general problems of the 2006 Subaru Outback

The vehicle becomes uncontrollable on light ice. The rear end will "ghost walk" (seems to steer on its own). I have driven in snow my entire life and have never experienced this issue in any other vehicle. I am also an ase certified master technician. It only happens if I have passengers in the rear seat or groceries in the cargo area. The car is not even close to its cargo limit. The tires have been replaced and an alignment performed and the issue remains. I found that this is a commonly reported problem in the forums. The car is absolutely unsafe in this condition. I was being passed by every other car on the road. The rear end will float back and forth over 35 mph regardless of any driver input (acceleration, deceleration, steering input etc).

The contact owns a 2006 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 mph, a toxic odor emitted from outside the vehicle. The contact discovered that front passenger's side had caught on fire. The contact extinguished the fire and the vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the axle boot had failed. The vehicle had been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 82,000.

Subaru Outback began to exhibit "ghost walking" while driving straight during a winter storm. Rear end attempted to race the front end, and could not regain control. This "ghost walking" is well discussed in the online form at Subaruoutback. Org. Car eventually made it to the edge of the road where it then proceeded to roll 3 times. The experience was not the normally sliding on ice. The rear end seemed to have a mind of its own.

Thank you for considering my concern; any sudden twitch of the steering wheel, such as trying to avoid a pothole, or hitting a bump in the road will cause the car to oscillate wildly from side to side with fear of loosing control and rolling over. I am a very experienced driver but my only response is to slow down and take my hands off the wheel to let the rolling settle down. I have replaced all four struts and had the car aligned. This is going to kill someone, if it has not already. I hope its not me but I feel sorry for the person who buys my car. I have read many other identical complaints and can not believe Subaru or the government has not responded. Both will have blood on their hands when an innocent person looses their life. It would be very easy to see how serious the problem is. Just come drive my car for yourself and you will know true fear. Please help us before its too late! sincerely, charles guy theriot.

I was driving on hwy 287 from casper back to laramie, wy at around 40 mph, which is lower than the speed limit of 65 mph, the car started fishtailing by itself suddenly and span 360 to the side of the road, there's black ice on the road but overall condition was good. The reason why I drove much slower than other cars (fwd cars) was that I don't have any confidence with the Subaru, it feels like the car is 'floating' on the road, the rear end tends to slide to the left or right all by itself, without any hard braking, fast steering, or sudden pushing on the throttle. I bought this car used last year with about 84k miles on it, it came with a set of snow tires, I had this problem once while the car skidded and span 360 on the interstate at 45 mph ( I was much slower than most of the cars on the highway), I changed the tired and had it re-aligned after the winter, and it happened again this winter, all parts on the suspension are from stock, no aftermarket parts were ever added to the car except for the tires, so I think there may be some issues with the suspension design of my car that's been there from the factory. I did some research online and found the term 'ghostwalking', it appears to be pretty common on Outback from 05 to 09, I wonder if Subaru has acknowledged this issue and how can I get this fixed.

I took my 2006 Subaru Outback 2. 5 in for routine service and tire rotation. Was told that my left outer cv boot was torn. Took the car to the dealership who verified the problem and was given a price to repair, which I could not afford. Since the car only had approx. 55,000 miles, and my extended warranty had just lapsed, I contacted Subaru and was told they would reimburse me for half of the cost of the repairs if they were made at a Subaru authorized mechanic, I. E. Dealership. The cost my mechanic of choice quoted was less than half of the dealership fee, so I declined the offer from Subaru. July 2012, 60,000 miles, took car in for routine servicing again and was told the right inner cv boot is torn and the left rear strut is leaking. I cannot afford these repairs and have done research to find out that cv boot tears are quite common in Subaru's. They will not cover the cost of repair or do a recall even though since my experiences, I have talked to many Subaru owners who have had cv boot issues. As it stands now, I do not feel the car is safe to drive, so it sits in the garage while my friends provide transportation. I paid more than $20,000 to buy a car that sits in the garage.

Untrue tracking on road with ice patches. Rear of car moves around a lot. Could not safely go over 40 mph, getting passed by other going 60 mph on two-lane 65 mph rated road.

2006 Subaru is unsafe on slippery roads. The car has a tendency to "steer" from the rear. It may be something with the center differential that causes more power to the rear and thus makes the rear want to fishtail out while driving slow in a straight line. It is by far the worst car I have ever driven on ice. Even with snow tires. And I had a rwd cougar with bad tires when I was young.

I experience a side-to-side shake on icy road conditions. It is very unsettling to the car and is not simply road conditions. Fwd, rwd, and other awd vehicles are not having any trouble and im doing everything I can to stay on the road and am driving as much as 20 - 30 mph slower than the next slower car on the road. There is something wrong with the Subaru Outback vehicle dynamics on ice.

While driving on icy or packed snow conditions sometimes the Outback's rear-end feels like it's breaking free, in a side-to-side motion. This is also referred to as ghostwalking or maybe fishtailing, but not the kind of fishtailing most are familiar with. It seems the car isn't equipped to handle these very specific conditions and as a result the rear-end starts wobbling. I've driven in foul weather many times, many miles, many years and do not drive too fast for conditions and I know how to drive in bad weather. I'm 99% sure this condition is resulting from the car, not the driver. When it does happen I end up driving much slower than other traffic, to the point where people are eager to pass and are annoyed. I also run dedicated snow tires. This is supposed to be a "go-anywhere" car with proven awd capabilities, and I believe it was in prior generations, but there is something wrong with the 3rd generation my2005+ cars. Soa please do some testing as I cannot honestly recommend this car and I would not buy another. I'm still debating if I'll be keeping this one. Please consider your reputation and look seriously into this matter. You have a very specific piece of the auto market and I hope you have intentions of keeping it. This is most certainly a safety issue and may be a result of the awd system, suspension, alignment or any combination of them. We need your help in staging tests to get to the root cause. I have contacted soa directly and hope this will take action.

Straight line driving on flat concrete highway, rear end of vehicle may start to wander when road is slippery. This occurs generally over 25mph, when all other vehicles are able to travel at a higher rate of speed than the 2006 Subaru Outback 3. 0r is able to. Cars will pass while I am white knuckled, concerned the rear end is going to break loose and cause complete control failure. I have found other instances of this issue from other Subaru drivers, and this is being referred to as "ghost walking" - this is a very good description as this is what it feels like. Essentially, the all wheel drive system feels like it is sending too much power to the rear end, under even/constant speed, and causing the rear to break loose. Or, there is a alignment geometry problem. Very unsettling and very unexpected for a highly regarded all wheel drive system. I have had several all wheel drive systems and none have done this in the same conditions. Very hard to recreate for dealership or manufacture, as it requires precise road conditions. Just so happens it is precisely the road conditions that most people might buy a Subaru (in mn or CO). Very dangerous.