general problems of the 2018 Subaru Legacy

I experienced an incident of spontaneous acceleration of my vehicle on November 21, 2025. I was driving slowly with my foot on the brake as I was about to make a turn and the engine suddenly accelerated. I slammed down on the brake and the car stopped, but this was extremely frightening.

I have been going back and forth with Subaru of America's advocacy department for about two weeks now, I purchased my 2018 Subaru Legacy back in August of 2023. My head unit in my vehicle has now completely stopped working, I have explained that now my back up camera is now freezing and going black and that it poses a safety risk, but they are not helping me, all they keep telling me was the extended warranty for that specific issue expired in July of 2023. When I checked Subaru's recall website, they have completed out that recall in July of 2025, I have never taken my car in for this issue, I was also never aware of this recall. I have all emails going back and forth with the advocacy department. The recall was for "fmvss 111" per Subaru advocacy dept. My car has a total of two recalls that have been completed out but it shows they were completed out July 26, 2025, I have had possession of this vehicle since 2023 and was never made aware of any open recalls so I never have taken my car into get anything corrected. This vehicle's star link system is still linked to the previous owner because I can't get it to be linked to me yet.

While driving my car, I was not able to use the power locks for my front driver and passenger windows. The power window switch on the driver and passenger door don't work. I have made numerous calls about problems with my windows since I purchased my car, but always came back as the code was reset, and they fixed it temporarily. Now I am looking at about a 1500 fix for the power windows, which has been a known problem for my car for years. I went to another shop and they told me this is a step below a recall, but Subaru knows about it. To me it seems like this is a safety issue, since the windows cant roll down or up.

Back up camera freezes or doesn't work when backing up- almost caused a accident!.

The navigation/radio screen stopped responding to touch but continues to randomly press buttons. While driving the car the touch screen is randomly calling people, changing radio stations, and messing with the lights and navigation. I reached out to Subaru to let them know what was happening and they claim it is a known issue but they haven't chosen to make a recall on it. They claim it is an issue on all of the vehicles from 2018/2019. They claim the screen is delaminating which is why it is causing random buttons to be pushed making the car extremely unsafe to drive. The distraction alone isn't safe but for me as an autistic driver the inability to turn it off is a huge issue. There is no work around available and it will just continue to make noises and randomly call people and mess with the interior of the vehicle. Working in the insurance industry I see the results of distracted driving and cannot believe this hadn't been recalled yet. There was no warning before this started. The touch screen was working fine on my way to work and then on my way home it started to go crazy. I was unable to use the touch screen installed in the car and am not able to turn it off. Subaru is aware of the issue and has not either created a safe way to disengage the part nor are they willing to replace the part.

The radio on this model, just as some of the later Subaru models, does things on its own, such as switches channels, or become totally non-responsive to touch. This began a few weeks ago and the radio is pretty much useless, unless reprogrammed or replaced. I stopped into hodges Subaru last week and described the problem and I was told that the issue sounded like the 2019-2023 models having the same issue.

Starrlink infotainment system (defective) freezing malfunctioning,back up/reverse (screen) black out 's, constant beeping though out cars speakers;while driving. . . (major) distraction & other issues. . . Aftermarket (sway bar links) were installed instead of oem. . Official Subaru parts . . By a official Subaru dealership! name: colonial Volkswagen Subaru. . . Feasterville trevose . . . On date:1/08/2024 PA. . . #[xxx]. . . Finding as noted: by winner Subaru dover delaware. . . Zip:19901. . . #302-734-8200. . . Service advisory/tag# brooke willis/[xxx]. . . Service date: 2/12/2025 information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Starlink infotainment system (audio headunit),(defective). . . Freezing, malfunction, screen black out at any time. . . Black out while in motion (reverse) using back up camera. Intermitting beeping sound though cars speakers while driving. . . Major distraction. . . Unsafe!. . . . Finding was within a August. 2019 class action lawsuit or so (recall) : federal motor vehicle safety standard (111). I also have (documented) recent proof from winner Subaru of dover delaware. . Which confirmed the (exact) same facts. . . . Contact:rep. . . Name:(brook). I reached out to Subaru America advocate. . . . Camden new jersey. . . Contact name: (niko). . . #800-782-2783 ext#119027. . . . Case# [xxx]. . . I was offered $750 good will payment. . . For a used headunit. . . Thought winner Subaru of dover delaware. . . A new headunit replacement they quoted $2,500. 00. . . . They want give me the $750 and make me pay $759 for labor. . . . For the (fact) that they have know for years that the starlink infotainment system is (defect). . . And has paid out 6. 25 million dollars. . In reference to it! I only own this car 3 months 7 days. . . . Also. . . Winner Subaru dover delaware. . . Informed me that the car had aftermarket sway bar links. . . Though carfax. . . And research I was able call colonial Volkswagen Subaru. . . Feasterville trevose PA on 1/08/2024 . . . . Was the dealership that had put them on. It was supposed to had been original Subaru part not aftermarket. . . I told brook of winner Subaru . . That's what I found out do to speaking to a service. . . Supervisor. . . That stated and confirmed the work was done there. I also reached out to Subaru America. . In reference to this. . . To no response. . . . This both as a whole is unsafe practice and bad business. . . . I should not have to pay for labor fees of sort. . . For what know and have know for a fact for years. . . And still going on till today. Im a hard working american consumer. . . That both this car 13 weeks ago. . . To be driving around with (distracting) safety issue. My cell# [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6.

For context, we are the original owners of the 2018 Subaru Legacy car (leased in 2018, and then purchased outright in 2022). At the time of the incident, the car was in pristine condition. We had the oil changed in accordance with the maintenance agreement during the lease, and then every 6,000 miles or whenever the dealership called us to bring in the car. The car had 39,000 miles on it at the time of the incident and had an oil change as recently as 2. 5 months prior. While stopped in traffic, the car began making a sputtering noise and all the lights on the dashboard turned on at the same time. When pushing on the gas the car began rolling down the hill towards the car behind me. I put the car into park and then turned it off, and then waved traffic to pass me. After reinserting the key into the ignition, the car began to make the sputtering noise again, but I was able to move the car very slowly onto the shoulder of the road. The greatest danger is that this occurred in moving traffic. Thankfully, there was no harm done to me or anyone else. I had the car towed to the nearest auto mechanic shop. Initially, the shop informed me it was an issue with the spark plug, but upon further investigation, they told me the problem was with the engine and asked me to bring it to the dealership. The dealership is unsure of the exact issue, but stated that it was engine failure (more details in screenshots below). The technician has stated that we will need to completely rebuild the engine to fully identify and fix the problem.

The display screen for my radio navigation phone etc seems to have a “ghost”. Buttons will rapidly be selected switching radio stations or calling someone on my connected phone or switching to different options available on the screen. It is very distracting while driving and annoying when trying to use for navigation with phone. It has been doing this for quite some time and occurs randomly. I’ve researched this issue online and this has happened to several owners.

My car stereo has gone crazy causing major distractions while driving. Hands free calling doesn’t work, in fact it calls random people on my call list. The screen dances and changes screens all by itself causing major distraction and it has almost caused an accident by the distraction. I’ve read that this issue is a known manufacturing issue and a class action lawsuit was brought against Subaru. I called Subaru and they have refused to give me a warranty radio even thou my dealer confirmed my radio is suffering from the DE-lamination issue that’s well known problem with my car.

The display area components(screen)toggles from radio to other components without any input from driver. The radio stars playing by itself.

The driver side rear view when I started the car back in January of 2024 after car had been running for 30 seconds smoke and fire flames were seen coming through that rear view mirror immediately contacted Subaru of America and was called back with urgency and they fixed this issue but since then I haves a few other issues I believe relate to the wiring inside the vehicle and due to the wiring, which caused the fire. I have tried to contact Subaru of America and let them know this and have had no luck with any type of help with other repairs.

During regular use of the radio and head unit, at times the touch screen or controls, dials, buttons will be unresponsive. The android auto software tends to malfunction and will randomly disconnect and the audio will blast, full volume at the driver with the inability to control the volume other than to pull over and turn the vehicle off or manually power down the radio. This has happened on several occasions and with young children in the car, it can damage hearing, cause traumatic injury or if in motion the driver can become quickly surprised or distracted and jerk the steering wheel or react to the jump in sound level that could injury passengers, or other vehicles occupied that may be nearby. This seems to be an issue with the inability to control sound level between different modes. At times though, the car will start and the radio will be blank, or be unresponsive until the car is turned off and back on again.

Driving on the interstate and the a hole exploded in the sunroof. Sounded like a gunshot. Nothing hit it to cause the damage.

Both wheel bearings have gone out in the rear since I bought this vehicle at 56,000 miles last year. I have never heard of bearings going out this soon! I have spent 800$ replacing bearings and I am questioning the build on the 2018 Legacy now.

Sunroof spontaneously failed. Tempered glass shattered and sprayed into cabin.

The infotainment head unit system and screen with the backup camera is completely malfunctioning. There have been instances where the screen glitches out while backing up and I have almost been in a collision. The head unit makes constant random noises, and screen pop ups that cannot be turned off. This makes for highly distracted and unsafe driving as it makes it quite difficult for the car user to maintain sole focus and attention to the roadways and driving. The extreme glitchiness and phantom touches/noises are just as a distraction and safety concern as driving while using a cellphone which is against the law. The infotainment unit should be fully recalled, not just have a warranty extension. The Subaru dealership has inspected the head unit and declared the failure that was part of a now expired warranty extension. The failures came without warning; however the glitches have gotten more frequent and worse over time.

I was going down the hill in my development, I made it approximately 2-300ft at 7-10mph when suddenly there was a loud “bang”. I could not see anything, my airbags had deployed and blocked my field of vision. I ended up hitting an electrical pole. There was no need for the airbags to go off. I could have been killed. There is no airbag recall on my VIN number.

Windshield chipped for no apparent reason. I heard this happened to many other people. Vehicle was stationary to my knowledge.

Sunroof glass exploded and shattered while driving. There was no car in front for potential rock damage. Sunroof was covered so most of the glass was contained on the cover. The glass was bowed outward as if there may be too much stress forced up on the glass.

The fuel door sticks requiring it to be pried open in order to fuel the vehicle. Took it to the dealer. They know about this problem because they have a special tool to open the stuck fuel door. I had to fight to get them to replace the fuel door cable. I ended up contacting Subaru of America to resolve this issue. I notified them when my vehicle had 35,000 miles on it but they refused to address it until 43,000 miles.