Three problems related to cruise control have been reported for the 2004 Subaru Outback. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The cruise control on my 2004 Subaru Outback will disconnect on its own at random after being set. It has done this since shortly after I bought it new, and I have reported this numerous times during the warranty period to Subaru dealerships, who have attempted to replicate and/or repair it, all to no avail. It used to be that it would usually disconnect after I had driven for approx. 1 1/2 hour. Now, it disconnects in under 1/2 hour on drives. It will not reset and stay set, and will continually refuse to accept to "resume" or "set" after it initially disconnects. This has resulted in situations where speed has abruptly dropped, nearly causing accidents from following vehicles overrunning me. Looking around online, there are reports that this is a known problem for Subaru's, but there has been no fix or recall made, and Subaru has seemingly made no effort to fix this problem. Incident date is most recent date it has disconnected, and the number of failures is probably underestimated.
My Subaru, forester xt has had numerous problems since it had 5000 miles. The engine performance is inconsistent. The car has an intermittent miss at idle, cruise control that disengages at will, is difficult to start intermittently; spitting and sputter for 30 seconds, acts as if it will stall occasionally while braking, and the clutch does not grip the flywheel properly. While passing on 2 lane roads, I have nearly had numerous head-on accidents; the car does not accelerate consistently. The cruise control defect has nearly caused many other accidents in distinct conditions: 1. While ascending hills, I have nearly been rear-ended by other cars when my car loses speed without warning 2. While descending hills, I have nearly lost control as the car accelerates while cruise control has disengaged I have problems with the car when I must take off hard, especially when crossing a busy street. When launching hard, the clutch will slip excessively. The car will not accelerate; it will only burn the clutch creating a large cloud of smoke. It does not matter which gear I switch too or how much throttle I apply; the clutch will not grip until it cools down. I have nearly been hit numerous times because of this. I am experiencing problems with the brake pedal. After braking to a stop, when the engine idles down, the brake pedal will sink an additional half an inch. I have brought my car to 2 different dealerships, and involved Subaru's regional service manager. All efforts to repair my car have been unsuccessful or ignored. The dealerships have only adjusted switches and replaced an oxygen sensor. The manufacturer has now claimed that they will not issue a repair order, since the problems are intermittent, even though the lead tech has experienced the problem, and they can't replicate the problems. I am stuck with a defective vehicle that is going to cause a serious accident, as I drive 1500 miles per week throughout a 6 state region.
Throttle intermittently stuck open when driving from 40-45 mph, and vehicle surged when applying the accelerator pedal from the stop position. Both issues caused the vehicle to suddenly/unexpectedly accelerate and lurch forward. Consumer had a concern that this problem will lead to an accident. Vehicle had been to the dealer on five separate occasions. Twice the dealer could not duplicate the problem, and three times dealer was able to duplicate the problems, but unable to correct the problem. As of may 13, 2005 vehicle has failed 6 times, 4 times the dealership was able to duplicate the problem and twice they were unsuccessful in finding the problem. Vehicle gets stuck in cruise control and doesn't want to go below 40 mph.