off.
Crash:
No
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11474274July 16, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
I have 2022 Subaru Outback Limited XT. The windshield cracked 7 days after purchase. Only have 200 miles on it. Drove at 60mph and suddenly saw a crack on the passenger side of the windshield. Didn't hear any pop sound. The crack was about 17 inch long spreading from the bottom edge passenger side to the center of the windshield. Took the car to the dealership and was told the windshield is not under warranty.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11474100July 15, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
The gas pedal and brake pedal are not adjustable due to them being digitally programmed. The position of the brake is higher than the gas pedal, which causes stress on my knee, ankle, and hip joints and has caused me significant pain so I can't drive. The gas pedal needs to be pressed hard to get the car going, which has been causing me knee pain. I asked the Premier Subaru of Fremont, where I leased my Subaru Outback in May 2022, if they could tighten the brake pedal and adjust the gas pedal, but they said it was impossible. This is injuring my knee and causing me to have sciatica.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473993July 14, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Battery is draining for no apparent reason. As stated in several class action law suits, defects in these vehicles ( Subaru Outback 2015-2020) cause the batteries to drain, replacement batteries also drain. The Subaru Outback battery drains because of the Controller area network (CAN). When the vehicle is shut off, the CAN system should enter sleep mode so only a limited amount of electrical current is used. However, Subaru software errors prevent the CAN from entering sleep mode when vehicle is turned off. This software error will drain the original battery and every replacement battery installed in an Outback. Once the battery is drained, I am stranded. Reference law suits Daley v. Subaru and Tomasian v. Subaru. Subaru needs to fix all Subarus that are affected by this battery drainage issue. I have been experiencing this problem since we bought the car. First time, I thought I left something on, subsequent drainage issues I know that nothing has been left on. I now keep a trickle charge unit on the battery while in the garage at all times.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473949July 14, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Windshield cracked completely without impact
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473863July 14, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
I have the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness, which is supposed to have "Gorilla Glass" for the windshield (which looks like two windshields sandwiched together), but only the outer glass was cracked. The windshield developed a cracked starting from the mid-height passenger side edge, and continued towards the driver side, stopping just prior to the middle of the windshield and then looping under. The vehicle was parked, and when I got in the vehicle the following morning I noticed the crack. I looked closely for an impact point, and there were none. I took pictures and video of the windshield. I contacted Subaru (Pembroke Pines, FL) and they said they had not heard of any issues and told me to reach out to my insurance company, which I did and they directed me to safelite AutoGlass in Miami (2757 SW 8 Street, Miami, FL. 33135) to have the windshield and safety "eyesight" recalibrated. The technician was not able to see any impact point as well. The windshield was replaced with a factory windshield "Gorilla Glass" type and the safety feathers were calibrated.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473714July 13, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Driving and thought I heard slight cracking noises, couldn't figure out what it was. About 2 minutes later a huge crack about 18" spontaneously appeared from the passenger side of the windshield to nearly the middle of the windshield. No rocks or impact, just out of nowhere.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473665July 13, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, VISIBILITY/WIPER
1. Front Windshield cracks easily instead of chipping. Appears to be under pressure in a strange way and it cracks then starts to delaminate. I had 2 windshields replaced within 30 days. Water also starts to enter the crack and it impacts the wiper blades when in use. 2. Center Info-Tainment system in underpowered to the degree that touch response is laggy to the degree to be dangerous. With all the climate controls, radio, gps, and other controls now on the touch screen this slowness is dangerous to the point that should warrant a recall. I've had a system update done and this did not fix the slow touch response. It appears to be underpowered hardware.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473480July 11, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, STRUCTURE:BODY
The glass sheet on the vehicle’s sunroof spontaneously exploded while I was driving on the freeway. Some broken shards fell onto myself and into the cabin as the interior pull cover was in the open position at the time of the explosion. Luckily no additional passengers were in the vehicle at the time of the incident. I was in shock as I heard and felt the explosion. As broken shards were falling onto me and into the cabin, I thought I was a victim of an intentional freeway shooting or an unlucky recipient of a stray bullet. After realizing I was unharmed, I immediately drove my car to a trusted Subaru dealership for further investigation of the damage. At the time, the dealership did not have the appropriate personal on site for an investigation, however a service associate took photos of the damage. The service associate also observed and noted the position of some glass remains still in tact on the sunroof frame - some broken edges were positioned at an outward angle in relation to the vehicle. This is an indication of an outward explosion rather than an impact from outside of the vehicle. I am currently waiting for the dealership’s response to have the car brought back in to complete the investigation w/ the appropriate personal.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473256July 10, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Windshield cracked for no reason at all. This vehicle had been parked on my driveway and had not been driven in about 3 days. There are no trees or anything near the driveway that could have fallen on the car. While the car was parked on my driveway, the car was facing away from the street. The next morning the crack had already expanded and covered most of the middle part of the windshield. Contacting a local dealer was a nightmare. The dealer person said they're not responsible for a replacement. They looked the other way saying "we just sell the cars", and suggested to take it to Subaru of America. I'm currently waiting for a response from Subaru of America.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473080July 9, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Drive to visit family, no rock chips, no accidents; pulled in about 7pm. Next morning Woke up at 0600 to a severe crack in the windshield.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11473048July 9, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
We had a rock fly up and hit the windshield 7" below top center of windshield, on impact the crack was over 12" in length, now the Crack is now over 24" in length.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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