general problems of the 2013 Subaru Outback - part 1

I purchased this car may 28th 2025 and had it over the weekend and check engine light came on and took it Monday once shop opened and came back for catalytic converter and O2 sensor I letted the dealership know about it and said its not much that I can fix it but I figured would say that since was a as is car and just had to come up with money. . . Only thing month later it stalled on me and had to take to a shop to see what it is and came back for transmission but that shop told me the car never should have been sold I never try to let them know about that its been sitting since July when that happened I been trying to talk to consumer protection services but noone willed to help but since last year was so rough I just wanted to try again once year is up.

At all speeds vehicle shudders when letting off accelerator then nearly stalls. This is extremely dangerous when entering expressways or crossing oncoming vehicles. Dealer identified transmission as the problem and could reproduce, but not determine reason. Said drive until check engine light comes on then bring back. Light has never lit up. Dealer says Subaru stopped using this transmission because of problems, but is not allowed to rebuild or repair transmission. Says it cannot get new or rebuilt transmission from Subaru or anyone else just from totaled car auction. Dealership is offering $2500 trade in. This problem is well documented online regarding 2013 Subaru Outback’s with 2. 5l engine.

Like many other Subaru Outback owners, the torque converter, valve body tied to the transmission has put my Subaru out of commission at only 127k miles. There are many listservs and threads of Subaru owners who were duped by Subarus marketing of Subarus lasting into 200k miles who only reached half that because of these faulty transmissions and like myself have experienced car shuttering, stalling, and having to tow and chunk their allegedly safe cars that died half into their marketed lifespan. . Read more...

Valve body on transmission is bad. Apparently this is a common occurrence, unfortunately I’m over the extended warranty they put on the car when they new they had a problem. Why wasn’t this a recall.

The contact owns a 2013 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving 35 mph, she heard an error alert with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was driven to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 114,000.

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.

Vehicle was at a stop light on a 45mph road at which time the car shook very badly, the engine stalled, and almost every dashboard light illuminated. Vehicle was unable to move putting the passengers at extreme risk of a rear end collision on a major thoroughfare. The situation was safely resolved after shutting down the vehicle for a minutes and restarting it. Following the incident, the vehicle shudders often, and the car shakes very badly again if the transmission approaches 4000rpm. Vehicle will be taken in for service next week and it is suspected that Subaru will be required to replace the transmission under the extended warranty offered to all customers because of high transmission failure rates observed on this make/model of car. The NHTSA needs to require a recall on all Subaru cvts due to unreliability and stalling putting passengers and the public at risk.

2013 Subaru Outback. Entire set of warning lights came on five minutes after started driving vehicle. Mechanic said to have it towed. Diagnosis: cvt transmission totally fried at a mere 106,600. Should be able to get a lot more miles from this transmission. Lemon law but should be a recall. $8000 repair bill.

This car guzzles oil, like a quart every thousand miles making it a shitty car for road trips. I bought this for road trips so thanks Subaru. It has cvt issues that Subaru won't acknowledge or repair, dangerous ones too such as loss of power while idling, and feeling the engine is going to die when in stop and go traffic.

I was driving home from work and a warning light came on. The warning light indicated that the transmission fluid was overheating. I noticed steam was coming from under the hood. The car ceased forward momentum and came to a halt in the middle of the road (curvy and hilly country road). Inspection showed transmission fluid gushing out of the transmission. A large puddle joined what I later discovered to be nearly ten miles of transmission fluid trail. This is the fourth transmission to go into the car.

I have a 2013 Subaru Outback and it stutters driving between 20-40 mph. It seems to loose power when driving on city streets. Doesn't happen every time.

Having maintained my Subaru Outback at a Subaru dealer since purchase, I expected few major problems. Over the last few months, a small buzzing sound from the transmission has grown to a loud sound. The Subaru tech said my transmission was done. 133000 miles and Subaru offered $1000 toward a new car or new $8000 transmission. The car is now worthless.

116,700 miles and need to replace valve body. Concern raised at 83,000 miles but was advised to flush transmission. Automatic transmission temperature warning light comes on every summer, and concern raised but was only advised to pull over and let it cool. Also having problem with low engine oil warning and need to add 1 - 2 quarts between 6000 mile oil change. This is a known issue and the short block may need to be replaced to repair this.

Issue is ongoing for the last 6 months. Vehicle intermittently stalls when at idle and placed in gear. Hesitation when accelerating while driving (acts as if it not getting enough power. ) I have taken the vehicle to 3 different dealerships and contacted Subaru of America and I am not getting anywhere. Dealerships can't duplicate the problem, so therefore can't diagnose the problem. I have video records of this issue occurring.

Loud noise when making a sharp turn down hill to the right. Also traction control/cvt fails on wet surface or snow.

The transmission jerks and stutters and while in traffic the car lost power for approximately 5 seconds and I was almost hit. It happens at low and high speeds. It has happened on city streets and the latest was on the highway. I have also had it stall completely at low speeds. I've had it in the dealership 3 times and they say they can't replicate it. I have had the transmission flushed. It still continues. It feels unsafe to drive.

I was driving early in the morning when the car, a 2013 Subaru Outback, started to act unpredictably;revving and jumpy. I was scared to continue driving it in that state and pulled into a parking lot. It seemed clear it would not make it up the 8 % grade hill that was 1/4 mile or so further down the road. I had to be towed out of the lot to the local Subaru dealer. I understand such total failure transmission events are a known Subaru issue for my model and year. I am very upset that there was no recall and now Subaru is saying their voluntary extension of the warranty expired and they won't pay for the new transmission. They have offered $2500 in a gesture of good will, but that will not come close to covering the cost of replacing this defective transmission. Subaru should issue a recall for these defective transmissions that were included in the "customer satisfaction" extended warranty before something disastrous occurs.

Grinding coming from transmission. The vehicle stalls or delays in the transmission when taking off from stops. In one particular instance, the car had such a delay in heavy traffic that we could have had an serious accident if husband had not pulled over to get out of the way. Another time it delayed for over 20 seconds at a stop light and someone nearly rear ended us. 2 separate technicians from two separate dealerships recommended replacement of transmission. During their test drive both felt a shudder around 25 mph and reported a noisy transmission. Other diagnosis was performed finding no other issues. The issue started 120,000 miles but technician seen unit at 128,572 miles in which he stated repairs for the replacement of the transmission would be between 8,000 and 10,000. This is our main vehicle and is unsafe and unreliable to continue to use.

While driving the transmission light starts flashing along with the brake lights many warning lights and I drove it right to the dealer just a couple miles away they tested it said the transmission is no longer functioning properly the car was making a low pitched rumbling sound for a few weeks before that and for a long time there was a delay while putting the shifter in to park before that for over year and a half while I was driving when I would slow down to a stop the engine would slow down where it seem like it was going to stall out dealer checked it and said the transmission was ok that was over a year ago now one month out of the extended warrantee it conks out completely and Subaru does not want to do anything about it I wondered if you are still talking about doing a recall on the transmission because Subaru got around it before by doing this extended warranty? there should be a recall on this faulty transmission that they used in this 2013 Subaru vehicle thanks.

This 2013 Subaru Outback was purchased in Dec. 2013. The original warranty was for 60,000 miles. At some point, due to issues with this make and models transmission, the warranty of these vehicles was extended to 10 years or 100,000 miles. This car now is 5 years old and has 130,000 miles and the Subaru dealership is saying that the transmission needs to be replaced at a price tag of $10,000. Subaru USA is offering to apply $1500 towards the transmission replacement or apply towards a new Subaru. Subaru USA knows that these transmissions were defective or they would not have extended the warranty. Extending the warranty does not absolve Subaru USA from the responsibility of installing defective transmissions. This 5-year old automobile with 130,000 miles is now virtually worthless. Subaru USA installed defective transmissions and should be liable for replacement of the transmission. There was no accident involved with this complaint.

Cvt transmission many issues including the transmission overheating and causing the car to completely shut off. Problems perseist and dealership can find nothing wrong initially , but the transmission has been becoming worse and worse sicnce these issues started and the transmission stalls the car.

Tl the contact owns a 2013 Subaru Outback. While driving 60 mph, the brakes seized without warning. Last week, the transmission seized while in traffic on the golden gate bridge. On both occasions, the contact had to pull the vehicle over to prevent a crash. The transmission warning indicator was illuminated. The vehicle was towed three times to marin Subaru (595 francisco blvd e, san rafael, CA 94901, (415) 454-9240) where it was diagnosed that a new transmission was needed. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was repaired five additional times, but the failure continued. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures and did not assist. The failure mileage was 250,000.

My car has been consuming oil to the point where it has a d minus according to the dealership but has not fixed the problem and it keeps happening. The first time they said it was almost an f. I have about 3000 miles on it when it needs oil .

While driving at very low speeds between 10-20 mph, usually in front of a school in session, the speed surges from the current speed to a lower speed back to the same speed. It is not consistent but it occurs at least 3-5 times per week. This has been going on for almost a year but overtime it is taken in to the Subaru dealer, they are unable to duplicate the issue and always state that they have found nothing wrong. After investigating on the internet concerning this issue, other individuals have a similar experience, some even worst and they all state that the dealer always tells them the same thing: they find no issues.

Vehicle was in motion at at a consistent speed of around 15 mph, the vehicle stalled and suddenly stopped. The gas pedal was unresponsive and the vehicle would not move. Had to stop, put the transmission back in park, restart the vehicle, at which point the vehicle began to move again.

Sabaru has a problem with their automatic transmissions in 2010 tho 2015 vehicles. I have 2013. It has been determined that my transmission needs to be replace. I've been waiting for over a month now and parts ( a new transmission} are still not available. I'm complaining so it is noted that sabaru is dragging their feet on getting this problem resolved. The least sabaru could do is inform the customer as to a date when the parts will available. I need to use the car.

About every 3,000 miles, I have refill engine oil to required level. All happened on highway - the engine consumes too much oil.

Excessive oil usage, regularly occurs within 6000 miles of oil change burns one quart of synthetic engine oil. Also note bushing in drivers side lower control arm has failed as of 50,000.

This vehicle has several issues. I had an oil change and within 1 week they had to add 1. 3 quarts. Car had 23,767 miles. In just over a month I have had to add almost 4 quarts of synthetic oil and spent close to $100 for the oil. The car is an automatic with a manual option and I am also haveing problems where the gears won't change in auto nor manual operation. It revs the engine and I have to stop, turn it off then restart. It happens all the time but the dealer said there is nothing wrong with it. . There is also an issue with vibration of the steering wheel all the time and the brakes don't want to catch all the time. Should not have to pump the brakes 2 or 3 times to get them to engage.

Tl- the contact owns a 2013 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving at approximately 50 mph the vehicle hesitated when accelerating the vehicle stalled for three seconds. The contact stated that the the vehicle was burning excessive oil and can hear a motor knocking noise. The contact stated the vehicle was diagnosed and the mechanic stated that there was a knocking in the motor and needs to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 48000. Am.

Using excessive oil. Thi si sthe secon time I had to put oil in approximately 5700 milees after an oil change. Its not leakeing anywhere.

Tl-the contact owns a 2013 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving approximately 5 mph, she was making a left turn after a stop light and the vehicle powered off independently. The contact pressed the accelerator a couple times, the vehicle powered back on, and she was able to drive as normal. The failure recurred multiple times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was unable to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 7500. Mf.

In temperatures lower than 45 degrees f, if not 'warmed up' the car will make a loud thunk noise and lurch forward upon being put into drive. If the brake is not firmly engage, the car will jump forward. The Subaru dealer claims this is caused by the car's status as a performance vehicle, and engine warm up needs to occur to lower the rpms.

2013 Subaru Outback. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle transmissions problems. The consumer stated under certain conditions, there was a considerable delay in engine response when the accelerator was pressed. When driving normal speeds there was no problem. However, after letting the accelerator up and slowing down to idle speed, the pedal was then depressed and the vehicle would often stall. It was an intermittent problem, but gradually getting worse. The dealer tried to explain the problem away, by saying the electronic accelerator pedal and new transmission had to work together in tandem and that some delay was normal.