general problems of the 2012 Subaru Outback - part 2

Tl- the contact owns a 2012 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while the driver was driving a company vehicle at various speeds, the vehicle hesitated to stop while all the warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to fitzgerald Subaru dealership located at 11407 rockville pike, rockville, MD 20852 (301) 230-9000 where it was diagnosed that the right and left side knock sensor and the right brake light needed to replaced. The vehicle was repaired. However the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission body and harness needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that the repair failed to correct the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 73,763. Aw.

Vehicle in motion traveling 65 mph on the highway, vehicle appeared to lose power, all dash lights flash, gas pedal unresponsive, coast to side of road, wait 20 minutes, car starts back up, called Subaru dealership, mechanic states it is okay to try and drive, all dash lights flashing, no cruise control, drove 75 + miles before lights stop flashing, scenario repeats itself x 3 more times, lights flashing, no cruise control, take to dealership, Subaru states, "computer reset", has happened once since the "reset" but the car did not completely shut down. It felt like it lost power for a second but came back on while on the highway.

Vehicle stalling while stopping or attempting to accelerate from a stop. There is a warranty extension on the cvt transmission, but only to 100,000 miles from Subaru. This problem should be a recall, not only a warranty extension. It is a significant safety problem that could easily result in collision with injury or death. Vehicle stalling when slowing down or accelerating from a stop.

Purchased used with 150,000 miles on it. It started stalling and cutting off when braking at intersections or sudden stops but does not do it all the time. Has stalled out in traffic when stopped suddenly and have to quickly put it in park, start the engine again, put in drive and go before being rear ended. It has stalled at stop signs on inclines or declines, on a gravel drive way that goes uphill, behind cars that brake suddenly to where I have to quickly stop, or even moving slowly in a car line and then coming to a stop. Subaru is aware of this issue with legacy and Outback models from 2010-2012 and has issued a service bulletin but not a safety recall. The cost to repair is anywhere from $1400 on up. If it is out of warranty like mine, they do not offer any assistance with price. This is a safety hazard when you vehicle cuts off in traffic and should be recalled.

Vehicle stalls at red lights or stop signs. It also hesitates on acceleration. This is a very dangerous situation when having to restart the vehicle in heavy traffic.

The vehicle suddenly and unexpectedly stalls when coming to a rapid stop, such as approaching a stop sign or braking to avoid hitting the car ahead. When my cars stalls, I lose control which could very well lead to an accident.

Letter from senator klobuchar on behalf of constituent regarding Subaru warranty complaint. The consumer stated the vehicle failed catastrophically while away on vacation.

The vehicle stalls when the driver comes to a quick/hard stop. The rpm's drop, the vehicle makes a shuttering sound/motion, then the engine stops causing the driver to put the car back in park and restart the engine. This has the potential to happen anywhere but is most dangerous if it happens on a highway or in heavy traffic.

At 70,000 miles my car started stalling when coming to a stop or slowing down. Shudders and stalls as I come to a stop. Very dangerous as it has stalled when I am driving up a hill, coming off a freeway, in bumper to bumper traffic.

I have a failing torgue converter. The car stalls out when I am coming to a complete stop. The rpms stay normal but the car stops while in gear.

When the brakes are applied and the car comes to a stop light or stop sign, the engine shuts off ('stalls when idling or slowing down'). The vehicle then must be put into 'park' mode in order to re-start. This occurs nearly everyday of the week, and has created many, many dangerous situations for us and the drivers around us. We took the vehicle to the dealership in may concerning this issue, and they stated that they had not heard of this problem, and that nothing was wrong with the vehicle. We took the vehicle in for service again this week, and the dealership mentioned that a technical service bulletin had been issued for this problem. The TSB was apparently issued in Jan 2014, but customers were not notified in spite of the fact that the defect poses dire saftey risks. We are bewildered given that this item is clearly a recall-worthy defect that places the vehicle owner, and the cars around them, in foreseeable and considerable danger. We are very concerned that other customers are also being told by the dealership and manufacturer that there is 'nothing wrong with their vehicle' in spite of the TSB issued in Jan '14. A cynical person might conclude that an effort is being made to obfuscate this safety defect until customer's warranties run out. Similarly, the manufacturers TSB language appears to obfuscate the defect with euphemistic language. To be clear --- the vehicle shuts off in the middle of the road when slowing down for a stop light or stop sign. It would appear that an effort is being made to avoid a recall. According to the TSB, Subaru modified production in October 2013 to account for and cure this safety issue. Again, customers ho were sold vehicles with the safety defect hav not been notified.

Car had fire at starter with lots of smoke coming from transmission and alternator . Vehilce had been having shifting issues and traction from all wheel drive not working. I had vehicle taken to different dealers but no one was able to fix problem until the day car caught fire which told them which parts where at fault. My vehicle is truely a lemon, for it has been one problem after another for the past 3 years.

The contact owns a 2012 Subaru Outback. While driving approximately 25 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 73,000.

Acceleration shudder in drivetrain between 50 - 60 mph on light acceleration. Started around 16,000 miles. See attached letter to dealer. Dealer, manufacturer did not fix. Subaru support line sent me back to dealer. All they did was rotate tires and re-flash transmission software. On - going problem. Have lost all faith in Subaru.

When the car is cold the transmission locks up when exiting the freeway from 60 mph to about 45 mph it is like the scar skipped a gear and you feel a big clunk during the exiting and like someone hit you in the back with a baseball bat. This can cause serious back injury and false sense of breaking. It does not do this all the time extremely intermittently and only when the car is cold and under certain conditions. Other Subaru people are having the same issues from what I understand. This needs to be addressed by Subaru corporate of America. Also the dealer tried to reprogram the car and it did not work and the first incident occurred around Nov 27, 2013. Computer reprogramming of the transmission did not fix this problem. Note to NHTSA, this is a very dangerous situation.

When the car is cold and just started for the first time in the morning, when exiting a freeway from 60 mph the transmission very intermittently will almost freeze and it feels like someone hit you in the back with a baseball bat. This is exiting or during the DE acceleration process and it feels like someone hit you in the back with a baseball bat. This can cause whip lash and cause serious back injury and give a person a false sense of braking on exiting the highway as the transmission freezes for the split second this is very dangerous and Subaru of America has not addressed this issue. From Subaru of America call center told me there are several technical bulletins regarding power train issues and was not sure if any were applied to my car. Took car into dealer they tried to reprogram the transmission and still have intermittent issues with the transmission locking up for a split second and shaking the whole, car, we are now afraid to drive this car because of these issues and we are afraid that we might end up going through the windshield. This is a very serious issues that only happens once in awhile and there is no way to predict, how, when or why this is happening and it is very scary to drive this car. We wish Subaru would address this issue and do a recall or technical bulletin.

The car was running for about 20 to 30 minutes, the outside temperature was about 35 degrees and windy. Went and parked the car, return to the car, at night while it was still cold, started up and started driving the car for about a half hour and that is when it happened again. When exiting the freeway and the car goes from 60 mph to 45 mph and it is cold the transmission jerks and freezes and locks, and it feels like someone hit you in the back with a baseball bat. This has now happened several times. This can cause serious injury especially when the transmission locks up, and it can lead to a false sense of breaking and can deploy air bags.

This vehicle has one owner, which is me, and the transmission, downshifts and skips a gear when cold and almost caused an accident. People were almost injured and someone could have been killed. When the transmission is cold, and on a freeway and than exiting, and slowing down to 35 to 45 mph on exit the car transmission kicks and like someone is hitting you in the back, and skips a gear. Subaru has a problem with this car and they need to address. Took it to the dealer they reprogrammed the transmission did not work. I will be filing lemon law in my next two visits if it is not fixed.

When the car is cold and just started for the first time in the morning, when exiting a freeway from 60 mph the transmission very intermittently will almost freeze and it feels like someone hit you in the back with a baseball bat. This is exiting or during the DE acceleration process and it feels like someone hit you in the back with a baseball bat. This can cause whip lash and cause serious back injury and give a person a false sense of braking on exiting the highway as the transmission freezes for the split second this is very dangerous and Subaru of America has not addressed this issue. From Subaru of America call center told me there are several technical bulletins regarding power train issues and was not sure if any were applied to my car. Took car into dealer they tried to reprogram the transmission and still have intermittent issues with the transmission locking up for a split second and shaking the whole, car, we are now afraid to drive this car because of these issues and we are afraid that we might end up going through the windshield. This is a very serious issues that only happens once in awhile and there is no way to predict, how, when or why this is happening and it is very scary to drive this car. We wish Subaru would address this issue and do a recall or technical bulletin dealer tried reprogramming transmission control and it still has issues and these are extremely intermittent issues with these incidents.

In early December of 2011 my wife and I purchased a 2012 Subaru Outback with a 4 cylinder engine, cvt transmission. We had to wait a day for our Outback because it was being repaired do to a brake system recall. Ever since purchasing the Outback we have had a serious issue when using the paddle shifters to slow down for a stop. When the tach slows to about 1100 rpm in first or second gear the engine then accelerates to up to 2500 rpm, slowing down and then speeding up again then repeating the cycle over even if you apply the brakes. Sometimes it would just run at 2500 rpm until you braked to a stop. I took the Outback to our dealer and the Subaru service advisor was very surprised when I drove it to demonstrate the very serious issue. It did exactly as I have described and even stayed at 2500 rpm. The service advisor and who I presume was the overall manager of the dealership took it for a drive without me. When they returned I was told that the way it operated was the way it was supposed to operate because of the engine needing to be more environmentally friendly. I stated I did not really believe that excuse and left. Since that first visit, the Outback has started doing the very serious acceleration issue also in automatic drive at low speeds. I returned on July 19, 2012 to get my first service done. I left the car for the service and tested an exact (except for color) 2012 Outback. This Outback had none of the very serious acceleration issues that my Outback has. When returning to pickup my Outback I told the service advisor of this outcome and he stated I would have to contact Subaru of America to elevate the issue. Respond as soon as possible as to where I can take the Outback for repair of this very serious acceleration issue. My wife and I will be traveling via the Outback very soon and need this very serious issue resolved before we leave.

Situation: traveling at 60mph up a steep hill on i70 west bound in left passing lane. Cars following close, and cars in the right lane. For the first time (new car) I used the downshift paddle on the left side of the steering wheel to downshift to accelerate. I tapped it to downshift one gear. It instantly dropped to 1st gear. The engine rpms went to red line or above. The car decelerated dramatically, and I was tossed forward. I attempted to upshift using the right paddle but there was no response, and the car remained in first gear. The car behind nearly hit me. The only useful control that I had was the steering wheel (brakes or accelerator useless). Further, I assumed the brake lights were not lit. Due to the alertness of the driver behind and the drivers to my right as I slowed dramatically and got off the highway to the right shoulder, a serious accident was avoided. Dashboard lights were lit, brake light flashing, etc. Car was towed to flatirons Subaru in boulder, CO. There the computer data logging confirmed both my speed and the rpms at redline or above. They were unable either to reproduce this behavior, or to determine the cause. I understand that they were told by Subaru that this was the first time this had been known to happen, and then told to reinitialize the "adaptive" portion of the computer, which I believe they did. Overall, I was told that "this couldn't happen because there were safety locks to prevent it". When the recorded data confirmed my description, I think the mechanics were very surprised, and did try hard to understand this. I wouldn't accept the vehicle back because I am of the opinion that if you don't know why something happened, you can't be sure it won't happen again.