general problems of the 2013 Subaru Outback

I was pulling into a parking spot, without any warning the car accelerated through a fence and hit a tree. There were no injuries and the airbags did not deploy. A man was waving me to stop and I could not. Fortunately the small tree stopped the car. At first I thought maybe the gas pedal stuck or in human error I hit the gas to hard. But that was not the case. I could not control the car and my thought "what is happening"!.

Strapped kayak to roof rack. Roof rack ripped off car while in traffic. Kayak went flying and was hit by a truck.

The hood latch released while I driving on the 101 freeway at about 70 mph. The secondary lock held and I was able to get off the freeway. The hood would not latch after this occurred. I took the vehicle to kirby Subaru of ventura and had the latch replaced. I am from a medical background, where we have certain "never" events. I would consider this to be one of those never events. If the secondary latch had failed I likely would have had a catastrophic event.

Key gets stuck in the ignition. There was a recall on multiple models/years due to ignition switch failure. Mine included, but apparently not my particular car. Have read that car engine can cut off, causing a major safety issue. Brought to dealer, they say they found nothing wrong. This issue has been ongoing since January.

Driving down interstate and the sunroof suddenly explodes. Thank goodness the shade was closed. In photo below we have covered it with plastic until I find someone to repair. Auto glass companies said they do not replace sunroofs. I am taking to dealer tomorrow.

My horn became intermittent, and stopped working. The car will not pass state inspection. It was diagnosed as a faulty clock spring. The dealership stated that this was a common failure on Subaru's, especially those that had the takata airbag replacement recall. They said there was no TSB or recall for the part. I reached out to Subaru customer service who said that due to the age and mileage on my car, there was nothing they could do to assist replacing the part.

Driving back to work, the seat belt alarm started chiming. I noticed the airbag light was on for the passenger side along with this chime. Looking it up, I see recalls for the ods system in later years than my vehicle, but not yet for the year of mine. No incident occurred.

Vehicle horn has failed to function.

When backing out of garage, car seemed to rev up and increase speed. I was unable to stop the car while applying the brakes. Car went down over an embankment and stopped only after I put transmission into park and car was slowed down by running over a large shrub. Luckily, I was unhurt, but easily could have been. This is the second time a similar incident has happened. I have not reported the incident previously nor had the car inspected yet.

I bought this car on 3/1/22 from a dealer, and took it for several test drives - everything was great. Carfax report is clean. On 3/3/22, I was driving on a windy road with cliffs and ledges, 45 mph when all of a sudden the brakes slammed, the tires screeched, and I heard grinding. Every alarm went off and the car fishtailed and skidded over to the side - almost going off the side of the road. Every light was blinking and alarms going off. Once I came to a stop, I tried turning the key off and turning it back on. It turned on fine - but it would not go into drive or accelerate, and all the alarms and lights were still going off. I was stranded on the side of a curvy country road where it was not easy to be seen, and easy to be hit. I had to walk 30 min, leaving the car in the middle of the road to the closest store, at which I looked up a tow truck and service station. I had it towed to a service station, and the gentleman ran diagnostics and said that his machine is coming back showing transmission issues. I literally just bought this car - and paid good money for it - I am shocked that this is a known issue and Subaru won't do a general recall to fix this! this is dangerous - because the car literally went out while I was driving. I am calling Subaru dealers today and seeing what they plan to do to fix this, or if I am going to be stuck with paying for it.

The engine was hesitating, loosing power on incline, and shaking when stopping. I had the engine replaced and the a few months later the transmission went down. The car does start but it will not go into any gear other than park and neutral. The car is now not drivable.

The backup camera began to malfunction (not work) intermittently until it stopped working altogether.

Last summer I was driving on the interstate. I would say I was on the road for about 1. 5 hours, it was a very warm day. I was going about 75 miles an hour and I had sudden total loss of power to the engine. Radio never stopped playing , no check engines lights came on and I could also maneuver the steering wheel. I thankfully was able to get to the side of the road(traffic was heavy). Once my car was almost at a stop the engine regained power. I was able to drive to my destination. No check engine lights ever came on. I took the car to subura dealership the next week. They could find nothing wrong with the car. They did notice a speck of debris/fuzz on the mass flow air sensor, they did change that part. Now about one year later I’m having catalytic converters issues and that needs to be changed. I wonder if it is all connected, and I also worry the loss of engine power will happen again. Thank you, erinn verhulst.

When in reverse, the rear camera displays on the screen as it should. The problem occurs when the system connect via bluetooth to a mobile device, the rear camera view is blocked by a large notification window reporting that the connection has been made to the mobile device. This obstructs the view. The timing of this process often occurs just as one has started backing up since it takes 30-60ish seconds to get situated and then start reversing and it also take about this much time for the bluetooth connection to establish itself. A solution could be to a) not display other notifications when the backup camera is on the display, or b) make the notification not obscure as much of the camera view.

I have noticed many complaints and personally have, s non working horn and s non opening gas compartment in my Subaru. I believe the non functioning horn presents a safety hazard in all the Subaru models who have it/ which through research are many. No consumer should be required to correct a defect thst is in fact present in Subaru vehicles through no ear and rear or cause of the consumer. I expect this to be repaired via recall . Also it is known that the gas compartment does not open in vehicles as well- through no cause by the consumer.

My sunroof shattered while driving on the highway under normal conditions, and for unknown reasons.

Steering wheel visible vibrates at 70+ mph on the highway despite multiple realignments and mechanic visits to various dealers. Car sometimes fights driver to veer left/right. It is difficult to drive (sometimes even exhausting). Has been an ongoing issue for last 5 years, progressively getting worse. Car has never been involved in an accident and has been maintained properly.

Driving down the highway at ~60mph, the sunroof shattered, exploding in an outward/upward pattern from the center. There were no vehicles in proximity to mine, to throw a rock or otherwise cause the incident. The weather was very hot or cold. Occurred yesterday. 2013 Subaru Outback.

My friends' son and wife had a crash on I 55 north near meadowbrook road on January 28, 2018. The car hit a highway barrier and spun around and resulted in an extreme fire after impact and the side airbag, nor the side curtain airbag did not deploy on drivers' side. The insurance company did not get consent from my friend to take it from the towed destination to another destination. She has yet to receive information regarding her claim status which she was informed of only when she initiated the call. Insurance adjuster inquired who and why someone else wanted to look at car when telling adjuster she would be having a third party to view her wrecked car. As of to date February 6, 2018, she has not received any call from insurance company? the airbags (side seat airbag and side curtain airbag and the extreme intensity of the fire are of major concern) especially not deploying on her sons' side of the car. Both son and daughter-in-law were transported to the university of mississippi medical center emergency room by way of ambulance but were discharge that next morning, but continue to have ptsd like symptoms and also injuries that linger on. See pictures attached.

I was driving down a 2 lane highway, when I heard a loud sound like a shotgun and my sunroof exploded, completely shattered, for no reason.

The lights on my dash board came on and stayed on. Took the vehicle to Subaru and they said the catalytic converter need to be replaced. Estimate cost for parts and labor is $1500. 00.

I have one of the surraus that have the oil consumpion problem. Have had 2 oil consumpion test at 2 different Subaru dealers and have proved that they overfilled the oil into my car. How do I get a fair test. Why isn't this problem a safety recall? the problem affects the oil rings, pistons and small block of engine. Oil is being wasted from this problem across the us. My car loss so much value because of this I can't sell it. Problem will in time cause problems when driving. Help.

Traveling through desmoines iowa and navigation system instructed me audibly to exit highway to left when there was no exit and no reason for me to exit. This has happened numerous times and Subaru knows that its navigation system is/was defective.

While towing a camper well within the towing capacity of the vehicle, the vehicle would not accelerate beyond 60 miles an hour. We (myself, my wife, and 6 dogs) were south of pueblo, colorado going up that very long include towards trinidad. The vehicle's engine would not rev as if it's transmission was failing, but it would absolutely not accellarate beyond 60. We pulled over and contacted the nearest Subaru dealership (back in pueblo) and went back to pueblo and had them look it over. They couldnt find anything wrong and their test did not show any problems. They were only able to speculate that it may be a failsafe feature that prevents the engine from becoming damaged when it begins to overheat. We had driven from north of dallas to west of fort collins, with stops, without problems, but this day the temperature was 50 degrees and probably the warmest it had been our entire trip. We had previously stopped for a few hours in garden of the gods, so it had only been back on the road for an hour when this occured. After the dealership looked at it, we hitched it back up and continued on our trip. They instructed us to just drive slower when going up hills and mountains. We experienced problems again when we got to trinidad, but drove through it since the exits are rather sharp and black ice was a concern. Once we stopped driving up inclines the vehicle drove like normal. After we stopped towing the camper the vehicle stopped having issues.

I have had 2 incidents since buying new Outback in April 2013. I was at a complete stop while vehicle was in drive. When I lifted my foot from brake to accelerate, the car reved up and lunged forward on its own. Both times I was able to slam on the brake and avoid an accident. Now I feel that I cannot trust the car whenever I come to a stop. I am waiting to hear from dealer about this 2nd incident, since after 1st time they tested and said "cannot find a rpoblem". . . . . . However, after reading another complaint it could be a malfunction between electronic accelerator pedal and new cvt transmission!!! also, sometimes I feel the car is maintaining a speed without any acceleration (like on cruise control).

There is no specific date nor was there an accident. This is a chronic problem. Due to the new design of seats and head restraint I am now in physical therapy for chronic head and neck pain. Started a couple of weeks after I bought my new car. Had doctor appt, head scan and now physical therapy. I believe the scooped seats do not allow for an imperfect shape. My right leg is now legged and I sit at a turn I. The seat which puts a lot of strain on my spine in the over shaped seat. Mostly the new head restraint in relation to the shoulder position of the seat puts a lot of strain on my neck. I am taking ibuprofen everyday and the pain is a real distraction to my work and daily life. I provide anesthesia full time and need to be at my best for this line of work rather than in physical therapy. This also costs money and takes away from enjoying my life. For a few months I was able to drive an older car 80% of the time and found the aching went away. I only drive less than ten minutes to work.

The Subaru cannot hold the road and veers within the lane almost creating accidents while driving down the highway. The dealer was notified three weeks after purchasing the car that a problem existed. The car was taken into the dealer and the service manager drove the car and agreed that there was a problem. The problem was hypothesized to be due to the rear suspension system. Subaru was notified because the car is under warranty and the problem may be a design flaw, but the request was denied to have the problem resolved. I personally notified Subaru and filed a complaint, but once again they will not acknowledge a problem. The car is unsafe and its constant wandering motion is imminent for an accident. It is a serious problem that needs action.

Backup camera gets blocked completely by a large "connected to mobile phone" message box when in reverse after recently starting car. Can happen when you're half way in the road and should be fixed.

The navigation system overrides the safety backup camera with messages when the car is in reverse. This is very dangerous since the navigation system can display a message on the screen and completely obscure the backup camera display while backing up. This happens every time I start my car and begin to backup. The backup camera comes on when I put the car in reverse but as I'm backing up, the navigation system displays messages from my bluetooth phone connection and I can't see what is behind me via the backup camera. Nothing should override the backup camera when the car is in reverse.