general problems of the 2020 Subaru Outback - part 1

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving 65 mph on the highway, the contact was alerted by the message “eyesight technology failure”, before the battery shut down, causing the steering wheel to seize, forcing the contact to come to a complete stop in the middle of the highway. The check engine, air bags, and oil warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that several other unknown warning lights and alerts were displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was jump-started, and the contact was escorted by a tow truck operator to the nearest dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 37,168. The VIN was invalid.

Immediately stop every single traffic light.

Car stalled in traffic. The engine was cranking but it would not start. Had aaa tow off the road and to my home. Car sat for 10 days waiting for a fuel pump (thought this was the problem). After sitting for 10 days the battery was totally dead! new fuel pump installed battery was jumped but could not start the car. After 2 hours on the charger the battery still did not have enough energy to turn over the engine. Car is in a certified service shop (wilhelm). Battery replaced and same starting issues with the new battery and the new battery is discharging at a very high rate even though the car is not starting. Bought the car used in 2023 so I have no knowledge of the history of the car. Service provider running factory diagnostic testing but so far no determination as to cause of the high rate of discharge. Verified that the fuel pump is fully operational. What we know is that with a fresh fully charged battery and a working fuel pump the car will not start and remain running. The engine stops and the battery drain is excessive.

The contact's husband owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the vehicle was difficult to start intermittently, but was able to be jump-started. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to advance auto, where the contact was informed that the battery and the alternator were in good condition. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 56,000.

For our 2020 Subaru Outback, we are on our 3rd battery at only 49k miles. The car died again today. Thankfully aaa was able to jump it after a friend tried unsuccessfully. We suspect all of this battery drain, failure and replacement has been due to the known data communications module (dcm) issue on recent Subaru’s. I have an appt w the dealer in santa monica tomorrow morning to have it diagnosed.

We are on our 3rd battery in < 4 years. Subaru is well aware of this issue in their engineering in the parasitic drain from the starlink module. Aaa won’t even replace these batteries anymore because the problem is so prevalent. Meanwhile, I’m about to have to buy a 4th battery less than 4 years after purchasing the car.

Rear trunk door won’t lock when closed and open up while driving. It’s unsafe as I have to constantly keep an eye in rear view mirror to see if door popped open by itself. Took to service station and they said it’s tied to battery and it is preventing door to close because trunk door takes power to open. I do not understand how trunk door locking close cannot be independent of battery. It is quite unsafe for vehicle occupants and poses danger to other vehicles driving behind.

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while turning off the vehicle, the data communication module (dcm) remained running, causing the battery to become drained twice. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer but was not yet diagnosed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000. The VIN was not available.

Display to control the environment freezes.

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact stated that the battery was replaced several times; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was determined that the battery was not big enough for the turbo charger installed in the vehicle. The battery was replaced; however, the failure persisted. The contact also stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, the driver's side seat moved forward and backward unexpectedly. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 66,000. The VIN was not available.

As my husband & I were traveling to augusta, GA on memorial day weekend with our niece, we approached the southbound I-75 / I-24 split outside chattanooga, tennessee in heavy traffic and heavy rain on Saturday, may 25, 2024 at approximately 10:00 a. M. When we stopped for a small accident ahead of us, the “auto stop-start engine” feature stopped the car engine as normal. However, almost instantly, all of the electronics in the car appeared to fail and the car would not restart. The dashboard indicated that eyesight and rab were disabled and to "check the owner's manual. " normal traffic quickly resumed around us, but we were stranded in the #2 lane with several close calls of a rear-end collision--not to mention the cars at risk swerving to avoid us. My husband is a retired firefighter & our niece is a nurse in los angeles. Frankly, we were terrified! we were stranded on the interstate in the #2 lane for about 20 minutes before being pushed into the "gore zone" between I-75 & I-24 by a tdot truck. We spent about 40 minutes in the gore zone where we were nearly hit twice by cars driving across the zone. We were finally towed to crown Subaru in chattanooga, TN and arrived there about 11:40 a. M. The general manager of the dealership, keith aviles, told us there was a sudden, massive failure of a battery cell controlling the electronics of the car, and the battery was replaced. We never had any indication or evidence prior to this incident that there were issues with the battery. Also, we have never received a notice from Subaru about battery problems. However, we are now aware that Subaru settled a class action lawsuit to avoid a recall of these batteries. I have notified six friends who own Subarus. Three have had issues with their batteries, but were also unaware of the class action lawsuit. This is absolutely shocking for a vehicle manufacturer that touts safety to sell vehicles.

Starting in September of 2023, my 2020 Subaru Outback began having issues with the battery. After replacing the battery, having the vehicle died, being left stranded in unsafe scenarios, paying for , and associated repairs, I was told the dcm panel was found to be faulty and causing repetitive battery drainage and failures. The dcm is trying to connect to an old network without success causing the battery failure. This occurred twice in September, once in December, and three times in January of 2024.

I have had to replace the battery 2 times. Dealer has replaced once ~1 year of purchase. I replaced the battery ~3. 5 years after purchase.

The automatic lifting of the rear trunk opens as it should, but then will start to close on you out of no where without pushing the close button. It is terrifying because it doesn’t sense a body there. The screen in the center console also will become inaccessible and black out making it impossible to use the touch screen. The usb ports/ connecting to iphone will disconnect making bluetooth unavailable. Extremely difficult when needing gps or on the freeway.

The automatic braking system detection the rb system as it’s identified on the Subaru dash heater, failure airbag deployment, all disabled repeatedly removal of the battery connections for a period of 30 minutes reset it but failure has repeated.

Automatic braking system has almost caused a rear-end collision 5 times, because it thinks a shadow is an object. We’ve brought the car to the dealership but they told us twice that they can’t replicate the problem. That doesn’t change the issue. I don’t want to wait until we have a collision and have to go through physical therapy and repairs to address this. Front headlights are blinding other drivers causing them to flash their brights at us regularly on the freeway and local roads which then blinds us and causing us to slow down and break. The dealership say that the lights can be adjusted but this is a serious risk to us and something that happens every night. It’s stressful to drive the car anticipating this all the time. We’ve replace the starter last year and having issues again. The car struggles to start. Last year they said this was a known issue and also replaced the battery. But it’s happening again. This indicates a more complicated issue in the electrical. I don’t want to have to replace the starter every year.

Per Subaru there is something wrong with the cockpit control module (ccm) that is causing a constant / parasitic draw on the battery. This results in the battery being dead within 4 hours, leaving us constantly stranded. Because the ccm also controls the electrical system, many of the safety features (auto breaking, lane departure, etc) turn off randomly. This is the diagnosis from our local Subaru dealership: cockpit control module is drawing 2 amps. With cockpit unplugged there is still a 1 amp draw. Will need to replaced ccu then figure out where the other 1 amp draw is. Unable to diagnose with multiple systems drawing I have opened a case with Subaru of America, but with no resolution.

While we were at a speed of about 55 mph on a state highway, I had just selected cruise control when all the lights went on in the dash--including the warning lights for the brake, the check engine light--and power shut down in the vehicle as if we'd run out of gas. We were able to keep a very slow speed of about 20-25mph, but had to activate the 4-way flashers to alert other drivers that we were losing speed. We managed to get over to the shoulder and call for a tow. We feel this was a catastrophic failure of the vehicle, which endangered both of us. At least we still had power steering. At the dealer, the techs advised us that the issue was likely due to a failure of the electronic thermostat control. The car was in the shop for a week, and was repaired at no cost to us. The thermo control valve and all related parts were replaced. If not under warranty, this would have cost over $2k. We had no warning that this component was failing.

My vehicle stalled abruptly as I came to a stop while driving on a slope. Shortly afterward I determined that this was caused by a loose battery terminal; the battery had been replaced a day earlier. This much was the fault of the mechanic, not the manufacturer. My complaint is with respect to the state which the vehicle failed into: 1. The gear shift was stuck in drive and could not be moved into park. 2. It was not possible to engage the parking break, as it can only be controlled by an electronic switch. 3. The steering wheel column was locked. As a result of this, the only way to prevent the vehicle from rolling backward down the hill was to continuously keep my foot on the brake. It also was not possible, as a result of the locked steering wheel column, to guide the vehicle downhill safely. I was stuck holding the brake and unable to get out of my vehicle until another motorist stopped to give me a jump and enable me to engage the parking brake.

Car lurches when put into gear, transmission make loud chirping noise when place into gear from park, transmission shudders when turning. Car has had all recalls updated. Symptoms have been reported to dealer numerous times. Currently vehicle is at Subaru dealer in temecula calif. Dealer states a know transmission problem is being addressed thru a Subaru engineer. Have been without the vehicle for approx 3 weeks.

While driving my Subaru Outback, I encounter a problem where the starlink multimedia system abruptly goes black. Shortly after, the driver information center also goes black. Although the car continues to run, the cruise control, if engaged, and the eyesight safety system shuts off as well. Both systems then undergo a reboot.

On Friday Feb 24, 2023 our Subaru suffered a complete loss of electrial power leaving us stranded in very cold weaher here in northeastern ohio. We were finally able to get one door open only to find nothing else in the car would work. We contacted Subaru roadside assistance and they dispached a lift car & a tow truck to our location. The tow truck driver determined the battery had a complete failure. He told us this was a very common problem they see on the Subaru cars. He was successful in getting the car started via jumper box. Later in the day we received a follow up call from Subaru roadside assistance to confirm our safety. I asked if this battery failure on new Subaru vehicles was common he said more than 90% of the rodaside assistance calls are related to this issue of early battery failure. As I called my dealer to schedule an appointment on this issue I was told Subaru has placed strict inspection rules before replacement is allowed. Does it take a genius to know a car with 8000 miles should not experience a complete battery failure. My previous experience with Subaru is that they only respond to correct an issue when forced. Had this failure occured under different circumstances it could have been more dangerous.

When we started vehicle, a wide array of systems shut down including cruise, eye sight, lane detection, auto high bean, adaptive light cornering - essentially anything “automated” or assisted - along with the heating. The car ran at a higher rpm at idle - 2000 vs a usual 700-800 - and rough shifted at speed. Again, as if the automatic transmission lost its sync. The water temp gauge was also off. Have since learned this was the “thermo control valve” and somewhat of a known fault on Outbacks of this year. We were lucky to reach home from the long trip we were on and to the dealership. At the dealership, the service team did not admit this was wide spread. Nor did they tell us there is an updated part from Subaru available. They intend to install the oem part, which concerns us that in another 40-50k we will face the same $2k problem. We are unlucky that we just went over 60k miles, so this will not be covered under Subaru’s 60k drivetrain warranty. That Subaru is covering a cooling system problem under the guise of being drive train tells me they know they have something to keep quiet.

My car has a defective battery or a paracytic leak that the manufacturer (Subaru) acknowledges but selectively addresses. The problem is described at Subarubatterysettlement. Com. I have had to return my 2020 Subaru Outback to the dealer five or six times with a dead battery that has trouble recharging and maintaining a charge. Each time this occurs, I have to have the car towed to the nearest dealer for extensive (like days) testing. Under some magic circumstance, the battery is either returned-recharged or replaced. I have had to return my car with a dead battery to my dealer four or five times. Each time it is the same. "yes, your car battery is warranted (first for 3 years, now for 10 years)," but the reliability of the car's battery is never resolved. Again the catch is I cannot replace the battery myself without voiding a 10-year warranty on the engine, but to keep the contract, I must have my car taken to my Subaru dealer for them to test it to make sure that the car battery is dead. . . Or something. This is a safety problem because the car often doesn't have the cranking amps to start. And the vehicle is designed to shut the engine off at a stop and auto start when your foot is taken off the brake. This means my car could arbitrarily die at an intersection. I have disabled the auto-start feature but I cannot leave my car at the airport for fear that when I return I will have to have it towed to my Subaru dealer for testing.

The problems I have had or currently have with my vehicle are as follows: 1. On or about November 17, 2022, multiple dash lights, including the check engine light, came on while idling in a parking lot. I turned the engine off for a few minutes and when I restarted the car the lights didn't come back on. I took no further action at that time 2. On November 17, 2022, when starting the engine for the first time that day, numerous lights came on on the dash. The engine was idling and there appeared to be some braking/stuttering not initiated by the driver of the car when it was being driven. The car was returned to our home garage after being driven approximately 1/10 of a mile and another vehicle was driven that day. The Subaru dealer advised to drive the vehicle to his shop in miami. We took it to Subaru on November 20 and they fixed it that day. The technician said that “the technician completely placed the sensor and told us that the car was fixed. 3. On November 29, 2022, many dash lights, including the check engine light, came on when starting the vehicle for the first time during the day. The engine was more or less idling. The car was driven and the lights eventually went out on their own while running errands. We took the interior to the Subaru dealer. They said the battery would need to be replaced and adjustments made and we returned the Outback to the Subaru dealer on November 29, 2022 for maintenance. They changed the battery and the star/stop and returned the car 3 days later 4. You were driving on the interstate when you started to brake accidentally. This occurred on southbound I-95 just north of boca raton with 2 children in the car as passengers. All the dash lights came on including the check engine light. Less than 10 seconds later, the car began to brake against the driver's will. The interior slowed to 20 mph in less than 100 yards. The vehicle continued to resist my attempts to accelerate.

The car brake, with the foot on the gas all the lights came on and it stopped on the street (traffic being stuck) it's a car safety problem it can cause a serious accident if I end up on I-95, if something happens to me they will be responsible for it I have everything the records and photos of everything that happened to the car check . What happens to that car with the same failures over and over again in 2 months 3 time on the dealer with the same problem I buy this car on October 2022 and over and over again the same problem.

Multiple issues are with the electric system. The power windows will stop working up or down, the headunit/defroster/safety features will all lose power while driving before starting up again, the rear gate will sometimes not function. Some issues have occurred where some of the added safety features don't seem to always function as well. In the last month both passenger side windows have cracked. The front is cracked vertically and the rear is cracked horizontally, nearly the length of the window. Living in alaska, cold weather is not foreign and all care is taken to ensure the integrity of the glass is preserved. I am not sure how/why these windows cracked, it was during a period of cold around December 14, 2022. I did a little googling and this doesn't seem to be a totally unheard of problem. Losing your window definitely compromises safety, as well as the fact that if it is -40f and you lose a window.

On Dec. 20, 2022, my Outback totally stopped working while sitting at a red light, causing traffic to be forced to maneuver around my car. A kind policeman put out flares until the tow truck arrived. I could not shift into park, nothing electric would work, except the radio continued to play and the flashers worked until it all died. I could not turn the radio off and the seat would not adjust. The electronic screen flashed on and off until it went totally black, after about an hour. This vehicle only has about 21,000 miles on it and was under warranty until 3 weeks prior to the incident. Every time I took it to the dealership, I explained that the electronics had glitches. They always said it was fixed but it never was right. The tomtom navigation system was totally unreliable from day one; the screen went blank and the radio would not work at all, as well as all the screen functions, without warning. The screen would read out that I should keep my hands on the wheel, although both hands were on the wheel. Over and over it had problems which were not resolved.

Electrical problems cause frequent battery replacement and for the battery to drain at an alarming rate. The car has to be jump-started to be used, and the car battery will drain immediately as soon as the drive is over( even if it's hours). There is/was a class action lawsuit against Subaru of America, as the action says that Subaru failed to recall the vehicles and fix the problem. I'm paying a note on a 28k car that I can't get out of the driveway without jump-starting the car, and if I stop to run in a store when I return, the vehicle will not start. It's completely unsafe and ridiculous. I've taken this to the dealership (ken fowler of ukiah, CA) and other mechanics, and no one has known about this issue or been able to fix it. Someone, please help.

On Saturday 12/10/2022 at approximately 5pm, I was driving my 2020 Subaru Outback on the left lane of a highway in south miami at a speed of 65+ miles per hour when the vehicle lost all power. The vehicle’s eye sight" system alerted me to "keep your eyes on the road”, then all of the instrumentation on the dashboard lit up. I was able to maneuver my vehicle through traffic to the relative safety of the right shoulder of the highway. I tried to restart the engine and that was a futile effort. The electrical failure in the vehicle also impacted the hazard lights and now my car was engulfed in darkness on the highway, making a bad situation even worse. I contacted Subaru starlink and they promised a tow truck within in an hour but later revised the estimate to 11pm. Meanwhile there are 4 women occupants in my vehicle and all are in our 60's. Subaru could not and would not provide us safe transportation off the highway at that time of night due to "liability issues". In the end, I was able to secure my own tow truck and transported my car to a Subaru dealership and transported myself and my passengers to safety. The Subaru dealer informed me that my experience is a known issue with Subaru and that the root cause is a defective valve. This valve is on back order and its availability is impacted by supply chain issues. My car remains at the dealership and I have been provided with a loaner vehicle in the interim. There is no eta on the repair or when I will have my car back.

Battery drained / dead after left sitting for 4 days. Read about a class action lawsuit for this issue. Left me stranded and had to call roadside assistance.

I approached a stop light and barked. The car stalled and wouldn't restart. The interior lights on the console started to flash and car was dead. I was traveling southbound on rt 1 in delaware. I was in the center lane (3 lanes). There was a a lot of traffic and despite my hazard lights being on several people slammed their brakes nearly hitting me. I called 911 and the DE state police came to stop traffic and push my car out of the road. It was terrifying. The battery/electric system has been glitchy. When looking online at my Subaru service records, none of this has been listed there despite visiting Subaru for it and an episode where they had to tow my car because it wouldn't take a jump. This is a new car, and was purchased to have safe and reliable transport. The police report can be verified by calling 302-644-5020 (delaware state police) the incident number is 07-22-079260 officer robert horton #1958 dsp troop 7. I have a video of the lights flashing but site won't accept upload.

Battery died and wouldn't take a charge, car was towed to Subaru dealer and I was told I must have done something wrong that car was fine and battery took a charge from the dealer and was in good health. The tow truck driver was unable to jump the car. I was unable to ride with the tow truck driver because of covid. The car continues to have battery issues and the electrical system has hiccups from time to time where I can't get the door to look or the car doesn't recognize that I have shut it off. In the past 2 weeks the battery has died in the time it takes to unload groceries from the car. I drive a lot by myself and have been stranded when stopping for gas. I am taking the car to the dealer this Friday. I had to find out about the class action suit on google! I was told this was unique to me.

I was stopped at a light in a 3 lane st. It was approximately 930 at night. The auto start stop feature had turned off the engine and when I removed my foot from the brake to begin moving forward the entire electrical system shut off. I tried switching into park and restarting the car but the car locked the steering wheel at this point and killed all of the lights inside and outside of the vehicle. This meant that I was in a car in the middle lane of traffic with no lights and I was not able to turn on the flashers either. I had to use the emergency neutral setting in order to unlock the steering wheel and roll the car to safety. While we were rolling the car I attempted to turn on the vehicle again and it began running. This is the second time that the car shut off when I released my foot from the brake. The first time I was able to shift into park and restart the car.

Our 2020 Outback xt onyx edition with 24,000 miles was parked for 9 days at an airport. Union return, the battery was completely dead. We received a jump and drove the car for an hour on the highway, but noticed the electrical systems acting up at parking lot speeds - eyesight system would disable briefly, power steering would get stiff, and abs would trigger randomly when turning at low rpm. Upon shutting the car off, everything went dark and the battery was still completely dead, leaving us stranded. It needed to get towed back to the dealership, awaiting further diagnostics.