Subaru Outback Complaints

1,029 consumer complaints on file.

#11541215August 28, 2023
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
I purchased this Outback and did not test drive at night (assuming I'd never have issues with headlight functionality). Upon driving at night, however, there are safety issues with the low beams. As others have mentioned, there are two shadow artifacts near the top of the field of vision that move from side to side. They are distracting (almost looks like an animal darting across the road) and dangerous. Secondly, the cutoff line with the projector headlights on low-beams severely limits field of vision. I have to slow way down going around curves and down hills, as I can only see about 20 feet in front of the vehicle. I tried adjust the headlights up higher, but that just causes on-coming drivers to constantly flash me. I owned a 2015 Outback before this and had none of these issues. In researching forums, this is a widespread issue: [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541207August 28, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The Eyesight keeps disabling itself. And the infotainment system is not working properly. My car is at the dealership and they are telling me they are waiting for back up camera to come off backorder 10/3/23. This means my vehicle will have been at the dealership for repair a total of 45 days if backorder date is correct. I purchased this vehicle brand new 5/6/23. I have researched online and there is a class action lawsuit for the issue. The braking safety system does not work properly and warns with red lights beeping that collision is ahead which then brakes the car automatically when not needed. I have taken the car to dealer 3 times to have this repaired
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540662August 24, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
I own a 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness Trim. I had my car parked in my garage on Aug -23 night without any damage and when I checked next day Aug-24 around noon I noticed windshield had a large 1.5 foot crack on the passenger side.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540282August 23, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Went out to car and windshield had a 6 inch horizontal crack in the beginning at the center of the frame the passenger side extending towards the driver side. There was no chip or point of impact noted. Appears faulty placement of windshield like on prior model class action.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540130August 22, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES
With 22,000 miles my front rotor brakes need replacing and I don’t have a heavy foot! This is my 5th Outback and so my history vouches that I’m not a driver that wears down brakes or tires. When I did some online searching, there are a number of people posting with the same experience. Subaru knows there is a problem because they are quick to replace under warranty. But this is dangerous. In my case, the brakes were checked just a few thousand miles ago and the were “ very good”, scored 8. Fortunately a friend was sharing the driving on a long trip and they caught that there was a problem. I made a service appointment while we were on the road. Please investigate and have them come up with a better solution than resurfacing the breaks after just 22000 miles
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539257August 17, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
When driving on Interstate Highway 44 at approximately 45mph the windshield suddenly cracked on the lower passenger side of the vehicle. There was minimal traffic at the time of the incident and the roadway ahead was clear.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538618August 15, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The windshield has spontaneously cracked on 4 separate occasions. Subaru denies this is a defect and claims all have been caused by rock chips. This is not true. The cracked windshield has caused the vehicle on numerous occasions to slam on its breaks while traveling at 55 mph or greater as it “senses” a collision. This has nearly caused 3 accidents so far.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538018August 11, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
This is the second time I've had a large crack appear from the edge of the windshield with no obvious damage.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11537109August 8, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Windshield spontaneously cracked. There is no obvious sign of impact from an external object, verified by location replacing the glass. This is the second windshield that has spontaneously cracked in less than a year's time.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11536503August 4, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
I've experienced problems with the center Infotainment screen about 2 months after purchasing a 2022 Outback Wilderness edition. It seems to happen when I use Apple CarPlay (as this is the only way I listen to music and must plug in my phone using the USB to start CarPlay). The Infotainment screen has a long lag time to respond to clicks on the center screen, will freeze, and crash the system suddenly. The most extreme effect of this is that when the Infotainment screen crashes/freezes, the EyeSight safety features of the car such as Lane Keeping Assistance, Blind Spot Warning, Forward Crash Warning also stop working. I'll see all of the dashboard signals and notifications on the dashboard screen indicating the features are disabled. Additionally, I'm unable to control the AC when the screen crash happens. This happens while the vehicle is in operation and the vehicle user manual doesn't provide any troubleshoot options. Sometimes the screen will remain on after I've turned the car off. I can only hope the screen will shut off and restart after I've completely shut the car off to "fix this". There have been many times I've had to keep driving without the Eyesight safety features or AC when the screen crashes. I've tried to update the Infotainment screen myself with the supposedly "over the air" updates Subaru offers. It says my system is up to date even though I've found online Subaru service bulletins saying there are new software versions released. At my first six month dealer service, I asked about released updates and the service manager denied the newest updates can be installed on my car (which is STILL less than a year old). I brought my vehicle to another subaru dealership with this issue and they said they are aware of it. The service manager also said that the software update only fixes about 20% of vehicles that have this issue and a full replacement of the center screen unit is likely needed. Why has the NHTSA not directed Subaru to issue a recall?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11536023August 2, 2023
BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
while backing into a parking spot between 2 cars in a parking lot the reverse auto braking engaged. when going into forward the car accelerated and crashed into cement wall about 10-15 feet ahead. Just occurred so no other info available.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11535932August 1, 2023
POWER TRAIN
The car will begin to jolt/shake when coming to a stop. It has been found to be the torque converter. We are at a loss. 10,000 miles and the car has major issues. Just bought the car 28 days ago with just about 6700 miles. We’ve put about 3,400 miles on the car and experience the issue almost every time we drive the car. Due to the safety issues about the torque converter we no longer want this car in fear of what may happen.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11535689August 1, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
8/1/23 - the Electronic center console display as well as the display behind the steering wheel continually fails. The center console controls all electronics such as defroster, heater, and of the advance safety features. The display behind the steering wheel controls the odometer, speed etc. The inability to control any vehicle functions is a huge safety risk. For example, the defroster can not be accessed not controlled. If you had an immediate need for this, you would have to stop driving immediately. No advanced safety features can be accessed, you have no idea of your speed, the list goes on. We have brought the car in twice and had a software update but the problem persists. We left the car for a week and were told it was fine but the next day the issue persisted. The display screen will come and go which is completely unacceptable from a safety standpoint. The Subaru forums seem to indicate this is a widespread problem that Subaru has yet to address or come up with a viable solution. We have the records to back up all of these assertions as well as video of the failures of the display screen once returned to us.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11535157July 28, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Windshield cracked for no apparent reason. 6-8" crack near the bottom and extending up the middle of the windshield. This is the 2nd crack in less than 10 months.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11535108July 28, 2023
VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front windshield inadvertently cracked from the passenger’s side and extended to the center of the windshield. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the windshield and windshield seal needed to be replaced. The contact also stated that photos were taken of the windshield and the camera also needed to be recalibrated. The vehicle had not yet been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was advised to contact the dealer for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11534973July 28, 2023
VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle, the next morning it was discovered that the front windshield glass had developed a crack on the driver's side, extending approximately 7-inches. The contact stated that the windshield had not been impacted by an object to cause the crack. The vehicle was taken to the local service center and the windshield was replaced. The local dealer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 20,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11534818July 27, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Outback. The contact was unable to start the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact jump started the vehicle; however, approximately 5-7 days later, the failure recurred. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 48,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11533977July 24, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
I drove to work; did not hear or see any rocks hit the windshield. Parked in a carefully chosen spot - not near any roads or work areas; not near a tree - and the windshield was cracked. No apparent reason. A single line crack coming out from the middle of the driver's side of the windshield, stopping in the middle of the windshield just past the mirror. It is right at the sight line. I have filed with my insurance company. Police refused to take report as they said it didn't appear to be that someone had maliciously hit it. Car is garaged at home. 19,000 miles. I see that this appears to be a common problem with Subarus - topic on reddit and other places.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11533617July 21, 2023
AIR BAGS
Passenger side a-pillar trim has come loose exposing airbag mechanism. Dealer unable to repair and indicates part was installed incorrectly at the factory. Awaiting new part to see if this can be corrected.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11533597July 21, 2023
VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2023 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving at slow speeds on three separate occasions, a rock struck the front windshield causing the windshield to crack. While driving at unknown speeds in the fog, the Apple car play safety feature disengaged. The contact was unable to use the driver's assist. The eye safety center disabled message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to a glass repair facility and the windshield was replaced. The local dealer was contacted, and the contact was informed that the safety features might disengage under various weather conditions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 2,200.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

← Back to Subaru Outback