Adaptive Cruise Control problems of the 2021 Subaru Outback

The speed control (adaptive) doesn't work. The interior heater doesn't work. Several lights including the 'check engine' light come on the dash. The lane departure system doesn't work. (it appears the thermo control value subassembly may be at fault. ) the car has approximately 25k miles on it.

While doing a casual drive, engine made a noise after work at night. Woke up in the morning and check engine light as well as the eyesight light was on. Checked everything and noticed the coolant was low; but upon filling it, did not resolve the issue. Took it to a Subaru service center and was told that it the temp valve had been stuck and that they had replace not only one for my year model the same day, but also a ‘20 and ‘19 in the past week. Have looked online and noticed others have been unfortunate around the same mile range 60k.

Received error code p2682, a faulty thermo control valve. This happened on 11/17/2023. Car potentially could have quit running in traffic. Subaru has identified the issue with TSB 09-80-21r. They have changed the design of the valve due to the many failures. My car has 74,000 miles. My brother in law has the same vehicle with 57,000, and his car is in the shop today for the same issue. The service tech working on his vehicle stated that he does a couple of these repairs a week, and that Subaru knows this part will fail and should issue a recall.

While I am driving my cruise control will just stop working causing the auto braking feature to stop also.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving approximately 68 mph with the cruise control activated, the vehicle suddenly lost motive power. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that it was difficult while attempting to shift the gear lever out of drive(d). The contact stated that once she was able to shift the gear shifter, she shifted into park(p) to turn off the vehicle. The vehicle was restarted after multiple attempts. The contact then noticed that the parking brake had engaged independently. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 14,000.

I purchased the car new in January 2021. During the first several months there were no issues. After that, the "infotainment" system which controls the sound, nav, hvac, etc. Systems would suddenly go black and those functions would stop working. It would seem to reboot as a computer does when you restart it. That was distracting but mostly just annoying, lasting less than 30 seconds. I will call that a "soft reboot. " that happened many times over the next few months. On two occasions, the screen would black out and not only those systems would cease to function, it would shut down cruise control and eyesight. Call that a "hard reboot. " this was very dangerous. In traffic at 70-75 mph when the cruise control suddenly stops working, the car decelerates immediately and quickly. There are no warning signs or messages; it just goes black and shuts down those systems. Cars following would quickly be within a dangerous proximity. Not a safety issue but a hard reboot also wipes clear some settings including the nav destinations. During that period I spoke with service managers at two Subaru dealerships who said that it was a common problem and Subaru had issued a "patch" that was supposed to fix it. I live approximately an hour from the nearest dealership and had some difficulty finding a time to take it in for the upload. Finally I took it in to scenic Subaru in mt. Airy, nc on September 9, 2022 to get the update, with around 22,500 miles into a 36,000 mile warranty. I left the dealership at approximately 4 p. M. Headed for winston salem, nc, approximately an hour drive. Within 5 miles from the dealership it did a soft reboot. That happened two more times. I called the dealership to advise them but it was too late to return. Then, still within an hour from the dealership, it did a hard reboot, shutting down everything as I described above. It functioned properly until it did a soft reboot today, 220 miles after the update.

The navigation system will randomly go blank and then restart while driving. This not only affects any navigation which is currently in progress, but also disables the cruise control, eye sight, lane departure and other safety devices. This has occurred numerous times while driving on an interstate highway and is dangerous and life threatening.

The main computer system that controls the eyesight system, cruise control, lane departure, all hvac controls, navigation, etc. Shuts down (goes black), and reboots randomly. When this occurs, all of the functions and controls associated with the computer system are lost. Cruise control drops out and the built in safety features are disabled. It is distracting to the driver and requires the driver's attention to reset features that were lost. It is a known problem by Subaru and has not been fixed on my vehicle for over a year now. This complete computer blackout event occurs almost every time I drive the vehicle.

Subaru has apparently integrated their eyesight collision avoidance system with their infotainment system and the infotainment system crashes constantly. When it crashes about 50% of the time eyesight goes offline and kicks cruise control off. At highway speeds this is very dangerous. The vehicle will slow down 5-10 mph between when the system crashes and when someone realizes what has happened in order to put their foot on the gas pedal to keep their speed up. I've almost been rear-ended multiple times now because of this. Subaru has been aware of this issue for two full model years now and is going into a 3rd year with the same problem. The update they issues in spring 2021 made the problem worse not better. Subaru must be forced to either fix the issue immediately or recall the entire system and replace it before someone dies in a highspeed accident caused by this system. Until two days ago Subaru of America's employees were arrogant, condescending, and beyond unhelpful. Wendy clough has stated Subaru plans to issue an update in August has no actual confirmed timeframe. Subaru has done nothing to communicate with owners or dealers on mitigation options, if any, nor to warn customers of potential risks. Subaru must be forced to notify all owners of the issue immediately.

My problem is an intermittent one. The infotainment display goes blank and reboots. When this happens I have lost rear automatic braking, the eyesight system, cruise control, the backup camera display and driver monitoring along with other non-safety related systems (radio, environment control). The dealer has not been able to reproduce, but has gotten error codes to send to Subaru of America (soa) along with print out of error messages received via the my Subaru website. The vehicle has been to the shop 6 times in the first 9,000 miles. There has been no inspection of the car by soa, just dealer service. There is no warnings until the issue occurs. Soa has been notified via certified letter and has been unresponsive as to a fix since 7/19/2021.

2021 Outback purchased Feb 2021. Within 2 weeks the touch screen, which controls the cruise control, heating, all eyesight controls went blank. This causes cruise control at highway speed to quit, causing sudden deceleration at highways speeds. Sometime the screen reboots, most times it requires driver to pull car over to reset. This also controls gps and heating/air. There have been times when I have working canines in the car and loss of air conditioner in summer months has been extremely problematic requiring pulling car off road to open windows to ventilate. Multiple trips to dealer, and open case with soa results in no resolution, as there apparently is no fix. Recently 11/1/21 instructed when this happens to push my front defroster button five times after reboot to record codes. How distracting while driving is this? feel like this is severely underreported as owners frustrated. Receiving dealer instruction to look at touchscreen while driving causes the cars alert function to activate saying “keep eyes on road”. Why are they advising this unsafe action? recent software updates as late as last week of October installed and does not fix issue, verified by dealer service manager. Multiple incidents, recorded on my phone video, last incident occurred 7/12/2021.

Brand new 2021 Outback premier @ 647 miles and while parked overnight in our private driveway we noticed that the windshield had cracked the next morning. Less than 7 days of ownership dealer claims it was a rock chip . The windshield is split down the middle of the screen. Dealer response is insulting. Especially since they know this is an issue with the glass. Dealer pushed their expensive insurance to cover when we purchased the car. We did not know this was a recurring issue at this time with the cars. If we had known we would not have purchased this car. It will always be an issue. Will it crack again? who pays, will it leave us stranded somewhere? Subaru does not appear to be willing to stand by its product and take care of its customers.