general problems of the 2020 Subaru Outback - part 2

Windhsield cracked for the 2nd time. First, original windshield cracked in 2022 and replaced with oem part. Now, 1/12/23, windshield again cracked w/o any reason.

Windshield defective issues. The windshield in my Subaru Outback cracked twice in a 6-month period. Both incidents occurred while driving between 40-55 mph in san diego. The first time (July 2022) the windshield cracked for no apparent reason. I took the car to the Subaru dealership for a windshield replacement. The second time (12/25/22) it appears that a small pebble hit the windshield on the bottom side of the windshield. I am really not even sure a pebble hit the windshield, I just heard the windshield crack. Subaru has been notified of this second incident and I am waiting for an appointment to replace the cracked windshield. This is appears to be a defect on the windshield. I've never had this issue with any other car. Its troubling to know that the windshield on my car can cracked so easily and it worries me for the safety of my family. Please investigate all the other complains that have been submitted related to Subaru's windshield cracking.

This vehicle is equipped with an auto start/stop system. It is automatically enabled every time the car is turned on. While it can be turned off, it must be turned off manually every time the automobile is started. It is (candidly) both easy to forget to disable and also a nuisance to disable with every start. The incident occurred during fresh snow fall with ice coat, temperature around 24f. I was stopped at a traffic light and the auto stop turned the engine off. As I slowly started to accelerate with a green light, the auto on "kicked on" resulting in loss of control and the car fish tailing.

The front windshield has cracked twice now with no point of impact. This week marks the second of these spontaneous cracks in 6 weeks. Both times, the crack appeared first thing in the morning after not being driven all night.

My windshield has developed a crack for no apparent reason. The crack starts at the top of the windshield near the rear view mirror, goes straight down for about 6", then travels horizontally, creating an 'l' shape. Total length is approximately 12". The vehicle has not been involved in an accident, nor was it struck by a stone or other road debris. The crack just showed up.

For one, my windshield cracked out of nowhere, I didn’t know that windshields were having issues at the time, so I had to replace it on my own without contacting the dealership. Other issues include the front windows not going up all the way from time to time. The info system crashes and shuts down from time to time too, which leads to the eyesight to shutdown temporarily too. And from time to time, the hatch buttons lag where I have to push on the buttons multiple times to get it to close.

I have had the battery be completely drained overnight for no apparent reason. Last year I took the car in 3 or more times for the dealer to diagnose. They gave me a new batter and said it was the parking break draining the battery. This year (almost a year later) the battery is again being drained. When the roadside assistance came to jump it he said the battery (after the jump) was only 3. 9 volts which is much lower than anything like interior lights being left on would do. I'm worried that they haven't fixed this mysterious drain on the battery. And I see that there has already been a class action suit against Subaru of America (soa) has been battling an issue with drained batteries on the Outback and ascent suvs. The original lawsuit from 2020 against soa alleged the suvs had defective electrical systems causing premature battery failure. A second lawsuit in 2021 against Subaru claimed defective electrical components in the Subaru forester, Outback, ascent, legacy, and wrx vehicles.

Windshield has a known cracking issue.

Winshield cracked spontaneously & readily spread out as I was driving.

This is my fourth cracked windshield in less than 2 years! I’ve never cracked a windshield in any other car I’ve owned in the last 20 years! the windshields do not seem to be strong enough to accommodate the flex of the frame of the vehicle. I hear the car flex over rough roads or speed bumps. I’m assuming the torsion of the vehicle is weakening the glass, and any minor impact will cause the windshield to crack. I haven’t been abusing the car at all, this time around I parked the car, came back 3 hours later and the windshield was cracked, I assume from the speed bumps on the way into the park. I was calm at first, but now am outraged! I cannot afford a new windshield every six months, especially at $1,000 a piece! please help!.

Moonroof without any warning broke out while driving on the freeway. This has happened two times within 6 months. When it breaks there is a very loud bang and glass fly's from the car, possibly hitting following vehicles. Both times we had the inside sun shade closed so the occupants of the car were not showered with glass. Happened on 7/11/22 & 1/28/23. We no longer trust driving the car and will trade it in.

Windshied spontaneously cracked.

1. Car accelerated on its own—very scary. (took the car to cochran Subaru of monroeville, but they said nothing was found wrong. ) 2. The very next day, the real door would not latch and car would not lock. I reported these two issues to 1-800-subaru3. My case # 220610-163479 3. We did a “software” update bc we received a recall notice—it was completed at cochran Subaru of monroeville sometime in the fall of 2021, in March of 2022 while on vacation in fla, the radio blared on its own, then stopped working altogether for a week or so—then just started working again.

I am on second battery for my 2020 Outback and it now won't hold a charge. It drains overnight / without use. I can assure you that I am not leaving any lights on.

The moon roof glass exploded and shattered while driving the car on a highway under the speed limit. The car is available for inspection though a repair has been initiated. Multiple pictures and a video were taken. If the inside shade cover had not been closed, shattered glass fragments would have cut the driver and passengers possibly impeding the driver’s vision and causing a crash. The problem shattered moon roof was confirmed by the dealer and a repair shop. No one would confirm what caused the moon roof glass to explode. The dealer’s service department and the repair shop inspected the problem. There was no warning. The glass just exploded with a very loud bang like a gun went off inside or near the care.

That main concern I have is the windshield. My windshield has been replaced once already and it seems no matter what speed or road we are traveling if anything hits the windshield it cracks. I am not talking a chip or little crack either I am talking tiny rock 45 mph crack halfway through the entire windshield. It can’t be that safe of safety glass if a pea gravel smashes it at 45mph. First time it happened we were traveling through a blizzard at 30 mph rock crack the entire windshield…. . The Subaru windshield is super expensive and can only be put in at specific places.

3 weeks ago the all of the warning lights came on. Had vehicle towed to dealership. Could not find out what was wrong. Saw there was a lot of carbon build up which was unusual since there is only 26,000 miles on vehicle. After a week a dealership a cleaning took it home. Went back the next day. They inspected and stated it was the spark plugs and needed new fuel injectors. Had replaced. Everything still covered. Picked vehicle up finally after 17 days of it being there. When picking it up the paper work stated the vehicle had cylinder 1 misfires 30-45 times in a 3 hour period. But was assured the vehicle was repaired and fully inspected and 100% safe. Within 24hrs of driving the vehicle. The next morning we drove to school and with after the second light we smelled smoothing rolled windows down and but was sure if it was us. Then had slowed down to turn at the next light to turn to pull over but didn’t get that opportunity before a boom and smoke and flame came and I rushed out of the car and took immediate action and got my 4 year old out of her car seat. Before the whole car was up in flames. I have heard that similar vehicles had similar issues but have had other repairs to deal with it. There was no lights that came on in the vehicle to warn us that something was wrong so thought the smell was from outside. Insurance and the auto maker are inspecting but I had to alert the automaker the dealership wasn’t going to. They stated that the insurance and automaker will just compare notes.

I was driving in a residential neighborhood at low speed, about 20 mph. I slowed down because I needed to park at the curb, and also I was approaching a large speed bump. This was one of the wide, flat ones. I pulled over to the right curb a couple of car lengths before the speed bump, preparing to park. I went over the bump, accelerating a tiny bit to get over the bump. I was going maybe 10 miles an hour. As I came down off the bump, or shortly after that, the accelerator pedal moved down away from my foot. I felt the pedal move down and away so that my foot was no longer touching it. At the same time, the engine speed surged (I heard it rev), and the car lurched forward for a second or two. I put my foot on the brake and also saw the obstacle detection on the instrument panel and saw the red lights and heard the beeping, and the car stopped moving. I don’t know whether I braked first or the car did. I was still about 2 car lengths away from a parked car in front of me when my vehicle stopped. I took my vehicle to a dealership the next day. They performed diagnostics but were unable to find anything wrong with it.

Windshied cracks from small rock chip am having to replace my secound windshield in less than 7 mounths time because it cracks with in a few minutes after inpact from small rock chip the safety issue would be the glass from the crack could inpair vision. I had the first one replaced by the dealerwith dealer supplied glass.

Windshield cracked while parked in a line waiting to go through a carwash. Nothing was above the car that could have dropped on the windshield to cause it to crack. I heard a "crack" looked up and could see the crack starting from the edge of the driver's side window - within minutes it was approx 8 - 10 long. Thankfully no safety for me or others but depending upon where the crack was it could (and if it keeps growing will) impair visibility for driving. Not inspected - this occured less than 1 hour ago. No warning sign that it was going to happen. This is my 2nd windshield on this car that just randomly cracked. Last time it started middle of the window, bottom under the hood of the car and went straight up.

Our windshield has easily chipped and cracked repeatedly. We are having our windshield replaced for the 3rd time since November 2021, and it is March 1, 2023, this does not include the two times we have had chips repaired. Each time was due to a small piece of gravel or rock hitting our windshield while driving. Twice was at 20 mph passing someone at the same speed. Anything that hits our windshield causes a crack or fracture. It is more expensive because we have the eye assist package. We are terrified of something larger hitting our windshield and potentially going directly through it injuring someone in the car.

Windshield was hit by two rocks leaving dime sized stars at the base of the windshield. They were low and not in sightline. Have had many cars with same damage on windshield with no issues and driven for years without any change in the glass. When I got home I parked car in garage. The next afternoon when I looked at the windshield, the small stars had cracked in 4 different directions, to a size larger than a basketball. Now I'm forced to replace a windshield that on any other car would be fine.

Windshield has cracked on 3 separate occasions while parked. Happened in 2 parking lots and my driveway.

In the last 11 months, we have had to replace the front windshield four times due to significant cracks that occurred after a rock hit the windshield (3 times) and one time following a hailstone hit. The cracks do not show up immediately, but about two hours after the incident. The "eyesight" safety features don't work when this happens. Our driving is in town or on a freeway. We do not do off-road driving or driving on gravel/dirt roads. The windshields have been replaced with Subaru factory windshields and re-calibrated each time. The auto glass repair shop we use believes this cracking problem is a design issue as the glass is steeply angled and the thickness of the glass is thinner. This is our fourth Subaru and we have never had this issue. In the past, a rock hit would just bounce off the windshield or leave a small "star burst" nick that could be filled. I emailed Subaru of America and asked them what, if anything, they were doing to address this issue. I have not received a response to my email, sent over a week ago.

Windshield cracked while using the defroster. This is a 2020 Outback. I had the same problem on a 2019 Outback that went through 3 windshields in less than a year. These windshields are defective.

Front windshield crackle sound (like breaking glass) when temperature drops below 20 degrees. Constant sound.

My Subaru has 12,ooo miles on it and in the past week has died on me. When you try to start the car and depress the brake, the brake locks and you cannot push it anymore, in addition, the battery does not turn over. On the first occasion, we tried to jump start the car but the battery read as normal activity and the car would not start after that. The car just started up for no apparent reason the following day. Thankfully we were at home when this happened and we have a 2nd car. The second time, same thing with the brake when we tried to start car and no turnover with the battery but and the car still will not start on the following day but this time it looks like the battery has died. Taking it in to Subaru dealership where supposedly the have never heard of these problems before!.

Windshield has cracked 4 times in 21 months, at least 3 times this did not appear to impact related. The crack quickly spreads along the entire width of windshield over a 2-3 day period. We have replaced 3 times, each time through Subaru clearlake dealership.

Windshield: mid December noticed crack along right lateral side of windshield when car parked in garage. No preceding incident noted. Garage temp 40 degrees. Had windshield replaced with original Subaru replacement windshield at safelite on 12/31/21. On 1/20/22, while driving 60 mph on highway, 33 degrees, snowing, wipers and defroster on, heard noise like a rock hitting windshield, and noticed a crack from the bottom/ middle of the windshield. There were no cars within 300 feet of my car so I doubt a rock was kicked up to hit my windshield. I believe windshield is defective. Will have it replaced again. Although this repair is covered by my insurance, repeat claims like this will cause insurance rates to go up for all consumers.

Battery drains when car sits idle for more than a week. No lights were accidentally left on. Had to jump start the car four times in less than a week. Subaru dealership attempted to tell me the battery was fine but the service advisor noted it was starting up sluggishly. Service did a full charge. Subaru's own website recommends driving the car at least a couple times a month, which is what I've done, but the battery still drains within two weeks. The Subaru dealership further told me that the battery has a memory and "learned" my driving habits (I purchased the car prior to the pandemic) and that is why the battery is not keeping a charge since I'm not driving it as often as they think I should. They also told me that I should disconnect the battery if I have to leave the car at an airport, for example if I go on vacation. That is absurd. The service advisor further told me that the warranty would likely not cover the battery replacement because they believe I'm not driving the car enough. I am concerned that the battery not holding a strong and sufficient charge will cause the car to not be able to restart at a traffic stop if I have not remembered to disengage the fuel-saving feature. While I carry a jump starting kit, I would need to get out in the road and try to hurriedly jump the car. There are several reports online with a parasitic drain where the computer does not go into a sleep mode when the car is off.

Windshield cracked. No reason for the issue.

Windshield cracks for no reason.

Returned to vehicle and battery was dead. While at work, received notification through Subaru app that alarm was triggered. Same thing happened last week. Tailgate was making clicking sound like it was trying to open. Once battery was jumped, the tailgate continued clicking. Researched online and found that this is a known issue for Subaru Outback and ascent vehicles of certain years.

Windshield crack from a rock chip expanded across entire windshield. Another rock chip 5 months later caused another 8” crack.

While driving down interstate, windshield must have made contact with rock or other foreign object at mid/low left side of glass. I say must have because object too small to create any noticeable sound at impact. Within minutes, large linear crack appeared extending slightly farther than midline. This is the 2nd incident of this type creating damage to the windshield of this vehicle. Another previous incident occurred with front passenger window. In all 3 incidents, damage far exceeds what would be expected given size of initial impact area.