Wiper problems of the 2022 Subaru Outback - part 1

Windshield spontaneously cracked while parked in driveway. Have nest cam footage of crack.

A crack on my windshield has appeared overnight out of nowhere, with no indication of impact or external damage. The car was parked in a private driveway facing the house, not the road. It started from the bottom edge of the windshield under the cowling and has made its way to the center of the windshield, and has since spidered out, moving both east & west on the windshield. I took the 2022 Outback wilderness to hania Subaru in orange park, jacksonville, FL, where they said the extended warranty would not cover the replacement because it only covers cracks that start on the east or west sides of the windshield. Hania Subaru sent photos to Subaru of America stating that they would not replace the glass. Soa said they would donate a $1000 gift towards the replacement of the windshield only if it was replaced through a Subaru dealership, which Subaru hania quoted $2067. 61, which is $900 more than the going rate in the area, so with the $1000 gift from soa, I would be paying more than the average for a windshield replacement despite the "gifted $1000" from soa and they would be using the same glass manufacturer that the original faulty cracked glass came from. Soa said they would only gift me the amount for the glass replacement if I used a Subaru dealership and not a 3rd party company, and when I asked why the dealerships charged double what the average cost was, they said that the service Subaru offers is superior despite there being no warranty on the new glass or service. When I called Subaru of hania and Subaru of jacksonville about glass replacement, they both said they do not offer glass replacement in-house, but they outsource to a 3rd party company called ameri pro, which is the glass dealership that Subaru uses as stock. Ameri pro handles the full job and would charge me $1452 to include the "Subaru" stamp on the glass and stamped parts, or they would charge me $764. 38 for all the same parts, excluding the Subaru stamp. This issue goes even deeper.

I have an 2022 Outback that has 29000 miles and have had 2 windshield replacements. And now on my third, from rock chips. I bought the extended warranty and they are denying my claim. I can’t imagine what the lifetime costs will be for this vehicle. They have offered an extended warranty because of the problem and are not honoring that either.

I bought my car in 2023 and it has less than 30,000 miles on it. Since purchase, I have had to replace the windshield three times for massive cracks. Insurance does not cover the full cost. Nothing has hit the windshield as far as I know, but it keeps cracking. I have never had this issue with any other car.

Windshield requires replacement with slightest rock hit to it- (2) replacements in first six months of car ownership.

I was outraged that my 2022 Subaru Outback on July 4, 2025 while the vehicle was parked and stationary in a secured garage, I discovered a significant crack across the windshield. There was no evidence of external impact or vandalism, indicating a likely **manufacturing defect or structural flaw** in the glass. This defect raises serious safety concerns and falls within Subaru’s responsibility under the vehicle’s warranty and applicable consumer protection laws.

The front windshield spontaneously cracked during use of windshield wipers. Resulted in multiple cracks from top center of windshield.

My windshield just cracked by itself without hitting anything. This is really frustrating.

Small rocks cause very large cracks across windshield. Windshield seems brittle or fragile.

2022 Subaru Outback with 22, 000 miles. Car had been in my garage overnight. I drove to our local recreation center on the morning of February 18, ambient temperature in mid-30's. I came out 1. 5 hours later and discovered a large crack had spontaneously formed in the windshield (passenger side, extends to very edge, no visible causative chip).

The vehicle’s windshield developed a 8-10 inch crack due to most likely temperature changes. Seems like a known issue for this year/model vehicle.

Front windshield glass developed spontaneous crack. Originating on the drivers side approximately 8 inches up from the bottom drivers side of the glass. Initially the crack was about 5 inches in length horizontal but quickly developed to be 12. 5 inches over 24 hours in a garage. Glass is available for inspection. There is no discernible impact point and crack seems to be spontaneous. An appointment at the dealership for assessment was booked and rescheduled pending extended warranty.

I was driving on the interstate, with no cars around me and I heard the windshield crack, the crack went from 3 inches to about 30 inches. There is no reason why this would have happened other than a defective windshield.

In November we used the car for a road trip and returned to our home in snellville, GA on [xxx] parked the car, unloaded the contents, and put the sunshade in the windshield as we always do. The next day (xxx), I opened the car and removed a few small items used during the trip and walked around the car inspecting the exterior of the car for anything that may have changed due to this trip. At this time, I noticed a crack in the windshield that was not there the evening before. I had driven the car the entire trip and there was no time when something could have struck the windshield and precipitated this crack. I have been in a vehicle when a rock from the road has been kicked up by a vehicle ahead of me and struck the windshield. This type of impact can clearly be heard by passengers in the front seat, as it makes a considerable sound when striking the glass (similar to the sound of a small caliber weapon being fired). These is no indication on the exterior of the glass that this or any other external influence damaged and caused this windshield to crack. As I stated earlier, this windshield was not cracked when we exited the car the evening before. It is plainly visible when sitting in either of the front passenger seats and we would have noticed this. In my view this defect could have only been caused by mechanical stress between the mounting surface and windshield sometime between our arrival home and when this was first noted by us the next day. We have requested a replacement windshield under warranty. Subaru of America has denied our request, with the following statement: "not a matter for warranty, outside influence" we are aware that this vehicle is included in a class action lawsuit at the web site below. This crack is a safety issue and appears to be a defect based on information in the lawsuit. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Have second deep crack with light rock impact in less than one year.

Windshield has a crack. There is no external force, neither accident happened.

Defective windshields: costly repair: I purchased this car when it was 9 months old with 7800 miles on it. I now have 30, 080 miles. And I have had to replace the windshield 3 times. I also had one a chip repaired. This means I have replaced the windshield every 7427. Miles. Once the crack has started the lane sensing and brake stopping programs are halted. This is a serious safety issue. This is beyond ridiculous for a new model car. There much be something wrong with the making of these windshields, or the material used to make these windshields. This is a costly repair, being that the windshield needs re-calibrating each time. It's been around $2500. 00 each time. The Subaru dealer I purchased the car from has been made aware, but they have no solutions, no discounts, or no other options. Other than empathy, and tell me many others are having the same problems.

Front windshield cracked while vehicle was parked after a car wash. Crack started from the center bottom outside, from the base.

Windshield cracked without warning and with no impact. Crack rapidly propagated and sounded like glass was going to break on highway. Took to wagner Subaru dealer and they said this is typical and is not covered by recall or warranty.

Merging off the interstate at a speed of 75mph onto an off ramp at 7pm with 4 adults in the car and when I started braking the windshield cracked from the passages side a pillar in towards the center of the window approximately 7 inches. There were no other vehicles around us and no signs of a chip or previous damage that could have caused the break in the glass. The crack is halfway up/down the windshield and runs horizontal.

Windshield cracked without any external impact. There was no crack when we parked the car in the evening, but the next morning there was a crack. There was no impact or visible reason that this should have happened.

After doing grocery shopping, I returned to the vehicle, loaded my purchases, and upon getting into the driver's seat, noticed a large "y" shaped crack in the windshield. The crack wasn't there when I arrived at the store. I've owned the vehicle less than a week, bought it used with less than 14k miles on it.

The windshield cracked from bottom of passenger side to the center of glass for no reasons, while the car was fully stopped, without any external impact. There were no harms caused to passengers, but it is concerning because the windshield could crack anytime without external impact. This didn't get recognized by dealership as a defect, they claim it was due to external impact. Yes, dealership has inspected the vehicle. No warning lamps or messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.

I was driving to work and a car kicked up a small rock that struck the lower left portion of my windshield. There was no chip created at the time. Several minutes later, I heard an audible pop and 4 - 6 inch long crack appeared in the same area. Within minutes, the crack traveled across the windshield and extended about one foot further. Within a few days, the crack extended to the middle of the windshield and traveled upwards towards the attachment point for the rear view mirror. It's long enough now where I'm worried about it interfering with eyesight. When I examined the area where the stone impacted, I can see several very small pits where the rock hit, but each pit is probably no larger than 1/64th of an inch in diameter. Given the behavior of the crack and reports I've heard from others, I suspect that the glass is too thin and under stress the way it's mounted to the car. This fault has been reported over and over on social media and has cost owners many thousands of dollars to correct.

Second windshield cracked with no impact. This I’d the second time within a year that this has happened to me. Like last time the crack isn’t on the outermost layer, and if you run your finger along the crack it feels completely smooth. This is quite frankly unacceptable with how expensive these windshields are to replace.

Windshield glass broke spontaneously and randomly with no impact associated with the crack. The crack extends all the way across the windshield.

Went out to driveway and started car. Heard a ping. A few minutes later the windshield started to crack from drivers side bottom corner upward across the field of vision. At first it was about a foot long but spread to about 3 feet. No sign of impact.

My Subaru Outback windshield seems to use low quality glass or have poor windshield mount/frame design. Since purchasing the car new in April 2022, I have had 3 significantly cracked windshields; all of which propagated immediately after getting hit by a pebble mid-drive (not giving any opportunity to fix the chip). I am filing this complaint because I don’t think it should be standard for a windshield to propagate a crack so easily and consistently every time it gets chipped (this seems statistically improbable compared to other cars) - and it’s a legitimate hazard to visibility if I don’t have ample opportunity to get the chip repaired to prevent it from propagating to a crack. Essentially I’m saying that it’s almost guaranteed that getting a chip will result in a foot long crack during the same drive (I say almost because I have been able to repair a chip before it was too late once). Furthermore, the crack will often double in size over night (presumably due to temperature changes) - which leads me to speculate that the windshield glass accumulated internal stresses during install due to poor design. I have only replaced my windshield through official Subaru dealerships with their recommended glass vendor. I’ve attached two photos from my most recent cracked windshield; the first is the crack that propagated immediately after the pebble hit while driving, and the second is after leaving the car overnight stationary. Also note that this is usually at highway speeds; and I have effectively had 1. 5 broken windshields per year of driving the car. The first broken windshield happened at ~200 miles driven on the brand new car (5 days in).

I washed my car the night before and put it in the garage where it usually is parked at night. Upon getting in to start it and go to work noticed a 6inch crack start from the lower center part of the windshield. There was no impact as it was literally sitting inside my garage all night long. It looks like it stars from below the trim.

Windshield cracked on passenger side starting below the lower interface to the plenum. Crack was not caused by impact by debris nor a collision.

My husband bought this vehicle in 2021. It was brand new and since we have had it we have had to replace the windshield many times! we are now going in for its 6th replacement this week! this will be the 4th one that we have had to pay a deductible. The first time it happened the dealership replaced it because it happened within a short time of purchasing it. The second time, we were told to contact Subaru of America and they said to go back to the dealer. When we did, the dealership says it would only cover the first one so we had satellite do it through an insurance claim. Fast forward 2 years and like I said earlier in this complaint we are getting a 6th one put in on Friday! just ridiculous from my standpoint. My husband loves his car and usually doesn’t like to be confrontational so I am the one doing this complaint! I also use the Outback every so often.

I have replaced the windshield for a second time resulting from a (non-impact) stress fracture coming from the passenger side a pillar. It seems to be exactly the same spot as previous. The crack is large enough to put a credit card in at the start then wanders in varying directions with a finer crack. This time an aftermarket glass was available which I was told is thicker and more durable that the oem glass. I am told Subaru has extremely thin oem glass which they are having industry problems with. If it has any significance there is a dent in the passenger door jam b-pillar which was there from new and painted over. It seems to be a result of manufacturing robotics possibly. I do not know if this is a clue to two windshields stress cracking.

I’ve been reading about easily cracked windshields on Subarus, and sure enough, my windshield cracked this morning. To be clear, there is a tiny impact point from probably a pebble or something, but the glass should not have cracked that easily. Probably about an 8 inch j crack right in the center bottom of the windshield. I’m in the process of talking with Subaru to see if it will be covered.

1. 2022 Outback windshield, on passenger side, has cracked twice in the same spot. We bought the vehicle brand new. It currently has 9300 miles on it. The vehicle is driven approx. 8 miles a day and sits in our garage 95% of the time. 2. Safety & visibility is affected as the crack spreads across the windshield. 3. Yes, I paid a Subaru service center $1600 to repair the windshield in January 2024. By may, it was cracked again in the same spot. . Read more...

While driving on a Saturday heard a popping sound and watched a crack start at bottom center of windshield travel up about 7" and arc to the right. Has now spread about 13" towards passenger side. No impact occurred to cause this. On Monday took vehicle to our dealership so they could take pictures and check it out. Said they would talk to the Subaru district manager and let me know about replacement. Dealership called me to say they agreed to replace as long as I paid a $250 deductible. This doesn't seem right when this is an issue that many many people are having. This was my third Outback and will now be my last. I can't support a brand that won't step up to take care of something that is obviously a serious issue.