general problems of the 2011 Subaru Outback

Took my vehicle in for oil change and was notified the cam carrier is leaking. Researching this issue online it seems this is a very common problem with this vehicle and if I had known earlier wouldn’t have purchased for my daughter. With such a common problem I wonder why a recall hasn’t been made?.

When I came to a stop at a light, the car stalled and the engine turned off. It was just as if I was driving a manual transmission and didn't put the clutch down while in gear. I spoke with my husband about the issue and he told me it has been happening for several months now. I have researched it a but snd found that Subaru is aware of the issue and has not offered any recall for the issue but offered an extended warranty. This is not helpful when you are the 2nd owner of a vehicle. Being stuck with a car that turns off upon stopping is a dangeous situation. Subaru should be made to recall these cars and fix the issue. According to this article, it is a problem with the lock type torque converter. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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.

The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to slow down, the vehicle inadvertently stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle while the vehicle was still in motion, and the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 153,000.

Vehicle engine/transmission/torque converter dies when coming to a stop. This is especially an issue when having to stop suddenly and get going again quickly as the vehicle has to be put in neutral, restarted, and put back in drive. It is a safety issue at traffic lights, traffic signals, and in stop and go traffic that has resulted in a multitude of near-miss rear end collisions that put my life and my families lives in danger. There is a service bulletin from Subaru (bulletin number: 16-90-13r; revised: 02/15/18) that addresses a similar issue, but fails to mention the vehicle engine dying and the inherent safety issues that comes with the engine shutting off.

The front lower subframe cracked where the driver's side front wheel attaches to it in our 2011 Subaru Outback. This resulted in loss of steering control of vehicle. The issue has been confirmed by independent mechanic. Vehicle has not been inspected by manufacturer, police, or insurance agent. It is available for inspection at 201 w. Cloverland drive, ironwood, mi. 906-932-5720. There were no warning lights when this failure occurred.

In 2023 my car started overheating. Took it in and it was the headgasket. Even with the age of my car, it only had just over 105,000 miles on it. Looking at other Subarus for sale out of curiosity, I saw that quite a lot had their engines replaced. Even newer than mine. I do see this as a expensive problem, which I know first hand. The headgasket went while I was on the freeway. Tried to make it home, wasn't to far away, but had to be towed.

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.

Dashboard lights flashing, brake lights traction control cruise check engine.

The car got overheated on 8/20/2022, because of the mechanical and design issue, specifically the coolant pipe and hose connection which got disconnected and blew up with force ejecting hot coolant liquid. The incident almost killed my husband. The hot liquid burned his abdomen and my face. He got transported by an ambulance, got admitted to a hospital, and got a 2nd-degree burner. This entire incident endangered my entire family members while we were far from home on a road trip adventure. My kids are under 10, and they were worried and crying. The incident definitely was reproducible, because, within a 3 hours window, the hose got disconnected 4 times, where the 4th time it hit my husband and me. A yosemite park ranger was helping us inspect the car on the 3rd and 4th failure. For our safety, we have not been driving the car since 8/21/2022. So, the vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer.

A/c compressor locks up, and serpentine belt flies off and stops power steering. Stalls due to this locking up.

Vehicle is failing to shift correctly causing low acceleration and road safety issues. Cruise control and manual shift paddles not working, multiple warning lights on.

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.

My 2011 Outback had a head gasket failure at 98,000 miles. The car overheated which forced me to pull over in heavy traffic. There was no prior warning or symptoms until the engine temperature warning light appeared. The car was repaired by the dealership at a hefty price. They said this problem is common on these vehicles, though no recall has been issued on the part. I filed a complaint with the manufacturer.

While driving on expressway, to avoid a sudden accident, I was forced to hit my brakes. My vehicle turned completely off. I was in a near collision myself. The next day when coming to a complete stop at light, my vehicle again completely shut off.

Occasionally, perhaps 4 times in the last year, when I put my car into �drive�, the engine engages and lurches forward. It feels as though the car with take off forward at a high speed.

No incident while driving. . . . Yet. Want to report a common and known problem with Subaru's, the head gasket. Dealer just quoted me $2000 on this, and most folks know this is due to a poor design. This is definitely a safety issue if the car stops due to oil and coolant issues while travelling fast.

My vehicle accumulates a lot of highway miles. These are easy and unstrenuous to and from work. Over the past 3 months I had my vehicle misdiagnosed three times when I was complaining of transmission problems. As I have just broken 125,000 miles my vehicle gets diagnosed with needing a new head gasket and a new transmission. Costing easily more than the vehicle is worth. Subaru it not willing to back their vehicles. The vehicle should be lasting well past 125,000 without major mechanical problems like these that could have ended in serious injury. At this point nothing has been done to rectify what could have been an unsafe situation had I not continually prompted them to properly diagnose the problem. At this time my vehicle is unsafe to drive and has been over the past few months due to these issues.

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.

Engine completely shuts down with out warning due to faulty torque converter causing a very dangerous situation with not much control of the vehicle this could cause serious injury or even death no warning or indication that the part is faulty until it's to late. I believe this is an issue that Subaru should have to recall because from what I have researched this is an ongoing issue with certain make and models and I am surprised that they have not been at fault for injury or even a death my wife and two kids where in the vehicle when this occurred.

2011 Subaru Outback was consumed by fire please see attached documentation and photo.

Driving up a gradual hill on interstate. Engine warning and multiple other lights started flashing. Engine lost all power. Coasted over to get out of traffic and stop. Turned off engine. Tried to restart car and it would not. Subaru Outback had 125,000 miles and one owner who had all maintenance services done, at Subaru dealer, by the book. Had driven down interstate an hour before with no indication of any concern. I am told it had three valve failures.

Engine sometimes falters and dies when coming to a stop; usually only in the first few miles of driving. Similar to what a manual transmission would do if you don't put the clutch in, except this is an automatic. Giving it a little bit of gas when it falters can abort the stuttering, but not always, and it isn't always possible to do so safely when you're trying to come to a stop. I've only owned the car for 3 months hand it's happened 7-8 times. Today, for the first time, the engine would not immediately restart after it died. Turned over but didn't engage through a half dozen tries, then wouldn't turn over at all. I was at a stoplight on a hill. A minute or so later, it fired up again and I was able to continue on.

All of the lights started flashing on my dash. The car has 114,000 miles. It is a faulty valve body and the transmission is shot. There are metal shavings in the transmission fluid. Subaru quoted me $7000 to fix it. The cars not even worth $5000. I am out of warranty and there's nothing they can do. I am done with Subarus.

My dash lights all started blinking. The car also lost some power. I was told I had to have the transmission valve body assembly replaced. The extended warranty ended in July 2018, conveniently for Subaru. The dealer should have never sold me the car last year.

When having to come to a hard stop the engine will die. It has happened 3 times now. Our shop ran a diagnostic and it showed a problem with the torque converter.

Vehicle dies when stopped quickly. Torque converter has been an ongoing issue for this year/model/make.

Began noticing vehicle shuddering and quitting or almost quitting when coming to a stop. Has continued to do this for months now and seems to be getting worse. Took it to dealer and it was diagnosed at torque converter sticking after several tests. Referenced to Subaru TSB no. 16-101-16. Dangerous design flaw as it can leave you without power after coming to an abrupt stop such as braking to avoid hitting a stopped vehicle leaving you unable to move away from other cars without restarting vehicle. My vehicle is in excellent condition aside from this issue but is out of powertrain warranty and the cost to repair are prohibitive. Request to issue recall for safety issues primarily and to not ultimately cause damage to transmission in the long term.

When appling the brakes hard at the a stopping point of the car it kills the engine leaving you dead in the street. Emergency pressure hard! other than that the brakes work great. Now if you push trans into neutral and brake hard as you will the engine is not effected and keeps on running. This is a automatic but it feels like you did not depress the clutch on stopping the car if it were a standard stick shift trans. There is a bucking at stopping then the engine is dead in the street. If you let up the brake before this kills the motor then it keeps running or if just light braking that is normal needed no problem. Other than that dangerous condtion in city traffic the car runs great. This has to be a defect in design of the system never in 30+ years of auto mech trade have I run across this in any world brand name cars.

I purchased my 2011 Subaru Outback new and love the car. However it has one problem which has shaken my confidence in it. With the vehicle in drive, my foot on the brake, and at a complete stop, the engine will shudder violently. The rpm's will loose about 200 to 300 rpm's, then go immediately go back up to the correct rpsm; the engine will not die but feels as if it might. This has happened many, many times. It does not seem to matter if the engine is cold or warm, if the a/c is on or off, of the radio is on or off, or anything else. I fully explained the situation to the dealer when I took it in for an oil change. I told them I can somewhat replicate the problem by pushing the door lock/unlock button when the car is at a complete stop, in drive,with my foot on the break; it is not as violent a shudder but very similar. They kept the car overnight and said they test drove the car but "could not duplicate" the problem. It appears this must be some type of electrical condition. I am dreading the day when I am on a busy southern California freeway in stop and go traffic and the car leaves me stranded. Any suggestions?.

This car is a Subaru Outback 2. 5i manual 6spd transmission. While at a stop light with car idling, the rpm's get very low and car dies. Starts back up right away, but then after idling for 15-20 seconds, the car will die again. Concerned that this may happen while driving as I have read reports of many other models of the same car doing the same thing while driving. The dealer says there is nothing wrong and they will charge a ton of money to come back and tell me there is nothing wrong. It is a clear safety issue if the car cannot hold an idle and/or dies while driving.

While driving the car and stepping on the breaks really to avoid something in the road, the engine stalls and loses power requiring the driver to turn the key and restart the vehicle. My safety is a risk because if this happens on the street or highway with other vehicles around it could cause a major accident. This issue has not been confirmed by a dealer or independent service however, a call to my local dealership confirmed they have heard of this issue in the past and suggested it was the torque converter. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance or others. There were no warning lamps or any other indicators of this issue prior to the issue. They first started to appear a few years after owning the vehicle.

This vehicle is hesitating from a start, posing a high risk of causing a serious accident when entering traffic. The hesitation occurs, on average, once every 300 miles under differing conditions. I have taken the vehicle to Subaru service four times because of this problem. They state they can’t solve the issue because they can’t “duplicate” it. I have informed them over and over again that it is an intermittent problem but they refused to keep the car long enough to duplicate the problem. I have asked Subaru for a replacement but all they will offer is yet another appointment “to attempt to duplicate the concerns”. In the meantime, I am forced to drive a vehicle with a serious safety problem, which occurs randomly without warning. This hesitation defect appears to be a common issue with this power train, placing numerous drivers at risk. Please see the following associated complaints: 10290805 10297490 10307668 10343600 10346037 10346648 10347133 10351374 10354541 10355908 10355908 10356951 10358243 10411748 10413779 10448621 10505368 10515376 thank you for your time.