Traction Control System Problems of Subaru Outback

The contact owns a 2008 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the abs, traction control, engine, and other unknown warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the failure was unable to be diagnosed. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 128,000.

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Our 2007 Subaru Outback fishtails all over the place on icy roads that all other vehicles safely travel on at twice the speed as we are able to do in our Outback. This isn't the driver or the tires. This is the car. I have never experienced this issue with any other car I have ever owned (Honda crv, Saturn sw2, 2wd GMC s-15, chevy corsica) and I have driven in similar conditions many times. It is miserable and feels very dangerous when you don't feel in control of your vehicle at 30 mph on icy roads that everyone else is traveling 50-60 mph on. I've only experienced the problem when the car is fully loaded. The car feels extremely stable on snowpack and dry/wet pavement. But as soon as roads have some ice on them, this car becomes garbage (just when you need a car to be at it's best). I have witnessed this event twice now in less than 2 years of ownership. Once in central illinois, and once in northern colorado. These are also the only two icy road conditions that this car has been on. I would expect this vehicle to behave this same miserable way every time as it has exhibited this characteristic 100% of the time on icy highway roads.

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I have a 2008 Subaru Outback equipped with good winter tires. At highway speeds on winter roads my car is extremely unstable. For no apparent reason the rear end of the car starts to sway and I am only able to bring it under control by bringing down my speed, and I end up traveling much slower then the traffic flow. My brother in law has the same car and experiences this problem as well with his vehicle. There is a design and engineering flaw with this car and Subaru needs to comes to grips with it and come up with a solution. This car is unsafe on slick winter roads.

On many occasions the vehicle's rear-end side-steps or oscillates on icy/snow-packed road conditions. This has also been described as "ghost-walking" where it feels like the awd system in the rear is over compensating, leading to the vehicle being uncontrollable. The behavior seems to happen in the 30-40mph range. Although, I prefer not to drive any faster than the road conditions allow, it can be very frightening when other 2wd cars and trucks are passing you going 20mph faster and it's difficult to even keep the car on the road or in a straight line.

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The car in snow or icy conditions does not hold a straight line and the rear walks out and begins swaying uncontrollably. In contrast to other cars that are actually passing me and not swaying.

We have a 2005 Subaru Outback that sways in the rear of car under the following conditions 1. Over bumps the rear will swing to the right and dip. When roads are slick it will almost spin the vehicle. If you are in a left hand curve, even at low speed, the condition is exaggerated more than you would expect sort of like it was pushed in addition to the normal inertia you would experience. 2. Rear end traction becomes unstable under icy conditions where it appears that too much power is being distributed to the rear of the driveline then oscillating to each individual rear wheel. In my opinion 100% of the vehicles power concentrated to the rear differential is alternately distributed between the rear wheels and kind of gets stuck in this mode.

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1. Slightly icy road condition. 2. Abnormal loss of road feel and control. 3. No known solution.

2005 Subaru Outback sedan driven on icy/snowy road conditions experiences extreme slippage in the rear of the car. Have experienced this on at least two other occasions with this vehicle in similar conditions. Awd does not appear to be keeping the rear of the car on the road or in line. Vehicle fishtails or ghostwalks on the road surface in these conditions. Each time this was experienced was while driving on highway at speeds between 30 and 70 mph in icy/snowy conditions. I have a 1996 Subaru legacy sedan as well that does not exhibit this type of unnerving wandering on the road when driven in exact same conditions. This wandering makes vehicle feel extremely unstable and the back of the car feels as though it wants to spin around or off the road.

2006 Subaru Outback auto trans. On many occasions the vehicle's rear-end side-steps or oscillates on icy/snow-packed road conditions. This has also been described as "ghost-walking" where it feels like the awd system in the rear is over compensating, leading to the vehicle being uncontrollable. The behavior seems to happen in the 30-40mph range. Although, I prefer not to drive any faster than the road conditions allow, it can be very frightening when other 2wd cars and trucks are passing you going 20mph faster and it's difficult to even keep the car on the road or in a straight line. I have had the alignment checked and had brand-new all season tires installed, with no resolution. The dealer has not found anything wrong.

I experience a side-to-side shake on icy road conditions. It is very unsettling to the car and is not simply road conditions. Fwd, rwd, and other awd vehicles are not having any trouble and I+m doing everything I can to stay on the road and am driving as much as 20 - 30 mph slower than the next slower car on the road. There is something wrong with the Subaru Outback vehicle dynamics on ice.

Driving under normal cold conditions. Every time that we went under an overpass where ice has forced on the highway the car momentarily lost control. It was a good thing that the hazard ended quickly otherwise we would have been off the road.

2005 Subaru Outback will not track straight in slippery conditions at all. The term ghost walking is being used for this and is very accurate. I do not feel secure driving in any snowy conditions in this vehicle. I had a 1995 Subaru before this that was rock steady in snow, this car is very unpredictable. Tire changes do not solve problem nor does alignment to oem specs. Has been on going since I bought the car new.