Equipment Problems of Subaru Ascent - part 2

2021 Subaru Ascent with 15,735 miles on it with the factory falken tires. The tread and metal was showing and separating from the tires. 2 tires, original to the car off the lot. Tires should last 30-40-50 miles. The other 2 tires were labeled as a 4-5 category. The car did not steer to the left or right, no noise at all. If driving on the highway and 2 tires failed, I could have been injured, my passengers or another vehicle crash. This was very dangerous. In going to the Subaru website and seems hundreds of other customers had the same issue. Failing, inferior, defective falken tires and alignment issues. I hope these tires don't fail and cause someone to lose their life.

See all problems of the 2021 Subaru Ascent 🔎.

The car has a blue smoke from tail pipe * oil smell when turned on and last for 20 seconds.

See all problems of the 2020 Subaru Ascent 🔎.

Oily blue smoke from exhaust upon start.

See all problems of the 2019 Subaru Ascent 🔎.

Blue smoke from tailpipe upon start.

The automatic liftgate in the rear of the vehicle upon opening, closes suddenly and immediately. I am not touching the key fob or anything. This happened several times and hit me on the head. The dealer has replaced the liftgate motor, but it happened again. This is dangerous and can be harmful to adults or children standing behind a vehicle.

See all problems of the 2022 Subaru Ascent 🔎.

Blue smoke and hesitation as if motor will turn off. Blue smoke upon turning SUV on.

I was driving on I-20 when a line of cars suddenly slammed on their brakes in front of me. I slammed on my brakes as well but was unable to stop before hitting the car in front of me. The front of the car was very damaged but the car I hit had minimal damage on the bumper only. My 15 year old daughter was in the backseat and had to injuries, I was driving and only suffered a burn from the airbag and a few bruises. We were both able to get out of the car and get safely to the side of the road. Within about 3 minutes the car caught on fire. My concern is that if Subaru is made with crunch zones shouldn’t there be more safety measures in place so that the car does not catch on fire. I feel like there may have been some type of malfunction that took place to cause the fire.

I attempted to make a u-turn with the steering wheel fully turned to the left. When I accelerated, the car took off and went straight into the curb. It did so by “plowing” or what is referred to as severely undesteering - which forced the front right face of the wheel into the curb, breaking the wheel off. The vehicle continued accelerating for another 50 feet (as can be seen in the photographs) when the engine gradually and audibly died down and came to a stop. The brakes were no longer functioning properly at that time while sinking to the floor as they did immediately after the first impact. In the four months and 2300 miles that I’ve been driving that car, I’ve noticed surging a number of times during warm up and also while the cvt is “shifting. ” I also constantly have to modulate the gas pedal to keep the vehicle at a consistent speed. Rpms drop and surge in an inconsistent manner. Also, when the wheel is turned completely to the left lock, (which is how my crash occurred) and upon acceleration, there is a bang/grinding sound from the front left axle. Lastly, I noticed at least one other incident where it seemed like the turbo would not disengage when lifting off the throttle. In other words, it lagged in response to the throttle by about two full seconds before the engine began decelerating.

See all problems of the 2023 Subaru Ascent 🔎.

The driver door window gasket cracked and is hanging loose inside the door, letting air to get air while the vehicle is in operation. I would expect this after 10 years of use, but the vehicle is about 3 years old.

I parked my Ascent rear facing inside of my garage to unload my groceries. When I opened my hatch at the front button, the hatch only opened halfway. The hatch would not close with the push of the button and had to be closed manually. Once I returned to my Ascent to go somewhere, the hatch sensor beeped repeatedly, while driving, until coming to a complete stop. Once driving continued, the sensor continued beeping. This occurred with two straight vehicle drives. The entire course of the drive. I parked the Ascent in my garage and returned to the car the next morning and the Ascent would not start. Aaa came to do a jumpstart with no remedy. We replaced the battery with a new, borrowed battery and the car started immediately with no beeping. We charged the old battery and replaced the new battery and the Ascent had no other issues, including easy startup and no beeping. There were no warning lights for any of the issues including the hatch or the battery.

My vehicle won’t stay charged. We replaced the battery and still every single time I go out to start it it’s completely dead and I have to get it jumped.

Side passenger window spontaneously developed a crack about 10 inches long while sitting parked. The crack is located the direct line of sight of the side view mirror.

The rear door knocked me to the ground because it didn’t go back up when it came in contact with my body and I couldn’t get out of the way fast enough.

Drive chain could compromised but there is lack of parts to fix issue which could prove costly to the transmission. Need to know what I can do to fix before it becomes a problem.

The car drains the battery prematurely overnight.

Battery life issue.

Open cvt recall is not being taken care of in a timely manner. Safety sensitive issue and it’s been open coming up on a year.

The panoramic moonroof stopped working and was stuck open, making a grinding sound when trying to close. There were no warning lights or messages prior to the issue. The issue was reviewed by a Subaru dealership, they were able to recreate the issue, and they replaced the parts to fix the issue, covered under warranty.

Windshield is extremely soft and cracks easily. In less than 1. 5 years I've owned the car I've gotten 3 chips/cracks and now a 4th major one that requires a full replacement. No car previously owned ever had this issue, not even the previous Subaru. After searching online this seems to be a common problem in Subarus, as there was a class action suit for earlier models. Yes, car is currently available for inspection until repaired. Super soft windshield - if the windshield is broken completely on a highway, it's obviously a concern and a risk. Have not taken the car in yet, but will be to get it replaced.

When starting it blows blue smoke out of tail pipes that lingers in the air. I bought used on 7/23/22 and previous owner just said it did the same with them. It was taking to subura dealer to be fixed and they don’t know what to do to fix it.

The windshield is fragile- there have been 2 broken windshields in the last 3 months- one from a minor ding and one that is not confirmed as to why the crack started (dealer says a ding- we did not hear or see a ding prior to the crack popping into place as we were driving). In both cases the cracks extended to over 50% of the windshield rapidly and suddenly while driving. The sudden nature and force/sound of the cracking causes distracted driving and creates panic in the car. Both windshields have been replace so inspection is not available. The problem has been reported to the dealer and replaced by the dealer. There were no symptoms or warning of the cracks- I have never seen windshields be destroyed so easily.

It has been six months and I have not received any communication from Subaru since the recall was announced. Submitting a complaint that the known recall has not been addressed in a timely manner.

I was informed of the recall of my 2020 Ascent and my Subaru dealership gave me a 2021 Ascent loaner car. But it is going on 2 months and no information when my car will be fixed. At this point time I don't want my car anymore if they can't fix it.

Driving when all of the sudden the front windshield cracked it started on the passenger side.

First, we received the recall letter after the allowed deadline. We were told that the recall would be fixed by may from Subaru. The recall says it can cause an increase risk of a crash. We bought this car primarily due to their high safety rating as a way to transport our new born child. She is now two. We have minimized and avoided taking long trips on the car. But with summer coming up and no fix in place, I think this justifies "unable to repair in a reasonable amount of time". Currently I am fighting to get an alternate source of transportation. They initially agree to pay $50 for a rental. But with rental prices that only covered half. They do not offer a loaner. I am getting bounced back and forth between Ascent dealer and the Subaru corporation. As of now, nothing has been done. We have a trip scheduled in a few weeks. We don't feel safe using this vehicle. What can be done to remediate this?.

Windshield cracked while driving.

My car did not start and the anti-theft light came on the dashboard (the one with the car and lock symbol). I know battery issues have been a known problem with my Subaru model and I bought the car in oct 2019 so it's been less than 3 years. The battery should not be dying this quickly. I had to get a jump start to get the car on. After a few hours, I tried starting it again and it did not work. I was told I'd need to get my battery replaced.

1. The electrical system/battery failed after only 392 miles. Car could not be jumped. When the cables were put on the battery, the tech said they got real hot (which leads us to believe it was shorting out. ) even though Subaru blamed the battery, the dashboard lights, the horn, and the headlights were all flickering and flashing like a christmas tree. The car had also just been driven 45 minutes before. Subaru blamed driver error on not shutting the car off properly, but according to a class-action lawsuit, Subaru is aware of this happening with other Subaru vehicles. 2. The car would not start in an unsafe neighborhood after dark. We also experienced a burning smell in our garage for the past few months, which disappeared now that the Subaru has been at the garage for a week. 3. Not confirmed. The Subaru dealership blamed driver error and improper shut off of the ignition. 4. No inspections have been done except by the Subaru dealership. 5. No warning. The car had just been driven for 45 minutes, we parked and came back 45 minutes later and it would not start. At that time, the battery light came on, the car's headlights started to flash, and the dashboard lit up. Looking back, the burning smell in our garage might have been a clue.

2020 Subaru Ascent that I purchased in November of 2019 had original brand new battery replaced in July of 2020 the “ new battery “ is now defective and car needs to be jump started. Defective battery or defective electrical system?.

April 25, 2022: the trunk/liftgate of the vehicle failed to detect an obstruction and closed without retracting when it came in contact with an individual's head. The impact caused a head injury, blackout, and concussion, and resulted in permanent damage to an individual (6' 2" - 190lbs). Subaru’s stated that an inspection of the vehicle was performed on may 19th and informed me that “the vehicle is operating as designed…and has met all federal specifications,” and that their inspection concluded that this is “no manufacturing defect. ” prior to the inspection, Subaru requested signed consent to inspect the vehicle's internal data which I provided. When I requested a copy of the report, Subaru informed me of their policy not to share this information despite the vehicle "operating as designed. " one of the first things that we learn about computers is “garbage in, garbage out. ” my position is that if Subaru’s computers are not programmed to look for issues pertaining to incidents that contradict their message of superior safety features, then their computers will not find issues that do not reflect their preferred image. No warning messages or symptoms prior to this occurrence. Subaru's response is included in this report.

Spent 5 hours at a tailgate/beach event with the rear lift gate open. I made sure that interior lights were off to avoid draining the battery with the lift gate open. When we were ready to leave, the car battery was dead. We were panicked because we have a 5mo old and had to track down another driver to borrow jumper cables. Once home, we discovered that the lift gate will always draw power from the battery unless you trick the hatch lock with an off-market device or carabiner clip.

The windshield spontaneously cracked, for no apparent reason. It was not hit by anything. The car was sitting still and the windshield just cracked. I have babied this car. It only has 15,000 miles on it, kept in a garage, no ice or snow build up, rarely driven in bad weather.

My mirror on my car has started melting. They told me it was a outside force, from a lighter. I told them it was electrical or something wrong from the inside of the mirror. There are forums recently posted up regarding this and Subaru has ignored them all claiming it is reflective light from the sun. That they can’t do anything about it. Others have replaced their mirrors 3 times now. This is a potential fire hazard and could be unsafe. They are not addressing this as it should be. . Read more...

2019 Subaru Ascent. Consumer writes in regards to Subaru safety recall wrk-21. The consumer requested the use of a rental vehicle and storage be provided while awaiting the recall repair completion.

I have received numerous recalls on this model and failed to receive wuv-07. Now they have sent wrk-21 to replace wuv-07 and tell me the tools and reprogramming should arrive by may and they will contact me again. This is a drive train slippage issue (something I have been complaining about since I purchased the car) and very hazardous. I was planning 2 trips between now and then and I believe Subaru is uniquely slow in fixing this critical issue. Also in an unrelated matter I was forced to put 4 new tires on this vehicle already replacing the original tires after 29,000 miles. I do not believe Subaru did due testing diligence prior to releasing this model for weight/handling/tire strength.