Equipment Problems of Subaru Crosstrek - part 1

This is the second time this has occurred. While driving (vehicle in motion for multiple minutes beforehand), an ad for siriusxm radio popped up on my infotainment, which disables carplay, a/c controls, car settings, driver assistance settings, etc. Until you dismiss the ad. There is no way to dismiss the ad except clicking a small “x” button in the corner, which is difficult and dangerous to do while driving because you have to really focus on the screen and tapping the right spot. Absolutely unacceptable and inappropriate to show an ad like that. If I were driving at night or in the rain, there is a high likelihood I would crash, and that chance is not zero even in good daytime weather. It also forces me to do something illegal (interact w screen while driving).

See all problems of the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek 🔎.

While driving, the infotainment screen was overtaken with an advertisement for siriusxm radio which had to be manually cleared by hitting an x button on the screen. The vehicle was in motion when the advertisement appeared and completely covered the screen. At the time of the incident, the vehicle had been on and driving for over an hour.

Advertisements from serious xm taking over the screen. Distracting me from the road because I had to close the ad and open carplay back up. This is unacceptable!.

Advertisements routinely pop up on infotainment screen and block safety features like x mode (for snow). They are a driving distraction, as they block all features on the screen and will not disappear until they are interacted with. This means that in inclement weather, I have to interact with an ad before using this safety feature. Siriusxm has refused to remove them. Subaru has said there is nothing they can do. This was also not disclosed to me upon purchase of the vehicle, so this is also a dishonest business practice on top of being a safety hazard not allowing usage of safety features and being a driving distraction. First and second incident was in November 2024, third was December 4, 2024. Most recent incidents occurred November 22, 2025 and December 2nd, 2025. I have photos as proof.

Infotainment displayed an advertisement for serius xm radio while I was using navigation and operating the vehicle on the roadway.

I am not a customer of sirius xm, so approximately once per month, an ad appears on my screen for a sirius xm free trial. This is incredibly distracting and dangerous as it takes up the entire screen and requires me to take my eyes off the road to click the close button.

While driving, the infotainment system, which I was using for navigation, popped up an ad for siriusxm radio. This distracted me, as the driver, while I was trying to use the navigation system to find my way. Thankfully, I was on a road with a speed limit of 30 mph, and an area that I am familiar with. However, there should be zero tolerance for advertisements on automotive infotainment systems.

I got a pop-up message while attempting to back up using my rear backup camera that almost caused an accident. This blocked view of the camera and locked up the entire infotainment system until I could clear it. The pop up was: "enjoy siriusxm free thru 12/1. " this kind of distraction while operating a vehicle that weighs almost a ton while the vehicle is in motion is dangerous and irresponsible. This advertisement disables and interferes with safety features on this vehicle.

Advertisements for siriusxm radio are being pushed to the infotainment system. These ads temporarily render all radio and climate controls as unavailable until driver taps on screen to disable the notification… causing driver to take eyes off of the road.

Advertisement for xm radio service popped up on console screen of the car, and would not go away unless manually dismissed (touch) - while driving, covering the entire screen. This is entirely unnecessary and distracting, all to serve an advertisement for a service I don't want or use.

Pop up ads for siriusxm while driving are a dangerous distraction. They pop up with a sound from the speakers, making me think somethings wrong with my car and distracting me from the road. It also doesn't close by itself.

Distracting siriusxm adds keep blocking navigation requiring physical input from driver to clear.

While I was driving the other day my entire infotainment screen (which shows my map, as well as climate controls) was completely overtaken by a giant ad for sirius xm radio service. It was the entire screen and it required me to take my focus off of the road long enough to determine what was happening on the screen, find a button to make it go away, then accurately tap the button while driving. This was extremely dangerous and I don't know how it is legal! why are they allowed to project an ad into my field of vision, distracting my focus and potentially causing a deadly accident? this needs to be stopped! I love Subaru, but they need to stop endangering our lives with ads for satellite radio service I already don't want while I'm driving.

On infotainment touchscreen, repeated sirius xm ads are shown while the vehicle is in operation. This is distracting and dangerous as the ads obscure actual critical functions like climate control, navigation, and vehicle settings until I tap the x on the ad to close it. Running ads while the vehicle is driving is not safe - this puts myself and other drivers at risk by introducing an unnecessary distraction. I cannot stress enough that these ads only appear while the vehicle is driving.

While driving in alaska during icy conditions my entire display for my infotainment screen changed abruptly. I glanced over at this to see if this was important information as it doesn't usually do thing. Upon looking I realized this was an advertisement for sirius xm radio free until December 1st. In order to get back to my normal navigation I had to click a small red x on the screen. This entire situation cause me to swerve and slide on the ice and almost go off into a ditch. This is extremely negligent behavior to display an advertisement while a car is in full motion and I, as the driver, am expected. To keep my eyes on the road.

Ad for sirius xm popped up on infotainment center as I was driving. This caused an unexpected interruption in my ability to drive safely. Subaru gives you zero option to opt out and I have repeatedly had this pop up on my screen. I bought and paid for this vehicle and they should not be allowed to place any ads on the infotainment center.

About 5 minutes after I started driving, an ad for sirius-xm radio subscription appeared on my infotainment system. It took up the entire screen, covering my ac controls and apple carplay navigation - this meant that I was required to interact with/dismiss the ad. Because it was shown when I was driving (in motion), I was forced to unsafely and illegally interact with the touch screen to re-enable the functionality of my car. Showing an ad in the car is unacceptable in general, but especially in a situation when the car is in motion, where it poses a significant safety risk.

Sirius xm advertizing obscures the entire screen making car data and navigation unavailable unless a driver takes their eyes of the road to press a tiny x on a corner. There are some offers when I bought the care where I had to shut the car off to get the ad to disappear. I do not want to have driver distraction from ads that could lead to an accident or have me pull over in traffic to shut off. Please ask them to stop this behavior.

Sirius xm ad shows up randomly on infotainment screen. It completely takes over the screen, distracting, and no way to disable it.

The drivers side mirror shakes and vibrates during normal local driving on my brand new 2025 Subaru Crosstrek limited. I brought it in to be fixed and they did work on it but it did not fix the problem. I am have to bring it back a second time. I am reporting this as this is a known issue and Subaru has yet to come up with permanent fix. It makes car shake and provide poor visibility if don't have a clear view to gauge from.

Unknown: issue was that something is rolling along the left side of the driver floor board underneath the floor board. First time this happened was after the dealer got into the transmission as I had issues with a clunking noise which is still present but I was advised is normal when putting the vehicle into park from reverse. Took it in for them to inspect - they advised nothing was wrong, and the issue was mysteriously fixed- no more rolling parts under my feet. This time, I took it in for tire rotation and oil change and now it is doing the same thing. . . Something is rolling back and forth on the left side of the driver side floor board. Today, when turning left, whatever component under the floor board is moving, moved from left to right when making that turn. My side mirrors shake noticeably when driving.

Sunroof exploded for no reason comments:?my son was driving on freeway in durham north carolina last night, our 2015 Subaru Crosstrek xv touring’s sunroof just exploded for no reason at 7pm in 8/7/2025.

See all problems of the 2015 Subaru Crosstrek 🔎.

P26a5 code came on after driving a little over 200 miles. It went off at one point but came back on and has not gone off.

See all problems of the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek 🔎.

My vehicle would struggle with starting intermittently over the past 2 years. Last week it became a consistent issue each time I would start it. Today my car would not crank and I tried several times over the span of 3 hours. What I experienced previously when starting my vehicle is it would initiate starting, I would hear a mechanical whirring, the car would stop then start again and the engine would turn over a couple of times and eventually start up. Today when trying to start the car, I hear a mechanical whirring and several notifications appear on my dashboard including the following: check engine, eyesight off check manual, check owner manual, rab disabled. Thankfully I was not stranded when my car wouldn't start again, but that is a real risk because I travel to the mountains often where there is no cell reception. I looked online for similar issues and have discovered several instances of people with 2018 and 2019 Subaru Crosstreks (and other models) have had the same issue. Subaru has issued a technical service bulletin (07-198-21), but this is a safety issue which they should address. My coworker has the same car and it has had work done for the same issue. My neighbor has a 2019 ascent which has an auto start/stop where it wasn't able to restart and was stuck in traffic creating a hazard.

See all problems of the 2019 Subaru Crosstrek 🔎.

The affected component of this vehicle is the braking system. When rocks or gravel get stuck to, in, on, or around the brake pads/brakes the braking system is compromised. Yes, the vehicle is available for inspection. When gravel gets stuck in, on, and around the brake pads, the safe operation of the braking system malfunctions. If the vehicle braking system does not work as designed/intended, lives are at risk. When you need to brake, the braking system needs to be reliable. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? yes, upon taking the vehicle back to the dealer, the service manager confirmed this is a known defect by both sales and service teams. The service manager said this happens often and we should expect it to happen again. The service manager told me this vehicle is not to be driven on gravel. This was not disclosed at the time of purchase. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? the dealer service department inspected the vehicle when it was towed back to them for service related to this problem. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? no, there was no warning. The brakes failed to operate properly, they did not completely fail.

When attempting to put the car in park, the key will not release and is stuck. Incident happens often in recent past days. Key will not release from ignition.

See all problems of the 2014 Subaru Crosstrek 🔎.

1. Subaru 2022 Crosstrek accelerated on its own when foot is on the brake and trying to move the shifter knob to park, instead the car thursted into the parked car in front with such force that ran into the garage. 2. Towed car to Subaru dealer informed to escalate to Subaru of America, opened a case #250402-1600810, please see attached email communication. 3. Subaru will not respond unless I signed a consent to extract edr (event data recorders) for inspection but denied me to be onsite or a copy of the files, the data retained from edr is the property of the owner, per section 563. 5 of title 49, code of federal regulations. 4. 4 weeks later, Subaru issued the results of this vehicle indicate it has no brake, accelerator or throttle abnormalities. Also quoting the police report that I provided. 5. There was no edr saved in the accident, Subaru cannot provide any summary or why the computer did not capture any of the events, the brake pedal, gas pedal, etc. 6. There has been over $12,000 damage on the Subaru, over $7,000 on the parked car, and the garage door. The insurance repair for the vehicles only address body work and no mention of the edr testing, engine and throttle, eyesight, etc. 7. Subaru should be more transparent and issue the summary of the inspection from the team, not the adovcacy (advocating for Subaru). The car battery went completely dead on March 14, 2025 and was told there is nothing wrong with it after the dealer service center look at it on March 15. The inspector was going to determine if the vehicle is drivable. 8. The car is under 3 year warranty with extended warranty for 7 years. I want a response from Subaru of America states that the Crosstrek 2022 is safe to drive and does not have an unintended acceleration issue since Subaru conducted the inspection.

See all problems of the 2022 Subaru Crosstrek 🔎.

This is not a safety issue. But the paint on the car seems to be of poor quality that is easily chipped or stained by bird droppings. The hood of the car has a multiple chips in the paint. The car has been well taken care of and normal driving conditions. For only 18000 miles on the car, the paint seems very thin and poor durability to hold up to normal driving conditions.

I had a frontal accident on March 6, 2025. When I turned to pull into the driveway of my rental apartment, I lost control of the vehicle. It surged forward, climbed a low retaining wall of about 14" and then hit a support post. I sat there stunned thinking "what just happened and how?" at first, I thought it was me, but thinking about it more, I'm wondering if this could be a potential safety problem. I have read several other similar instances on the internet, and someone I know had a similar accident which was attributed to her age. Collision repair for the Crosstrek was $10,358 done by a local facility, not Subaru. Repair of damage to the support post was $1,340. I reported this to Subaru, but after several follow-ups (last one on July 29, 2025), I still have not received a reply from Subaru. I can forward the email string to you if you want. I don't know how to attach it in one of the acceptable formats.

I have had my car jumped twice in the last 7 days. Today I will be replacing the battery with aaa. Is there a recall on my vehicle? I saw an article there is a recall for starting issues and the coils. Please advise. Thank you.

See all problems of the 2018 Subaru Crosstrek 🔎.

Pressing the horn button on the steering wheel does not sound the horn. However, pushing the “lock” or “panic” button on the key fob still makes the horn beep. So the horn itself works, but pressing on the steering wheel does absolutely nothing. Other buttons on the steering column still work (cruise control, radio controls, etc). Only pressing the horn button doesn’t work thus making me unable to alert other drivers of my presence if they are drifting toward me. This has not been evaluated by a mechanic or dealer yet as I do not have the money to do so. However, a simple search on reddit will show you that many others are experiencing this with their Subaru Crosstreks. There were no symptoms or issues that led to this. It simply stopped working one day. And I am not someone who hits their horn very often so this is not an overuse issue. Once the horn button stopped working on the steering wheel, it has not worked since. I have not had the ability to alert drivers with my horn for over a month.

Random cracking of windshield while parked. Beginning from the very top of the windshield downward 6-7 inches. No chips, or cracks in the area. Was not hit by anything.

The windshield in our 2022 Subaru Crosstrek has gained 2 cracks for no apparent reason. The windshield has cracked under normal stress/strain over a prolonged period of time. There was no incident that caused this unacceptable cracking. Furthermore it is unsafe. I do not look forward to paying replacement costs associated with eye-sight recalibration and winshield repair. . . . Not sure why this vehicle isn't the class action lawsuit against Subaru of America with powell et al. . . And of course we first noticed the cracks at about 40,000 miles. They just showed up one day, indicated that after prolonged strain they reached their breaking point.

Subaru owners have reported experiencing premature parasitic battery drain in vehicles equipped with starlink in-vehicle technology. The defect presents itself when the equipped data communications module (dcm) attempts to communicate with 3g cellular networks. As 3g networks within the u. S. Are no longer functioning, the call will continuously fail even after the vehicle has been turned off, draining the battery and resulting in a no-start safety risk for drivers. According to those familiar with the issue, the only solution to the battery drain defect is to remove the dcm fuse, thus disabling vital safety features such as hands-free calling. This issue is happening to me specifically, as I have had to jump my car multiple times within a week long period if in a bad cell range area. I have brought this into the dealership multiple times, under warranty, and presented this to them. They refuse to fix, even though multiple online threads and lawsuits point to this issue being known.

The cvt valve body was diagnosed as defective by the Subaru dealership service department. The car was taken to the dcealership when the a/t oil emp, hill assist, abs and traction control, stability control lights came up. The valve body is still available for inspection. The car was taken to the dealership for a brake light switch recall that has the same simptoms.

See all problems of the 2016 Subaru Crosstrek 🔎.