Cruise Control problems of the 2005 Subaru Outback

While driving on the highway at 65 mph, the car would not accelerate. The check engine light came on and the cruise control light flashed. Once the car was turned off and restarted, the accelerator again engaged. This is an extremely dangerous (and common in Subarus) malfunction. I was fortunate enough to be able to pull over on the side of the highway without incident.

Driving on interstate freeway, in heavy traffic, with the cruise control set, when the vehicle suddenly lost all power and throttle response. The "check engine" light came on, and the "cruise" light started blinking. Engine continued to run at high idle but speed and rpm were not maintained. I was lucky enough to cross 4 lanes of traffic and stop. Turned off the engine, which was running at 2200 rpm. After a brief stop and investigation, I was able to restart the engine and drive normally to an auto parts store. I scanned the obd ii code (dtc code) and found p2138 - throttle position sensor. No injuries, but this is a potentially deadly issue. Has recurred one time since.

While driving my Outback lost suddenly lost all acceleration. The check engine light immediately came on and the cruise control light began to blink. The car continued to move forward but decelerated to about 15 mph which nearly resulted in my being rear ended. I was able to get to the side of the road where I turned the car off and turned it back on. After doing this the car behaved normally expect the check engine and cruise control lights stayed on. After about an hour, both lights went off. Since then, this problem has recurred multiple times. I recently took the car to be repaired where the problem was diagnosed as a bad pedal assembly. However, I'm concerned that this problem will reoccur at speed and cause an accident.

The contact owns a 2005 Subaru Outback. While driving with the cruise control set to 75 mph, the contact applied repeated pressure to the brakes yet the cruise control would not disengage. The contact used the cruise control off button but to no avail. The contact was unable to stop the acceleration of the vehicle and proceeded to crash into an unknown object. The vehicle was destroyed. The driver and passenger sustained unknown injuries. A police report was available. The vehicle was towed to the contact's insurance company lot and was not examined for the cause of failure. The failure and current mileages were 77,000.

Unintended acceleration of 2005 Subaru Outback, manual transmission while driving on 2 occasions within 10 minutes and 5 miles of each other. First occurred in 3rd or 4th gear, with no reason to change speeds or stop, when the car suddenly sped forward, and left the road on the right side. I was able to keep it under control, and just as quickly, it returned to normal. With in the next four miles, it was perfectly normal, with no engine lights, strange sounds or behavior. I came to almost a complete stop before turning left onto our gravel road, when again it surged forward, and this time went through a chain link fence, into a flower garden, and came to a stop, wedged against the fence. The car was towed (on a flat bed) to a repair shop, where it was examined and repaired for $5876. 11. I contacted Subaru of America by e-mail that evening, , and got a letter dated September 6, that arrived on the 8th. It asked for all the details, service records, police reports, insurance company, etc. It also stated that they wished the vehicle to remain in its undamaged condition. Unfortunately, this came too late, as the car was already being repaired. I sent in all the required information and I received a call from Subaru of America pn sept. 20, saying that they were sorry, but since the car had been repaired, they were unable to do anything about it.

2005 Subaru Outback faulty cruise control. Consumer states that the invoice states that it turns off on its own but it should state that it turns on by itself. The consumer stated while the cruise control was in use, suddenly and unexpectedly the vehicle lunged forward at a high rate of speed, jumping a 10 inch curb, striking a pine tree, then down a grassy slope and off a second curb into a lower parking area.

Manual transmission Outback wagon non-turbo cruise control turns off unexpectedly on highways. Was filed at wilkins Subaru in MD a while back and they made some change to the computer by soa and it went away. Well it came back on my latest road trip. It would kick out at vary durations, on varying terrain, at varying temperatures, and various speeds. The trip went from the gulf coast to the baltimore over 2 days. My wife put 1500 miles on the car in 2 days a week earlier with no troubles and the next 1200 it was a constant problem. It didn't seem to matter if I set the speed and left it or if I set the speed and used the "accel" "deccel" buttons. Major nuisance and unsafe. I couldn't always tell it turned off until all of a sudden the car behind me was much too close. Then the car lunges as I his "resume".

Every time the cruise control is engaged while going downhill the throttle begins to rapidly and wildly accelerate and decelerate as if it is out of control. It stops when cruise control is disengaged. Very unnerving.

This complaint concerns the intermittent refusal of the cruise control on my 2005 Subaru legacy Outback to give up control of the engine when the cruise control handle is pulled down to the coast position and to cause an unexpected, dramatic increase in car speed when the intent is to disengage the cruise control and slow car speed (?the problem?). The problem has existed since purchasing my Subaru as new in 2005. The problem has been intermittent, occurring "out-of-the-blue" and when least expected. On more than one occasion when I wanted to slow but not break the car by pulling the cruise control handle to the coast position, the cruise control would refuse to give up control of the engine and, in some instances, the engine would advance to greater speed, almost causing a collision with traffic I was following. In one test I conducted after almost slamming into the rear end of car being driven in front of me, not only did the cruise control not give up control of the engine when I pulled the cruise control lever to the coast position, the engine continued advancing from a speed of 65 mph to 80 mph during the entire time that I held the cruise control lever was in the coast position. The only was I was able stop the cruise control from controlling the engine was by breaking the car. The problem has occurred regularly and continuously on an intermittent basis since my purchase of the car on 5/14/2005 from lithia Subaru in reno, nevada. Although causes appear to differ, the problem is similar in nature to Toyota cars experiencing unexpected speed increase due to defective accelerator pedals as now being described in the news media.

Cruise control does not operate properly with manual transmission. The throttle will hesitatate and surge when descending on even a small hill. This is distracting to the driver and could be a safety concern. I contacted the dealer and was informed that this is how the vehicle was designed and a fix is not possible.

2005 Subaru Outback: when cruise control is engaged, acceleration becomes extremely irregular, especially after cresting a hill, engine pulsates as if gas flow to the engine is being interrupted irregularly, car bucks or pulses.