general problems of the 2011 Subaru Outback - part 1

Coolant leak, steering power fluid leak, break pad leak, gasoline line leak, seat heater, clicking noise after turning off car, leaking seats and rear view mirror also leaking, steering wheel expanding due to possible air bag, heater and ac vents lose and also chemical smell/gas/coolant coming from front and back of car, sunroof not secured. Every wiring wet, charger port in middle compartment wet when plugging something in. Everything auto does not work. Car sounds like something is constantly leaking air or gas somewhere, even when off. My safety was at risk by having severe chemical burns on my skin everywhere, hair falling out due to exposure, almost passing out while driving due to inhaling components, low visibility due to auto dimming in rear view and side mirrors. The problem has not been confirmed due to me being in a financial bind at the moment. The car has not been inspected. Due to financial problems I am not able to get the vehicle looked at. There were no warnings except for the blue temp light came on but immediately will shut back off. Car also severely vibrates when turning on. They started appearing around against of 2024.

My car just dies on it's own while driving and it has trouble starting back up or somedays it just won't start up but after it dies while going down the road but after cranking it a few times it finally starts the check engine light comes on the traction control light starts flashing the brake light starts flashing and the cruise control light starts flashing I took it to a dealer and no codes were thrown in my car and after a few days of all the lights on and flashing they suddenly go away on their own this is extremely dangerous I can't control when or where this happens on the road I've almost been hit several times from this happening it does the exact same thing when I'm sitting still in park trying to start my car I get all the lights on the dashboard lit up and blinking on and off just like when it dies going down the road but nobody can find a cause or a reason why they say it's a manufacturer issue and Subaru can't even figure it out.

My son was driving the car when without warning the car shut down. I had the car in previously for a check engine light problem, which they diagnosed as a bad pin retention in connector in the bulkhead wiring harness. They replaced the harness but then found that the unit egi con needed to be replaced probably due to the fault in the wiring harness (there words not mine). Previously I had the blower motor replaced, but it ended up being a bad connector. I asked to see the bulk head wiring harness, but the Subaru shop said they had already thrown it away. Previously I was told that wiring harness would be sent back to Subaru. I don't know if the wiring harness jacket/cover could have perhaps been damaged when it was installed when the car was assembled? there has not been any previous collision damage to car which I could see would lead to an issue with the wiring. I tried reaching out to Subaru about this problem, but they never responded.

I have owned this 2011 Subaru Outback since I purchased it brand new. Over the past 10 years, I have had to put approx 7 or 8 new batteries into the vehicle. The current mileage is approx 75,000. Over the past 10 years of owning this vehicle, I have kept the vehicle very well maintained almost exclusively at the dealership. I have been left stranded twice now in the past 2. 5 weeks. I have been left stranded multiple times over the past 10 years. The battery cables have always corroded quickly the entire life of the vehicle in a way that I have never experienced with any other vehicle before. 2. 5 weeks ago I arrived home from a 4 day trip to find my Outback dead at the airport. The battery was 3 years old at that time and had given no indication 4 days earlier that anything was wrong. Aaa came out and attempted to jump start it without success. They then charged the battery but that also did not work. The engine didn't even attempt to turn over. The technician offered to put in a new battery and said he highly doubted it would help. Somehow it worked and I paid for the $150 brand new battery. But now 2. 5 weeks later, the car is totally dead. Again. There is nothing wrong with the battery, we charged it back up fully and yet the car will not work. I no longer feel safe driving this vehicle due to the fact that it's not only left me stranded multiple times but yesterday without warning the battery light started to flash on the dashboard followed by the the rest of the dashboard lights flashing while I was driving to pick up my child. As soon as I was able to pull over, the car stopped working and it was dead as a doornail. Again. The vehicle is being towed to the dealership tomorrow. Again.

The manufacturer, Subaru, admitted they have an issue with the ecu setting false error codes (p0128) when they issued a TSB, # 11-102-11r, calling for a software upgrade to fix the problem. This is an emissions related issue, in that it turns on various warning lights, including the ses light, making the car impossible to pass the routine smog check. So why should I, the owner, be required to pay the dealer to update the software for a problem Subaru has admittedly identified as a manufacturer error?.

I have being experiencing shuddering and a few stalls on the highway and at red lights. While I have been able no maneuver through this, I find it do be extremely dangerous for myself and others, and in one instance it came really close to be a coalition.

This is a recurring problem with my vehicle. I was driving on the highway, when suddenly my dashboard lights up. I'm going 70 mph, and my emergency brake light is flashing for no reason. It's was not on when I started the car, just suddenly started flashing 5 minutes into my trip. The check engine light also came on. I pulled over as soon as I could and tried reset my e brake. It would not turn off no matter what I did. Once in park on the side of the road, my car would not move. That's when I had to call for roadside assistance to tow my car home. My mechanic used a scanner tool to diagnose the problem, and they described that it was an electrical issue. This has happened previously, about a year beforehand. I was almost home from work when my brake light came on at 50 mph. Turns out the e brake had engaged without it being touched, and the light didn't come on until so much damage had been done. My breaks had completely blown out and had to be replaced. Not only was this a very unexpected and expensive fix, but also put me and others in an extremely dangerous situation. If my beaks suddenly lock on me or go out in the middle of traffic again, somebody could get seriously injured or even killed. Please, I really don't want to go through this again. I need my car to work.

The head lights to this vehicle are constantly going out. Sometimes if I hit a bump the light will turn back on. Today I drove nearly fifty miles in the dark with either the high beams on or the lights completely off.

Low headlamp bulb housing melted so bad it must be replaced at estimated dealer cost of $650. There is an extended warrantee for replacing the bulbs that have been burning out every 6-9 months. I believe they have been burning up due to a manufacturing defect in the housing that is not being addressed. There should be a recall on the low-beam housing unit as it poses a fire risk. The extended bulb replacement warrantee is a band-aid that did not address the underlying issue.

My car went in for repairs for stalling at a light or stop sign, the day after I got the car back it stalled again and this time cut out the electricity to the vehicle , I could not engage the emergency break nor could I put the car in park. I held my foot on the break because of a small downhill and I was afraid the car might run into other cars at the intersection. The person at Subaru was walking me through the process of how to manually put the gear in park,while I was attempting to do this a woman yelled at me to get out of the car because it was on fire,according to Subaru's investigation, the fire started at the left rear of the engine.

Have had the low beam headlights blown multiple times on my Subaru Outback, 2011, at least 3-4 times each ones, left and right. Don't remember if I received a notification from Subaru or saw it online about the same complaint from many owners and Subaru having a fix for it. Took it to the dealership in 2017 and they replaced the blown bulb and told me that it was a improper contact that caused the issue. Unfortunately, the problem continues. I have replaced the headlights at least 2 times since and have one blown again. Suspect that this is a design issue and needs a through fix. It can cause a dangerous situation if both headlights blow at the same time.

Headlights burn out too quickly. I am replacing my headlights approximately every 12,000 miles.

Noticed that dome/map lights not working and front time clock out. Then when going to put it in park the engine revved and the brakes would not engage and ran into a fence causing damage to front end of vehicle. Parking break has not worked for some time either.

When we were driving the 2011 Subaru Outback on the road on July 5,2019, the fuel gauge suddenly shifted from almost full to zero. The car stopped and we placed it in park. Subsequent attempts to start the car did not even ignite the engine, even when we added another gallon of gas and tried jump starting the car. There were no visible signs of a gas leak. Our insurance company towed our car to nearby coleman Subaru NJ, where the dealer has now assumed it was a computer issue and have asked to order another computer to fix it. This was an incredibly scary experience for us. There were five people in the car when we were driving and thankfully no one was hurt. If it happened on the high way, I don't know what would have happened. We are concerned this is a safety issue which can get people hurt.

I was driving home tonight and the car stalled everything quit working, the car jumped a few times and turned back on. I lost brakes and no steering coming down a 8 % grade. I turned the car back on and it kept doing it. I was out of cell service range so I could not call for help. It was scary. I got home and I see there was a recall but my car is out of that recall range at 100000 miles. I just paid 11,000 for this car. I believe I should not have to pay for this known issue.

Multiple warning lights appeared on the dashboard while driving. When sitting in the car, in the garage, the minute the key is turned, although the car is not started, all the dashboard warning lights went on although the car was stationary. Picture uploaded taken when car was in garage.

Dome light, clock, sunroof, remote key fob, garage door opener on rear view mirror, etc. Not working. Fuses blow within a day or 2 of being replaced. Origin of problem unknown in spite of many attempts at fixing it. This has been an ongoing problem for over 5 months. These devices don't work whether the car is running or in park.

Tamara recall I have had my 2011 Outback for 4 months now and have gone through 3 sets of low beam headlights. Not sure why they keep dying prematurely. I have gotten more expensive bulbs every time and now the $60 bulbs are doing the same thing. I feel there is an electrical issue and I have seen multiple forums describing the same issue from other people with the same year, make, and model.

The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the vehicle had been at garavel Subaru (10 tindall Ave, norwalk, CT 06851, (203) 642-0620) for months due to an internal oil leak that was impacting the engine. The contact stated that the oil warning indicator failed to illuminate in a timely manner to alert that the oil level was low. The dealer also replaced the wheel bearings several times. The radio, speaker phone, and gps were also serviced several times, but the failures recurred. The contact was informed by the dealer that the warranty had expired. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.

Two low beam highlights burned out at same time after starting car at night around 10:00 pm. After that, the battery was getting worse and dead at the service center just before replacing the highlight bulbs. The manager said that the battery's situation was not related with the problem of the high light, and there was no clues.

The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. While reversing the vehicle, the brakes failed. The contact attempted to shift and turn off the vehicle; however, it would not power down. The failure occurred without warning. As a result of the brake failure, the rear of the vehicle struck a tree. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. After restarting the vehicle, it was fully functional. The contact stated that the failure occurred once previously. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000. The VIN was not provided.

My headlights have gone out 6 times! the last time I switched to an led system and now it has blown my rf headlight in 6 months! led it supposed to last longer! I definitely have some kind of electrical issue!.

The contact owned a 2011 Subaru Outback. While driving approximately 30 mph, the steering lost power without warning. The vehicle was pulled to the side of the road and smoke appeared underneath the hood. The contact quickly exited the vehicle. Within a couple of minutes, the vehicle became engulfed in flames and was destroyed. A police report was filed. The fire department arrived and extinguished the fire. There were no injuries sustained. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.

Ongoing failure of both passenger and driver side headlamps. Same complaint that others have documented that this is an ongoing issue and the headlamps are difficult to replace. Serious safety hazard and can also lead to traffic violations. Subaru needs to provide a fix, not just a one-time reimbursement of replacement headlamps.

Frequent replacement of low beam bulbs. Not easy to replace and Subaru service best equipped to do procedure. Labor costs at various dealers for this service widely vary and can increase without reason. Subaru of America recently sent out letter saying warranty on bulbs has been extended (not that there is issue with electrical system). Soa will replace or refund, however, this does not solve the issue of continued (perceived) deficiency in the lighting system overall and refund requirements are very stringent per the letter they sent. I consider this issue as a safety defect. We have both an Outback and legacy that are both affected by this. Have owned legacy since new and replaced both bulbs four times since taking ownership. Have tried other brand bulbs to no better result (hence my belief it is electrical system). Per one of the service advisors I've spoken to in the past, the system is designed such that when one bulb burns out, more current flows to the one bulb still working and will burn it out prematurely (furthering my belief that it is a safety issue). They said this in recommending replacement of both bulbs at once. Would like to see recall or greater effort on soa's part.

Started vehicle and center counsel would not light up. Headlights and fog lights worked and electric windows were ok. Second incident: same as first - also heard sound in dash that acted like a loose wire or stripped wire that had touched metal and shorted out. Latter on after resting, the electrical came back to the counsel.

The Subaru Outback front halogen head lamp bulbs keep going out. Have had to replace both sides within the last 8 months. Now front left lamp is out again and needs replacement.

Have owned the vehicle since new. After one year of use began having trouble with low beam headlights burning out. At this time I have replaced at both sides at least 5 times. I do not have this amount of trouble with any other vehicles. I always use gloves when replacing the lights. Replacing the bulbs is not easy as you must go through the wheel well. This can lead to delay on replacing the bulb. Given that they fail frequently, my concern is they will both fail at the same time. I am not having this issue with the high beams.

The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. While driving approximately 35 mph, the abs, brakes, traction control, check engine, and cruise control indicators remained illuminated. The contact drove home and contacted an independent mechanic who performed a function test of the abs pump/module and was able to clear all the codes. The failure recurred after one year. The contact called the independent mechanic and was advised to bring the vehicle back. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was 61,986.

Ascended steep hill and stopped at stop sign. Processed to drive through intersection uphill. All lights on dash began to flicker on and off and car stalled out going down the road. After this occurred, I lost all electrical functions of car. I was not able to restart car, place car into park, apply emergency brake, turn on hazard lights, and the power brakes and steering were not present. I spent 5-7 minutes trying to restart the car and trying to figure out a way to stabilize the car since I was currently going down a steep hill without anyway of stabilizing it. After this time, smoke began coming out from under the hood. I had to coast car down hill into busy intersection and turn it onto next road in order to find a flat area to stabilize car so I could get out of it. When I got out, I began seeing flames drop down from front driver side of engine area. The car quickly caught on fire and most of the engine burnt out before flames were extinguished. The fire appeared to start in computer area. This car was bought new and have had no previous problems with the car, except we have had to change the low beam headlight bulbs several times while owning it. After I witnessed my car catch on fire and afterwards discovered Subaru has a service bulletin for the torque converter, I believe the headlight issue and the torque converter issues are all connected. I believe what happened to my car is the torque converter failed that day causing an over voltage/over draw of power that was so bad it took out my computer unit, I then believe the battery continued to feed the computer unit, in its unresponsive state, until it caught on fire. The fire inspector told me sometimes bulbs will burnt out due to an over voltage situation. Something is definitely overdrawing power and it needs to be looked into because it endangers every driver, passenger, and anyone around these cars.

Headlights continue to burnout.

I purchased the car (2011 Outback) new in October of 2011. Since then headlights have been replaced at least 4 times and now (September 2015) other exterior lights are starting to fail. It appears this is a common problem. I replaced the driver's side headlight less than a month ago and it is already burned out again. This is a repeated problem and it seems that we're getting less and less life out of the headlights as time goes on. The Subaru dealer seems to think this is just an effect of driving with the headlights on (what am I supposed to do, drive without light?) and not an actual problem with the car.

The battery was not producing power after 4 yrs. Service. Replaced battery without any complications other than the fact that the electronic parking brake is nonfunctional. Search for error codes using obdii was non-productive. A brake should work whenever needed, not when the computer (or other peripheral device) decides when it should work. The electric parking brake should be eliminated from automobile design. This should be a high priority safety concern as property and people are at risk from non-functional brakes.

Driver's side headlight bulb burned out three times in three weeks, harness apparently needs to be replaced. Common problem on legacy wagons and vehicle is out of warranty. Lots of deer around here, so two headlights are a safety item for sure.

We were coming home from a fireworks display at night and my son told me to turn on my lights which already had done, and the low beams on both sides and the marker lights didn't work. I tried turning switch to all positions and they still didn't come on. The high beams work okay and turn signals front and back & brake lights work. We drove home with the fog lights which still work. We need the car to go on vacation and the dealer can't fix it right away as well as what it will cost there or if I have to have some else fix it. It's definitely a safety issue because the road we drive home on has very little if any lighting and there are twists and turns and you could easily drive into a stone outcropping or into he water at any point. I had my wife and two young nephews with us as well. I checked the lights again to make sure what ones were out, I checked the fuses as well to see if something had blown and they were okay. There have been multiple complaints on this and other websites about the Subaru lights. With all the recalls of every vehicles of every 'description, the whole auto industry is totally out of control and needs to be reigned in, it's a huge safety and overall quality issue not to mention the millions of work hours and time lost by tens of thousands of people having to deal with problem.