general problems of the 2008 Subaru Outback

The rear gate harness wires that are in the grommet wear and break from the rear gate going up and down. This issue has many issues. Rear lighting and break light, rear wiper, also rear locking mechanism and other unknown issues.

Four Subaru dealership licensed service centers in maine and new hampshire have had for some 8 weeks my Outback to evaluate, diagnose, and -upon my approval- service. Every one of the four Subaru locations was been unable to resolve a single one of these chronic problems of the Outback's erratic 1) start/no-start, 2) triggered security light and activated alarm, 3) dashboard battery and brake icons lighting/pulsing, 4) error code 55 (or ss) and 5) car headlights pulsing. The above problems compound with the issues Subaru's service teams have failed to resolve since early days of new car ownership (despite repeated repair) for 1) brakes regularly making noise, 2) radio randomly changing volume or shutting off, and 3) back tail light not working. Note: during the first two years of ownership, Subaru's service stated it "could not replicate" the problem with the brakes I'd reported within weeks of purchasing the new car. But a few weeks out of warranty, the same Subaru service location stated "I need whole new brakes" and quoted some $1,800 in repairs. A few months later, Subaru issued its first admission to the defective brake system. These four Subaru dealership licensed service centers in part or full 1) held my car at least 2x - 4x longer than quoted, while upselling me on the loaner model, then missing several by which they'd a written diagnostic report , 2) refused diagnostic report and when sought provided scant or impractical information, 3) demanded under threat of rental fees if loaner was not retuned within a couple of hours . . . . During a business day (including at distant locations too far to reach by deadline), and 5) sought many hundreds of dollars in payment for undisclosed and unapproved work without ever diagnosing issue, which they demanded in conjunction with the rental fees ginned up by dragging out and then failing to do the diagnostic work. Subaru USA added years of delay and refuses to honor manufacturer's or licensee-issued warranties.

The contact owns a 2008 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to depress the brake pedal, the brakes failed to function. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who diagnosed the failure and replaced the brakes. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle would not start. The contact had the vehicle towed to a dealer and the battery was replaced. Soon after the battery replacement, the front headlights began strobing and the taillight wiring caused the lights to fail. Additionally, there was moisture behind the a-pillar applique trim. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, and the contact was informed that the alternator needed to be replaced. Additionally, the wiring and bulbs in the taillights needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to reach out to the NHTSA hotline for assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

My vehicle has a problem with an intermittent airbag light illuminating, indicating an issue with the airbag system. Specifically in my case, it indicates that the overhead airbag indicator system is in a fault state. This is extremely common in this vehicle and age, with many other owners reporting the same issue with no recall action from Subaru. This is a major safety issue with this car if not addressed and can result in the airbags not deploying in the event of a crash. Cost for an owner to repair (and in my case) is $300+ and should be covered by Subaru.

Wire harness going to rear hatch had multiple wires severed by repeated opening/closing of rear hatch. Lock and tail light wires were broken though. 4 other wires had their insulation cut and the conductor was exposed. In searching the net this appears to be a very common problem. Why hasn't a recall been issued? failure of brake lights or tail lights are a safety issue.

The contact owns a 2008 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the abs, traction control, engine, and other unknown warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the failure was unable to be diagnosed. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 128,000.

The dashboard lights blinked off & on and the heater stopped working, then started working again. This happened three times. It gives the appearance of involving a short circuit. This happened both when the vehicle was stationary and while moving.

Hvac fails to operate. Defroster will not operate. Symptoms accompanied by flashing control panel for hvac and radio. Widespread reports of this problem shared on car owner internet forums.

Bought a used 2008 Subaru Outback in April of 2015, and shortly afterwards began seeing the airbag dash light occasionally upon startup. The airbag light would remain on until the vehicle was turned off, and would often come on and stay on when the vehicle was started again. Overhead passenger airbag indicator also was malfunctioning, and did not indicate on or off. Vehicle was serviced at dealership on 3/22/2016, and the overhead console (part # 92151ag13aor) was replaced to remedy air bag code 26. Total cost was $182. 95; $130. 45 for the new console, and $52. 50 for the labor. This malfunction is far too common in Subaru vehicles across several years,and is an extremely important repair and a dangerous safety concern. The airbag system is inoperable when the dash light is on, and should be a recall situation for all Subaru vehicles that have the defective console.

The wires in the boot between the hatch and body become brittle over time and can snap with hatch usage. I removed the boot and found one wire completely severed (operating the hatch lock which had stopped working). Others were frayed and required repair (including the wires for the brake lights).

(vehicle has 112k miles) beginning approximately in the March 2015 timeframe, the radio controls/display began to malfunction intermittently. At first, the radio display would blink off/on, and then preset station buttons stopped/started working, then the cd/radio/aux control knob stopped/started working, etc. Controls from the steering wheel appear unaffected. There would be one problem on one day, which would seemingly "go away. " then, at random (sometimes days or weeks later), another problem would present itself. It, too, would "go away" in short order and the process would repeat itself. The problem would occur on start-up as well as suddenly while in motion (in may 2015, I had the radio go off about midway on a 150-mile trip. ) on sept 16, the radio controls became completely inactive, but the unit functioned and the display was on. Then, on sept 24, I was travelling at night when the headlights and radio/ac displays suddenly went dark. This is clearly a safety concern. The high beams and running lights remained functional, but the regular lights no longer function. I did not test the fog lights and I am no longer driving the car. I am using my wife's car. Until I can take the car for service, its use is limited to daylight hours. The issue has remained and does not appear to be "going away". When you turn on the headlights, the radio/ac displays go blank and the headlights do not light.

Having airbag light coming on intermittently along with passenger airbag light. Mechanic said airbags probably are not functioning properly. Cost for repair would be between $350-$400. From reading other complaints, this is an easy and cheap fix but dangerous if it's not repaired. This should be a recall!.

I'm updating my 2/3/15 complaint 10680982. I contacted Subaru directly on the same day and included a copy of the complaint I filed with NHTSA and my bill for the replacement of the overhead airbag control module. In the report the Subaru tech said the unit was shorting out, showing code "26 for passenger’s airbag indicator failure and s8 airbag light on. " I also gave Subaru my tally of my first cursory search of the NHTSA complaints database on the word "airbag" for all models of Subaru from 2000 to present. The search resulted in 145 complaints. After I looked through the first 60 complaints I found 45 of them that seemed to be about this exact problem - the airbag warning light on the dashboard and/or passenger side airbag overhead indicator going on and off intermittently. These complaints were across every model of Subaru and years from 2003 to 2013. My 2008 Outback had the most complaints - 13. Other searches for different key words and spellings of airbag resulted in many hundreds of results, too many for your database to display, probably many of them were about the recent airbag recall issue. Subaru's customer service department responded immediately and on 2/12/15 they promised to reimburse me for the entire $352, the total cost of parts and labor to replace the module. I urge all Subaru owners to test their passenger airbag lights and those with problems to lodge a formal NHTSA complaint and report it to Subaru. Since the airbag doesn't work when the light isn't working properly this is a very dangerous problem! enough complaints to the NHTSA will help pressure Subaru to finally let all potentially affected owners know about it.

Hvac / radio (cd 6 disc changer model) fast flashing, all functions stay enabled but can not be controlled from the panel. Can not turn on defrost unit or adjust temperature or radio controls while flashing occurs. This happens intermittently for a year and has gotten significantly worse where controls are unavailable for 20 minutes or more at a time. Dangerous situation in winter when you can not use the defrost buttons to deice windows or control window fogging.

The airbag warning light is frequently on for extended periods of time (days, weeks,months). The issue and Subaru's unwillingness to address it are well documented in complaints filed with NHTSA by other Subaru owners and on various Subaru owner websites. . Read more...

The lights and the radio on the instrument panel constantly go off and on sitting still or moving I told the technician at the dealership and it has not stopped as of 6/7/2017.

The airbags light is on intermittently. The tech at the Subaru dealership said it was a problem in the connection in the map light console. He indicated the airbags would deploy correctly. It appears to be a common problem with 2008 Outbacks and other posters have indicated the airbag system will not work if dashboard airbag light is illuminated. Apparently many folks have found a weak/aged solder point to be the cause of an intermittent connection. Given the large number of owners encountering this problem, Subaru should initiate a recall based on the safety concerns of a an airbag system failure in the event of an accident.

Tl-the contact owns a 2008 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving 5 mph, the audio and the whole panel dealing with the heat/air and defroster failed without warning. The contact stated that the audio and h-back control panel lights were blinking. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 37,000. Ed.

The radio and heater, a/c and defroster controls are all one piece in my car. The display screens on both go blank without warning. When this happens nothing works, most importantly the defroster when you bad weather while driving. The output temperature and fan speed cannot be changed and the defroster cannot be turned on or off. The factory radio-a/c control unit went bad and was useless. Subaru was unable to provide service parts since it is no longer available new, only as a rebuilt unit, and Subaru has no cores to rebuild nor do they know when they will get one. I bought a used radio-a/c unit from a junkyard and installed it about a year ago. Now this unit is starting to go bad. I have contacted panasonic to find an authorized repair facility and they cannot identify my radio even with the numbers on the tag that says made by panasonic, so they cannot tell me where I can get it repaired. Subaru has been just as useless. I can live without a radio, but when my windshield fogs up at 60 mph and I cannot turn the defroster on or it's 20 degrees out and I cannot turn the heat on, this becomes a safety issue. I checked a Subaru owners website and found numerous people with 2005-2008 models saying they had the same problem. I have owned the car since new and besides changing the oil myself, all other repairs on the car have been done by a Subaru dealer. The dealer even installed the junkyard radio. The last contact I had with the Subaru factory, they are blaming the problem on me using an aftermarket radio. My local Subaru dealer confirmed thru serial numbers that the radio from the junkyard is the exact same radio-a/c unit that came in my car when new. Since Subaru no longer uses panasonic radios, they are no longer providing any product support on panasonic products. Subaru is required by law to provide service parts for at least 7 years and they are not doing it.

Dash airbag light comes on intermittently, and this disables the airbag. Dealer states this is a known problem, but can only fix by trial and error replacing (expensive) components. It happens most on cold wet weather days, often goes off when car warmed up, so probably electrical. Has continued for years now, still happening at 105,000 miles. Many many examples on internet boards of people with this same problem. Should be a safety recall!.

Since the car was nearly new the airbag warning light comes on intermittently and now stays on continuously, rendering the airbag system inoperative. The vehicle was brought to the dealer the first time it happened but the dealer said no fault code was found. In December 2012 the warning light came on continuously. I brought it to the Subaru dealer to diagnose and service the problem. The service manager stated that the problem is with the light in the maplight module, and if something in the module goes bad the airbag warning light will come on and prevent the airbag from deploying. Consequently I have to replace the entire maplight console at a cost of $510 ($110 to read the code plus $400 for the light module) to fix a dangerous safety defect and design flaw that should be the responsibility of Subaru.