general problems of the 2011 Subaru Outback - part 2

While braking at intersections, engine stalls causing dangerous situations for my wife and self. We are beginning to fear driving our Subaru.

Twice in July the electronic parking brake would not release. The car was stopped at the time. After about 15 minutes the parking brake would release. After the second occurrence the dash warning light for brakes flashed for about 50 miles. My local dealer diagnosed it as a failed electronic parking control module. This seems to be a problematic design if this were to engage while the car was in motion.

While driving, if you have to stop quickly and step on the brakes hard the car engine stalls. This puts the car in jeopardy of being hit from behind and injury to the passengers. This has happened multiple times over the past couple of months at various speeds - both low speed and highway speed.

On 06/12/2016, I attempted to actuate the electronic brake, to no avail once again. Parking on a hill is rather risky with this vehicle as the parking brake does not function most of the time, something I have never experienced in 50 yrs of driving using a manual parking brake. So I have made my own parking brake (see attached).

Once again the electronic parking brake is non-functional. The 'brake' light is flashing on the intrument panel and the damn parking brake does not function. My wife says "I need a dependable vehicle". Obviously this vehicle does not qualify. The australians and recalled this brake for year 2015 and will probably do same for other years. Attached you will see a list of the diagnostic trouble codes (dtcs) for this problem. It is a long list. This is faulty design, pure and simple.

On 5/30/16 the electronic brake was non-functional again. It would not engage. The "brake" light was flashing on the dashboard. I was parked on a hill and could not engage the parking brake due to malfunction. What if the transmission cog could not hold the car? it would have rolled down the hill and done untold damage. This electronic parking brake should be recalled as it is dangerous as a critical safety element of the car. The 2015 Outback has been recalled in australia for this very issue.

The electronic parking brake on this vehicle does not work most of the time. Last evening is an example. Parked on slope in driveway and engaged the parking brake. When time to leave the brake could not be disengaged. It was locked up. Had to manually decouple the parking brake with special tool. Most of the time this brake cannot be engaged as electrical system is unresponsive. The "brake" dash light just flashes and a 'chirp' is heard when the button is pushed. Parking brakes are terribly important in hilly environs. This is a safety hazard and the vehicle should be thus recalled/redesigned to a more dependable system (ie. Manual lever/cable brake).

70% of the time I try to activate the electronic parking brake, the computer just 'chirps' and the 'brake' light on the dash blinks. The parking brake is not actuated thus the vehicle is at risk of rolling down a hill with noone at the wheel. This system should be recalled at least and redesigned to a higher standard of dependability. It is a brake for god's sake!!.

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.

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.

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 believe my anti-lock brakes malfunctioned on my 2011 Subaru Outback and if this is the case then someone in auto safety data collection needs to know about it. I was driving down an off ramp during snowy conditions. I applied my brakes at around 35 mph and they abruptly locked up. There was no shutter/shimmer effect that I might expect with anti-lock brakes as they go on and off while trying to grip the road. I applied them again with the same jolt followed by sliding. I tried this several times as I approached the intersection. Though the long off ramp did slow me down, at about 15 mph (I think) I plowed the left front of my car into the Ford ranger in front of me. This impressively crushed the left front side of my car and my air bags did not deploy. The point of impact was the left side of the front bumper, but it hit at the upper 2-3 inches of the bumper. I'm not sure if the airbags should have deployed with this type of impact, but if they were supposed to deploy then someone needs to know about it too.

As brakes were stepped on car was slow to respond to braking pressure. The car continued to roll but finally came to a stop but the brake pedal went to the floor. On subsequently stepping on the brake pedal I had brake response, but if I kept pressure on the brake pedal it would go to the floor. This is unusual as up until this incident there was a very solid brake feel and the brake pedal would stop and hold about halfway to the floor. Also of note and reported is that at 1500 mile this car had steering vibration and steering control issues, which were finally addressed at 11,500 miles.

I pulled into my driveway (relatively level) and parked my car. As I exited the vehicle I notice that my car was rolling forward (I have a manual transmission) and attempted to set the electric parking brake by pushing repeatedly on the button to the left of the steering wheel. The parking brake did not set and my car gained speed and continued downhill into the woods behind my home. I am not sure if I was dragged or partially in the car, but was able to clear the vehicle before it hit a fence, a tree and eventually come to a stop. This has happened in my garage once and at a gas station, but I was able to gain control of the vehicle by hitting the parking brake button. I do not know if I am not setting the brake before exiting or am not depressing it fully before exiting or why it did not stop when I hit it repeatedly. I typically set the car in gear, but obviously did not do this on these occasions.

I purchased a Subaru Outback (2011). Since that time, I have complained to the dealer of "soft brakes. " the car does not stop in a timely, or effective manner. I have to overcompensate for routine stopping distances; and, you cannot panic stop. There is at least 2 inches of play in the brake; it fails to stop adequately in a safe manner; and the brakes are simply unresponsive in an emergency stop.