Steering Wheel Vibrate problems of the 2010 Subaru Outback

2010 Subaru Outback exhibits steering wheel vibration at speeds between 60-70 mph. And poor lane tracking (wandering).

Subaru Outback steering wheel shimmy and vibration. I purchased my 2010 Subaru Outback new in October of 2010. After driving the vehicle home and spending a few miles getting used to the feel and sensation of a new car, I noticed that the ride of the car was somewhat unsettled, vibrating and shaking at highway speed. I initially attributed this to the new tires and slightly overly inflated tire pressure. I precisely adjusted the tire pressure and spent the next few months waiting for the tires to "settle in" and smooth out. My wife started driving the car regularly and did not mention any issue about the ride. I drove the car several times afterwards and on each trip found the car very very uncomfortable to drive. The ride is noticeable leaving the driveway but is most apparent at highway speed, most especially in low power situations like coasting down descents at greater than 60mph. The steering wheel shakes dramatically in this situation. Thinking that the cause of the shaking was the oem tires, I removed the conti contisport tires and replaced them with michelin defender xt's from costco. Almost immediately, I noticed that the tires were no smoother than the oem's. I had costco remove and rebalance the tires. The steering wheel shake and vibration remained even after the rebalance. I was about to return the car to costco when I found the link on the Subaru forum about "shaky Subarus" and that the problem was so widespread that a technical service bulletin (TSB) had been issued about the problem, mandating that major modifications be made to the car. I have not been notified by soa about the TSB.

2010 Subaru Outback steering wheel shaking while at freeway speeds, not tires. Subaru has installed a TSB and it did not solve the problem. Subaruoutback. Org has many thousands of posts on this issue.

My 2010 Outback has a steering wheel shake that occurs at highway (65+) speeds. The wheel oscillates from left to right at high frequency, moving about 1/8" each way. There have been 4 attempts at fixing the problem, but Subaru has not resolved the issue.

Starting from 1,700 miles, this car started developing the vibration on the steering wheel. This vibration/shimmy is more pronounced on highway (>70mph) but noticeable in other speeds. I have owned a couple of vehicles and this kind of shimmy/vibration has never happened on any cars that I owned/drove. I am 100% sure it is not normal road feel and it didn't happen during the first 1,700 miles. Also, the car doesn't track straight and drifts on highway. Two alignments, tire balancing and rotation have been done but the vibration and drifting persist. I definitely consider the steering wheel vibration and drifting a safety issue since it totally isolated the road feel on highway. Also, I just cant seem to have a confident control on the car during highway driving. Recently I came across the following forum for Subaru Outback owners and found this is a widespread issue for quite a few 2010 Outbacks. Please refer to the following thread. . Read more...

1. No events leading up to the failure as it is a brand new car and has been evident from the very beginning. 2. Steering wheel vibrates at highway speeds between 70 and 75 mph. It occurs all the time at those speeds. Consequences are that it is very distracting and also causes numbness in hand and arm on long trips. 3. Tires were balanced and rotated by dealer, but problem was not resolved.

Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6) 2010 Subaru Outback premium 2. 5i steering wheel vibration issues, and also vehicle floats to the right and left. You sometimes have to countersteer. Today was traveling in straight line, and all of a sudden it moved to the right suddenly. Almost causing an accident. Alot of Subaru people are having this same problem. Think we need to look into this. [xxx].

Steering wheel vibration/grabbing at speeds starting at 50mph and above. Vibration/grabbing and releasing in turns from a stopped starting position to sudden releasing. At speeds of 50 mph and above car can and will suddenly deviate left or right without any steering input to 10- deviation.

The contact owns a 2010 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that when driving on the highway at 65 mph, the steering wheel began to shake violently. The vehicle also pulled from left to the right no matter what speed. The contact also stated that the front passenger side air bag off light was always illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealership where it was at the time of the complaint, awaiting a response from the manufacturer. This visit would be the fourth time the vehicle was taken to the dealership and had been kept for a long period of time. The current and failure mileages were approximately 10,000.

Steering wheel shake that has not been repairable. The slight vibration can also be felt in the car.

The 2010 Subaru Outback exhibits extremely poor handling at highway speeds. When traveling at normal highway speed, the steering wheel vibrates, and the car feels like its at its limit. The car also tracks very poorly wanting to wander towards the shoulder, and is severely jostled around in crosswinds. When it encounters a stiff cross wind the car makes a sudden move, and there is a loss of road feel when the wind subsides and the car returns to normal. This sensation causes a possible over correction by the driver. Multiple attempts for repair have failed to correct these problems.

I purchased Subaru Outback 2. 5i premium on 09/23/2009 and noticed a steering wheel vibration above 50 mph speed 1st day. Called dealer and scheduled appointment for 09/25/2009. They rebalanced tires, and it did not have a vibration under 80mph. About month latter, I noticed vibration around 70 mph, and I called a dealer, service manager told me they can not road test vehicle above legal speed limit. After I installed winter tires, problem was gone for about a month (under 80mph), then it started coming back. I just scheduled appointment with dealer (burlington Subaru, vt) for 03/25/2010, as vibration is noticeable at speed above 50 mph. This should be a recall based on number of complaints.

2010 Subaru Outback. This vehicle has a steering wheel shake since 250 miles on the odometer. Most evident above 60 mph but present below. Despite multiple tire balances, road force balances, the problem persists. It causes me fatigue driving on the highway. The tires are not defective. Apparently this problem has occurred to 30% of the owners of this year/model vehicle based on survey done by the forum of Subaru owners.

Tl- the contact owns a 2010 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving 50 mph, the steering wheel began to shake. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis where it was stated the tires needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the problem persisted. The manufacturer was notified. The VIN was not provided. The approximate failure mileage was 800. Rvk.

My 2010 Subaru Outback 2. 5i limited develops unsafe steering and handling at highway speeds. The steering wheel shakes and vibrates and all steering feel is lost. When this occurs, this car wanders and, with the absence of steering feel and the shaking of the steering wheel, it is very difficult to keep the car's direction stable. This is a definite hazard in high speed driving. At lower speeds the steering and handling are fine. Repeated rebalancing of the wheels has not fixed the problem. Switching to winter tires did not fix the problem. The problem seems to vary to some extent with small changes in tire inflation above or below the manufacturer's recommendation, but it cannot be cured by playing with tire pressure. My car was purchased in July 2009 and the steering and highway wandering problem has been present since the beginning.