Owners/service Manual Problems of Subaru Outback

The electric tailgate sometimes malfunctions and gets stuck in an open position, and can only be forced closed manually by a strong person. My girlfriend has trouble closing it, and was forced to drive home with the tailgate open. This is unsafe - the tailgate sticks out past the back of the car, following traffic can't see her tail lights, and exhaust gas can be drawn into the car. I've had a similar problem with my forester. This is unacceptable, complaints are all over the internet. You should force a safety recall and make Subaru fix their defective hardware or software. I called the dealer - they said guaranteed fix is to disconnect battery. How many people can do this on the road? thanks.

See all problems of the 2015 Subaru Outback 🔎.

My car went in for repairs for stalling at a light or stop sign, the day after I got the car back it stalled again and this time cut out the electricity to the vehicle , I could not engage the emergency break nor could I put the car in park. I held my foot on the break because of a small downhill and I was afraid the car might run into other cars at the intersection. The person at Subaru was walking me through the process of how to manually put the gear in park,while I was attempting to do this a woman yelled at me to get out of the car because it was on fire,according to Subaru's investigation, the fire started at the left rear of the engine.

See all problems of the 2011 Subaru Outback 🔎.

I was 40 miles from home after coming down a steep curvy mountain road in manual when Subaru began shifting with big jerks and shudders in early sept 2019, had trouble shifting from one gear to next. Hanlee's Subaru evaluated, replaced valve body and serpentine belt. A few days later in rush hour traffic at a rr crossing it shuddered to a stop and died during which there was a loud clanking sound under and behind me. I started it up again but was terrified of causing an accident. Returned to hanlee's where they had it for a week and could not reproduce the symptoms. Since I picked it up it still has a "bump" when I slow down. Then 0n 11/4/19 it did the same shuddering stop when I braked in traffic(going 35 mph) five miles from my house, dying completely. I restarted it and took it to Subaru. They say it might be a torque converter. I'm worried for my safety. I also see that both the cvt and torque converter had extended warranties issued for these reasons. When these problems began the car had 110k miles. This is my third Subaru and have never experienced such poor , dangerous performance on a car that should run well for at least 200k miles with good service. I am waiting to hear from hanlee's on the second day they have had my car.

Engine does not brake when going downhill as the manual says it should. My previous Outbacks (2006, 2011, 2017) did have engine braking. Regional service office suggested I place the car in cruise control in order to control the speed. Car picks up speed quickly, so using the brake pedal is the best option. However, the problem is no engine braking when there should be at least some. This is dangerous on any hill. Second, steering is problematic. First, there is to much play in the steering wheel. Second, when in cruise control, the steering wheel seems to have a mind of its own, especially on curves. I am constantly having to work at controlling the steering wheel. It's very tiring. The third issue is in regard to the navigation system showing inaccurate speed limits. I noticed this problem had been reported as early as February 2019. I have had this vehicle since may 31, 2019.

See all problems of the 2019 Subaru Outback 🔎.

The ignition key doesn't come out when in park. The gears can manually slip while in park (while moving the gear shaft). It's like the car doesn't recognize the gear �park�, while also the key gets stuck and will not come out. This happens numerous times a day.

See all problems of the 2016 Subaru Outback 🔎.

10/2018 to present: infotainment sys: while driving gps screen goes white entirely & sound stops. While driving gps sound is lost or partial loss. While driving gps will reroute to different location. The above causes mental confusion/distraction to driver w dangerous situations. Before driving/when driving re/programming map when directions stop or screen white or gps vol drops or varies the unit will go fm map to phone fav reliably causing distraction to driver, mental confusion on local roads & on the interstate during rush hour in bumper to bumper traffic. While driving radio: sound volume goes high & low or drops sound or when choosing a station from programmed radio buttons channels begin to cycle rapidly through each programmed channel and repeats cycle until I can manage to power off the radio & takes up to 5 times to press radio power button to power off causing distraction to driver & mental confusion trying to power off the radio in traffic on local roads & on the interstate during rush hour in bumper to bumper traffic. Steering: while driving feels like high winds/hydroplaning as car sways in lane & out of lane with no rain & no high wind conditions causing distraction to driver & mental confusion trying to control steering to stay in lane in traffic on local roads & on the interstate during rush hour in bumper to bumper traffic. Engine: while driving in emergency maneuvers severe delay in acceleration when pedal is to the floor causing near collision situations, distraction to driver & mental confusion trying to avoid a collision in traffic on local roads & on the interstate during rush hour in bumper to bumper traffic. Engine: rpm extremely high on acceleration as if I am in low gear & manual paddle never was touched causing distraction, confusion, and inability to control intended speed of vehicle causing dangerous driving conditions.

See all problems of the 2018 Subaru Outback 🔎.

I bought my car used at the end of 2015. In 2017 my Subaru Outback began make a whistling sound when the brakes were applied and also began to shake at a low idle before stopping the car. I took it to a Subaru dealership and had it inspected but they just determined it was the brakes and changed them out. In 2018 my Subaru began to shake even more violently, almost as if another vehicle behind me had bumped into me, and then would stall out. This appeared more so on hills at first and then started happening on flat surface roads. I went back to my Subaru dealership who again ran my VIN and inspected the vehicle but determined "could not duplicate the issue". $900. 00+ later I went on my way only to have it continuously happen more and more. I was at 90,490 miles at the time I got my 90k mile servicing done. I had asked the servicing department if there was anything reported on my vehicle that I needed to be aware of. They stated that nothing popped up in their system. I never received a recall or safety warning letting me know that there is a huge concern for cvt to the point of extending the coverage automatically. I am not a mechanic. I dont know what codes to look for or what lingo to give them other than my exact problem and trust that they did the research and performed the correct protocol. I just did the research and had they read the bulletin for 16-90-13r they would have seen for my specific make model and year of car that it states "customer may experience sensation like coming to a stop in a manual transmission equipped vehicle and failing to depress the clutch". In other words, stalling. I would also say 16-104-17 applies as well but the year does not add up with my vehicle. I have a special needs son who needs therapy daily and this is my daily driver. I'd like that to be highlighted in the event of our death due to not being able to have this remedied.

See all problems of the 2012 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Bought a 2017 Subaru Outback wagon 2. 5i premium with opt package 14 last Feb, 2017. The option package was the eyesight driver-assist system. Twice so far, while driving in good weather, the brakes have slammed on for no apparent reason - leaving rubber on the road and throwing my wife and I forward. They apply for approx 2-3 seconds and then - the car continues. Fortunately, this has happened on roads that have not been busy and no one behind us. I immediately took the car to the dealer when this happened on 3/8/2018 and was informed they were not aware of any issue that would cause this. This contradicted what the service rep told me on 1/8/2018 when I took it in for the 6,000 mile service. He told me a computer update had been run to correct this. I requested that they download the onboard computer after this second incident which should show speed, braking, turning, etc. . . When I dropped it off. On pick up, we were told that the car computer does not record this information, they test drove the car and could not duplicate the issue and no defect found. I contacted Subaru of America and provided all of the information to them. They advised they would contact the dealer and get all of the details. They later followed up with me and advised there were no stored failed codes and no issues found with the eyesight system and no information stored on this incident in the car. Therefore, no issue or defect with the eyesight system and they could not recommend any repairs. This lack of computer stored information contradicts what their own manual says. It states �eyesight records and stores the following data when the pre-collision braking system is operated. � it then lists - stereo camera image; distance from vehicle in front; vehicle speed; steering wheel turning; brake pedal operation�etc. I now turn eyesight off when driving as I have no trust/faith in it.

See all problems of the 2017 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Issue - stalling while braking hard or stopping (automatic transmission) what happened - my 2011 Subaru has just under 80k mileage. It has now happened to me 3x this week and especially when the car hasn't been driven in hours (morning early on my way to work or on my way home from work). In the morning, I was driving down a street to drop off my kids at school. I needed to make a left, but since there was oncoming traffic, I had to brake. It was not a gradual brake, but was a bit sudden. The car shuddered and stalled. It is similar to what happens with manual transmissions if you are in gear and come to a stop without pressing the clutch. But my car is an automatic, so I had to put it in park and restart it. If the car stalled while I was in the middle of an intersection or if I panicked, it could have caused an accident. Cause - unknown. It at the dealer for service and they are trying to figure it out. Some online sources mentioned the torque converter or sensors.

I had an accident @ 5pm-entering a busy road from a driveway-hit the side door of a car racing lefttoright in front of me. My fault of course. I heard no beep warning from the so-called collision mitigation sysem (?), nor did I feel any braking. Subsequently I tested this feature in my driveway where I slowly drove the car forward toward my large garage, I would have hit the garage-no beep-no braking. Then, in a snow storm, I had to brake soasto not hit a large truck skidding in front of me. I missed hitting him by inches. Again, I heard no beep and felt no braking. Dealer tested this feature on my car by letting it go towards brushes in a carwash, I heard beep warning, but again felt no braking. Dealer said system is working properly. And so-I conclude that whenever I hear any kind of warning beeo, I should manually and quickly 'hit the brakes', no matter what. After all, I have to keep my eyes on the road for god's sake. I am not happy.

Front driver and front passenger doors do not lock automatically and remain unlock when shift in drive when car is stationary and also when care in motion. No voice, light or any alerts that alert the driver to lock the doors manually every time you drive the car. This a safety issue as if you forget to lock the doors manually and by any chance snaps on the door handle, car door will open and fatalities can occur. Spoke with service advisor at my Subaru dealer and he stated that this issue is real and there is no way to program the vehicle to lock the front doors automatically when it is in drive or at certain speed. I am not aware of any other cars that have same issue, even older cars 10 plus years old cars has this safety feature as standard. This issue is not mentioned anywhere in the vehicle manual and sales persons do not talk about. In my opinion this is a safety issue and a key factor when choosing to buy Subaru Outback.

Subaru Outback moon roof is the problem. And apparently this is a known problem with Subaru vehicles, and yet,they choose to not share this information, even when specifically discussed prior to purchase. Even if you do not open the roof, there are drains that can clog, and when they clog, the car starts filling with water. The clog, in my case, was from fir needles, since I live in the mountains. But they also say that simply a spiderweb or road dirt can cause a clog of these very sensitive drains. In my case, water was running down through the driver side seat belt shaft, and on to the back seat floor. Since it rains a lot, then lots of water can come in. Many, many gallons of water. It happens both when the vehicle is parked and when it is moving. We had two October storms that dropped a great deal of rain, which caused so much water to enter the car that it sloshed when driven; literally, like driving a swimming pool! after much discussion, Subaru agreed to clean the disaster once only under warranty, and then they were done. There is nothing in their manuals about keeping these mystery drains clear. They just hope that it will not be a problem during the warranty period. They will lie to your face about the integrity of the water tight nature of that roof window. Repeatedly. And once those hidden drains start to clog, the windows initially start fogging up, followed by large amounts of mold and other nastiness. Then the carpeting, upholstery and all other "soft" components of the car need to be replaced. But there is no way to clean the air vent system, so mold is there to stay.

See all problems of the 2014 Subaru Outback 🔎.

I have replaced the passenger side low beam lights multiple times also when I started the car the brake light, traction control light, and multiple other lights started blinking while driving. This scared me very much. The owners manual seemed to imply brake failure and to stop immediately, which I did. Called aaa and they towed my car to thoroughbred transmission in laurel. They checked the codes and nothing made sense to them. The called Subaru and described the problem ans Subaru said it was a software problem and it needed to up upgraded. Since I had an extended warranty with Subaru I took the car to them. I also took the Subaru wvu31 bulletin with me. Subaru said they did not see the codes and even though I took the thoroughbred documentation with me they refused to upgrade the software. It is clear that Subaru was not interested in fixing the issue, refused to accept the warranty and charged me $70. 00. So next time this does the same thing and I keep driving I may in fact have a serious problem but not know it. I need Subaru to install the software upgrade.

I took my 2016 Outback in to a dealer primarily because the passenger side blind spot detection was not functioning properly, acknowledging that it did work at times. I took in written documentation in the form of recorded occurrences of it malfunctioning, based on three trips on interstate highways totaling more than 150 miles. The documentation listed the type of highway, speed, miles driven, weather conditions (coulds, sun, rain, etc), vehicle cleanliness and the number of successful detections of other vehicles in the blind spot as well as the number of detections missed. It worked correctly well less than 50% of the time on each of the three trips. Detection on the driver¿s side seems to be fine. On two of the trips I had a second vehicle that I own follow me directly. That vehicle also has blind spot detection. While the Outback failed to detect more than 50% of the time, the other vehicle never failed to detect on either trip. The dealer I took the car to said they checked it out and it seemed to work fine. I considered that an insult to my intelligence. Further, through research on the web I can tell that at least several other Outback owners have experienced the exact same problem with detection on the passenger side of the vehicle. I believe that a safety system that is that unreliable presents more of a danger to the driver than not having one at all. While I understand from reading the owner¿s manual it can¿t be expected to be 100% accurate all the time, a detection rate that is consistently less than 50% is very poor performance. The vehicle cost more than $37,000. I paid for the accessory, and it should work.

I warmed the car up and drove to shoprite. Twenty minutes later I returned to the car to put the stuff away to go home. When I pressed the button to start the car only the radio started and the message flashed keyless start up deactivated see manual. I saw the manual could, just about understand it, did what it told me nothing changed. I called roadside assistance at Subaru and the lady said it was my battery even though I told her what the message said on the screen. She sent someone to jump the battery . When he arrived 50 minutes later the car started perfectly. I called Subaru service at my dealership ,that I have used since 1979. The person I spoke to said he knows nothing about it. I looked on line at the Subaru forum and found others experiencing the same or similar message. . Read more...

The issue that concerns me involves the initial hood release that is located inside the car along the left side (driver's side). Specifically, on numerous, random occasions the toe of my right foot released the hood as I am pivoting to exit the car. A few times, I have noticed the hood is slightly released and I shut it. However, more often, I didn't notice the hood up slightly and started off on my trip. For example in September/October we made a round trip from milford, CT to bradenton, FL. And recently repeated the trip from milford. At least 6 or 8 times along I-95 I-10 or I-75, I noticed the hood was released and I had to pull over to the road side from a highway where the speed limit ranges from 50-70 mph. As I am sure you know, there is a secondary hood release that has to be manually released from the front of the car. However, should that secondary release fail, the hood would blow open while we were in motion and either blind our vision or blow off to only god knows where. I have called this matter to the attention of premier Subaru in branford, CT and asked that they inform Subaru. I haven't heard from either company.

I was parked in a shopping mall parking lot. When I started the engine and pulled out of the parking space the gas pedal was unresponsive. I just rolled along with no power. The check engine light came on and I rolled into another parking space. I read in the owner's manual that it could be an emission control problem or something to do with the gas cap. I took the gas cap off and re-seated it and when I tried to start the car again on the third try, the check engine light went off and the car had power again and the gas pedal was responsive. I took it to my mechanic and he found the code to be p3128. I was fortunate that this did not happen while I was on the highway or anywhere in busy traffic. I had the entire throttle/pedal assembly replaced at a cost of aprox. $500 and hope that this solves the problem.

See all problems of the 2006 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Door locks don't lock or unlock unless manually done. Remote does not lock doors or unlock doors. Some locks work some don't. Subaru won't fix this issue.

See all problems of the 2010 Subaru Outback 🔎.

New model 2010 Subaru Outback roof rack. The manual states it is unsafe to tie a load directly to the roof rack as it may result in loss of load if this is true -not every one will be aware of this and there will be loads lost. More serious - it states on pg 8-15 "do not use the roof rails when the bars are restored". In the restored position these bars look like most roof racks. They will be used to carry loads. One end of each bar is only in a plastic hole with no strength there is no doubt people will be unaware and loads will be lost on the hwy.