Warning Problems of Subaru Outback - part 1

Unforced acceleration occurred in a parking lot. I had my foot off the gas pedal, and had the car easing to a stop, when the car sped up rapidly and scraped the side of a large van. The car eventually came to a stop as I was applying the brake as much as I could. The passenger side of Subaru was damaged extensively. I reported this to our insurance agent and lithia.

On Sunday, July 13, 2025, I received a warning that my eyesight was disabled in the middle of driving. This meant that I was unable to utilize cruise control or any driver assistance functions. The weather was clear, sunny, and there was nothing obstructing the eyesight cameras, nor were there any cracks in the windshield. The following day, Monday, July 14, eyesight worked normally in the morning, but was disabled in the afternoon. Again, the cameras were clear of any obstructions and no cracks were visible on the windshield. Cruise control and driver assistance features were unavailable. On the morning of Tuesday, July 15, I came out to a 7-8 inch crack in the windshield, on the passenger side. No impact had occurred to cause this crack and it was not present the previous days. Eyesight is still disabled due to this and the windshield needs a full replacement. All driver assistance/collision prevention features are not available until the windshield is replaced and a recalibration is completed. Advantage auto glass of rockford, IL will be inspecting the glass and can make it available for NHTSA evaluation. However, given that I have owned two Subaru Outbacks now, windshield weakness has been an issue with this vehicle, especially in warmer weather.

See all problems of the 2024 Subaru Outback 🔎.

I was driving down the street, stopped at an intersection, and made a u-turn. Immediately after I made the u-turn a message came up on the screen saying "eye sight disabled. " from that point on the cruise control stopped working, the lane deviation stopped working, the forward collision system stopped working, and several other things malfunctioned (I can't seem to connect to the bluetooth system with my cell phone). The local Subaru dealer told me they are aware of the problem, but, have not notified anyone, they told me that I needed to make an appointment to get the problem fixed and it would take four to five hours.

There are a couple of issues. 1. The car keeps applying the brakes at lower and higher speeds even though there is literally nothing in front. This is both annoying and risky, especially at higher speeds happening at the interstates. When I asked at the dealership, they said the car is not equipped to do something like this. But that does not mean this is not happening. At lower speeds, it feels like massive pressure forced on the stomach. 2. The lane departure warning system is subpar at best. It cannot comprehend the real-world lane markers- if modified, and is constantly forcing to go through the work areas and seemingly trying to make a collision. If I were not aware and attentive, I would have crashed to the barriers on the highway. 3. The rear cross traffic warning system does not seem to capture the presence of cross traffic unless it is directly behind in most cases, specifically if the vehicle is coming from the right side of the vehicle. It is not helpful at all.

The infotainment system in my 2019 Subaru Outback glitched/ stops working randomly. I have a video of the touchscreen glitching and making selections betweens apps by itself. Also, I've started having random alerts pop up on the dash, such " obstacle ahead" when there is not an obstacle ahead or "roads may be icy" when it is 60 degrees outside. I reported it to Subaru, which they advised me to take it to crown Subaru to have them take a look at it and they can submit a claim. I took it to the crown Subaru & when I told them the problem, the lady that helped me stated, " yeah, this is common, I know exactly what your talking about. " she then called another employee and told him she needed a quote for a infotainment center that was delaminating and was making selections on it's own. A week later I received a call from Subaru stating they would pay $500 of the bill as a one time goodwill gesture. The quote from crown Subaru was for $900.

See all problems of the 2019 Subaru Outback 🔎.

This is known issue with the electrical system that is associated with the touch screen controls. Without any driver input, the eyesight driver assist system was shutoff. That system controls adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, and lane departure features. Rebooting the starlink touch screen restored those functions. The safety issue is that no audible warning gave indication that the safety features were disabled. Two icons appeared on the dash. There appears to be a class action suit that applies to the starlink system for my model year. It is important to understand that this more than merely a problem with the entertainment features.

8/1/23 - the electronic center console display as well as the display behind the steering wheel continually fails. The center console controls all electronics such as defroster, heater, and of the advance safety features. The display behind the steering wheel controls the odometer, speed etc. The inability to control any vehicle functions is a huge safety risk. For example, the defroster can not be accessed not controlled. If you had an immediate need for this, you would have to stop driving immediately. No advanced safety features can be accessed, you have no idea of your speed, the list goes on. We have brought the car in twice and had a software update but the problem persists. We left the car for a week and were told it was fine but the next day the issue persisted. The display screen will come and go which is completely unacceptable from a safety standpoint. The Subaru forums seem to indicate this is a widespread problem that Subaru has yet to address or come up with a viable solution. We have the records to back up all of these assertions as well as video of the failures of the display screen once returned to us.

See all problems of the 2022 Subaru Outback 🔎.

This has happened many times since my vehicle ownership in may. Today for example I am on the highway cruising along (cruise control set) and alarms start going off, the vehicle lurches as it self-disables safety features one by one - cruise control shuts off automatically - check engine light on, reverse auto breaking disabled, lane assist disabled, collision avoidance disabled, entire eyesight system disabled. (and I'm sure more I am missing) I have contacted Subaru of America many times about this fault, they have yet to respond appropriately to my inquiries (usually they dont respond at all or simply tell me something about the factory stereo?). The only fix I've found is removing the gas cap tapping it a few times and resetting (to the "one-click") tightness. After multiple start/stops the codes will clear and life will resume with safety features. This incident today was 204. 3 miles into my gas tank, not sure how the gas cap is related but something is definitely wrong. If it truly is the gas cap they could simply have a small icon on the 11" display vs disabling every safety feature- while I am driving!.

Windshield cracked and replaced.

Subarus forward looking eyesight and rear auto braking functions will stop working periodically also the stereo/infotainment system will go blank causing you to no longer access the the safety features of the car or any controls for the heating/ac system.

Rab system not working, no foward or reverse cameras work. No climate control access, no radio, no gps, can't access any touch screen controls.

Cracked windshield from no impact.

While driving at full speed on interstate 80 through sacramento CA while the outside temperature was 116 degrees, most of the more advanced systems of the car failed. I should have taken a picture of the control panel. I stopped the car and pulled out the user manual. Indicators illuminated included eye sight, check engine, tire pressure, and many many others. In fact, there were symbols on the dash that I could not find in the manual after extensive investigation. I attempted to drive the car after letting it cool down. The alerts persisted. I did check the tire pressure in all wheels and they were normal. The following day I checked the car in the morning (the temperature had subsided substantially) and the condition was still present. I made arrangements to go to the dealer, and upon getting into the car at about 2pm the indicators were all normal again. I did not go to the dealer. This may or may not be related to a prior issue which is covered in NHTSA complaint #11480372.

See all problems of the 2017 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Front windshield without warning had a stress crack appear on the passenger side from the top of the windshield to the middle. No foreign item caused the damage. Again, the crack appeared without warning. My insurance company set up appointment with safe lite auto glass to replace the cracked windshield on August 2, 2022. The crack has now extended diagonally across the windshield as of Sunday July 31,2022. Because of the safety risk involved, I felt it was imperative to have it replaced ASAP. Plans are to reach out to the dealership on Monday August 1,2022 for their inspection and assessment.

Safelite is unable to calibrate vehicle eyesight after non-oem windshield replacement. Yes the vehicle is available for inspection upon request. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. There have been two attempts to calibrate the vehicle eyesight by safelite. The dealer says the eyesight with a non-oem windshield can not be properly calibrated. According to Subaru, the 2022 model requires that oem glass be used for windshield replacements on models that are equipped with the eyesight advanced driver assistance system (adas). Lane detection works randomly, periodically there a warning beep showing a vehicle icon between two bars and the word "off" . In addition to the alarms, the vehicle dynamics control (vdc) keeps nudging the steering wheel causing the vehicle to swerve. None of the front safe driving features of the vehicle can be trusted. The steering nudging problem doesn't happen when the vdc is turned off. The vdc defaults to on. To safely drive the vehicle the vdc needs to be manually turned off each time the car is started. No the problem has not been confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. I assume the vehicle logs have a record of the warnings.

Since we've owned the car it has gone through 3 batteries and the blind site and lane assist go on and off all the time. Windows lock. Dealership said there is nothing wrong with the car. My mother is 80 and we have kept the car in the garage most of the time unless it's a grocery trip. She has called my uncle twice this year to boost her because the car wouldn't start. We keep the car on a slow trickle charge and it doesn't make a difference. How are we suppose to sell this?.

See all problems of the 2016 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Vehicle navigation system crashes with a black screen once or twice a day. While the system is rebooting, navigation, eyesight and reverse automatic braking are disabled. Needless to say, this is very distracting and especially bad since eyesight is required to avoid a collision. This has happened multiple times over the 11 months that I've owned the vehicle.

Starlink head system/software malfunctions while driving. This shuts down all safety systems, back up camera, radio. Heating system cannot be controlled while shut down. System restarts automatically after a few minutes but settings, etc may need to be restored. This creates a distraction that could lead to a collision or loss of vehicle control. Investigation reveals that many have this problem with the 11. 6" starlink display. A recall should be initiated for repair/replacement of problem components. Note that two software updates have been completed at the dealer to correct this problem to no avail.

See all problems of the 2020 Subaru Outback 🔎.

I was backing out of my driveway very slowly as usual. I checked the road both ways several times. A us mail truck evidently traveling at a high rate of speed came up behind me while I was looking in the opposite direction. The automatic braking did not kick in, the warning system didn't work. After the accident the green, yellow, red lines on the camera and the warning beeping stuff-all were not working for several weeks. All of the sudden, they started working. History-4 days after purchasing the vehicle we have had lane departure, driver assist problems. The passenger window does what it wants. The electric controls for the heat/ac go blank, or can't change settings. There seems to be a huge electrical issue. Every time we've taken the car in for service, the dealership just insults me that I can't drive and they can't find any problems. They seem to have an answer for everything yet the problems persist. Efforts to go thru Subaru are stalled waiting on their response. They were to look at the black box during time of accident. We are still waiting. We are frustrated. I wish the dealership had taken the car back after we first bought it like we demanded. I'm terrified this car is going to cause an accident.

See all problems of the 2018 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Two windshield cracking incidents in 6 months, from no apparent cause. Interferes with “eyesight” system.

I heard a pebble tap the windshield and I immediately saw a crack from the passenger side to the middle of the windshield. I just had the windshield replaced on 6 Aug 2021. It costs $600 just to calibrate the cameras. Then the cost of replacing the windshield. This isn't right. I've had plenty of vehicles and this is the worst windshield I have seen. The windshield didn't last 1600 miles. And this is the first time I have been back on the interstate since getting the windshield replaced in August. I am not happy and I think this is a safety hazard.

On 3 occasions the eyesight automatic braking activated with no apparent reason. The first was at highway speeds, second at 45mph and the third at about 30/35mph. In the first case a car entered the lane but there was considerable distance. In the second a car made a right turn into my lane and was slow but there was about 1/4 mile or more space and the last one occurred as, my wife, followed the curve of the road to the right. There were no vehicles near by only a median. In each case there was no gradual slow down only a full force application of the brakes. This led to the car lunging forward. Fortunately in all cases there was no one behind us or we would have been rear ended. The associated red heads-up lights activated at the very same time as the brakes did. I have called the dealer for an appointment to bring it in. No one else has inspected the vehicle.

See all problems of the 2021 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Without warning or repeatable cause the "infotainment" system will reboot causing the bluetooth, lkas, forward watching camera, emergency braking, and rab to also stop working and reboot. This problem has occurred numerous times over the past several months. It happens without any predictability and I have not been able to find a common factor that triggers it. In may it happened once on a 4 hour drive west, but on the return trip it happened 4 times in a 2 hour window. The problem did not occur again until the first week of June and happened multiple times over a 3 day period. The software for the car has been recalled and reinstalled twice and the problem still occurs without warning or explanation. I have reported the issue in mid-August to Subaru's customer service and was told "a software update" was 2 weeks away. I do not believe this report from their customer service because no other documentation was provided other than a call back. I followed-up with a call back and an email to Subaru asking for more details for which I have not gotten an answer. The incidence of it happening on Aug 20, 2021 occurred as I was entering into traffic from baggage road to hwy 220 south in rockingham county, nc. The system rebooted as I was entering traffic and created a distraction at a crucial moment I was crossing 4 lanes to turn left to proceed south on hwy 220. Presently the system's issues seem to be limited to a reboot of bluetooth, radio and all safety related systems. If the system had triggered a shutdown of the car or if the safety systems had caused the car to stop I would have been in the middle of a us highway with traffic approaching from both directions at 60+mph. I am disappointed by Subaru for not addressing this issue with a formal company statement and promises of an update have not materialized.

Today may 22 around 4:19 pm no cars close to us while driving we had the front windshield spontaneously crack there was no impact there was no impact heard all we heard was like cracking sound I have seen online where Subaru is using an acoustic type of glass and people are reporting cracked windshields I would like to have this investigated furthermore I’d like to have Subaru repair my vehicle.

The electronic controls black out while driving the entire center screen and electronics shut down disabling the warning lights and I think also the electronic systems that function to control the safety warnings and functionality. This has been a problem on an ongoing basis since the purchase of the vehicle. This has been "repaired" multiple times by the dealer under the direction of Subaru. There was a recall earlier this year that was supposed to correct the problem it added some functionality, but primarily this recall reprogramming of the electronics was supposed to correct the blacking out of electronics and the disabling of the safety systems. The recall reprogramming has not corrected the problem. When I complained to Subaru they suggested that I take a video of the failure when it happened. I explained that this was not possible because I was driving at 70 mph when it happened and could not just grab my phone and start a video while driving on I-95. Last week I was able to get a video of the failure as it happened while my wife was driving and I was a passenger. The entire panel blacked out and she pulled to the side of the road and I took a video of the 4 minutes the system was out. I will attach this video to this report. In addition there is an additional problem that occurred related to the lane keep assist function. There are four options to configure this function they are: 1> off 2> warning buzzer only 3> lane keep function only 4> all functions. My understanding of the operation of this system has one function that shuts the system off that is obviously the off function. #2 although only a buzzer has the system on, #3 has the functionality working but no warning buzzer (my preferred choice) and #4 that has all functions operating both warning buzzer and lane keep functions. My concern is that if you use #3 the system shows a warning light on the dash that shows the system if off. I have video of the electronics but don't know how to upload it.

There has been an ongoing problem with the vehicle electronics the dealer has reprogrammed the electronic controls 4 times in the year since I bought the car. The last reprogramming was due to a NHTSA recall. The system was better for a couple of months since the last reprogramming but on Monday 4/19/21 at 5:58 pm the same problem reoccurred the electronic screen in the middle of the dash went black as I was driving at 65 mph southbound on I-95 in baltimore maryland. The screen and all it functions were off for 4 minutes until it restarted with the initial screen that appears when I start the car. It is a warning screen with a green area to press that I agree with the warning. For 4 minutes I was driving with no access to the controls that are under the direction fo the main screen. The dealer had told me I should take a video of the dash if this happened again but it is hard to take a video while driving in the express lanes at 65 mph. This is a serious problem that after all these reprogramming activities should have been fixed. When the dealer had installed the revised programing I asked what to do if the same thing happened again and he suggested that I take a video then told me that it won't happen again. Well it did happen again. I imagine I am not the only person to find this reoccurring but I can't be sure of that. It is most disconcerting to think that all of the safety controls that I purchased the vehicle to obtain are out of use for 4 minutes as I am driving on the highway. I had the radio on while driving and suddenly it went off I looked down at the screen and it was black completely off. I assume that all of the safety functions the screen controls also were off. It stayed that way for 4 minutes and then restarted as if I had just started the car in my driveway. I don't know what to do but I believe that this is a safety issue that keeps recurring.

Didn't have any cracks in the windshield when I arrived at work, parked, and went inside for 8 for my shift. At the end of the day when I came out to the car and got in to go there was a single long curving crack that was over 12 inches long. Didn't see any impact marks or other reason that it may have cracked.

I'm curious to know if anyone else has had the problem that I've been having with my car. The car's ccm would occasionally freeze; say apple carplay is unavailable and restart; the ccm would go blank, but still backlit; or just freeze attempt to restart, but not turn back on rendering items in the car useless, like voice control and just everything!! Subaru claims that there's nothing wrong and I just have a grievance. I'm not sure how that's the case, when there's video evidence. I have a loaner car from the dealership, and turned off the display (I didn't know that could be done), but the voice control worked in the loaner that was not having a problem as opposed to mine. Please let me know if anyone else has written in with that complaint. Of note, I've been going into the dealership for this problem since October 2020, and I've only owned the car since Jul 2020. I had it checked in virginia and oklahoma city. I received a loaner car on Thursday, 8 Apr 2020, for the problem only after I notified the dealership that I contacted Subaru about the problem. I received a text stating that the car was ready, but no response as to what was done. Again, I received the �software is up to date�. Be aware that when the screen goes blank, you have no control over anything, not even voice control. I did test that while my car was malfunctioning a d also displaying that eyesight and rear assist braking were also not functional. This is a safety hazard, because I was utilizing navigation since I didn't know where I was going at the time. This is not the first time during navigation that this has occurred. Although I received an error message from the car via text on easter Sunday, the my Subaru app sent an �all systems functional� for 30 days, but I just had errors a few days prior. It's like the health report is only for that moment in time and not really for 30 days.

I went to drive my car and noticed a large windshield crack that is getting larger. There was no trauma or event that caused this to happen.

Unknown. . . My battery has need a jump several time without any electricals left on. The dealer did check it out and found nothing wrong. I also have lights that go on intermittently n the dash saying that certain things are not working. Ie front crash detection, blind spot warning and lane departure.

Continuing problems with the battery being dead (five). The car has been in the shop twice and had the battery replaced both times. The service appointments occurred Nov. 2019 and March 2021.

Windshield developed a progressive crack from edge on passenger side for no apparent reason. The crack was not there on Friday, 2/26/2021 at the end of the day. However, when I went to drive it on Saturday morning, 2/27/2021 there was a 6-8 inch crack. The crack has continued to spread across the windshield. I did not hit anything nor did anything hit the windshield.

The front windshield on my 2019 Subaru Outback spontaneously cracked in the area of the deicer strip at the bottom lower right portion of the window. I was driving the vehicle at the time on a state highway. The vehicle was purchased brand new from wilde Subaru in waukesha, WI. I contacted the dealership and they wouldn't do anything about the problem.

My 2020 Subaru Outback has had a 2nd incident with a windshield crack that dramatically spread more than a foot long across the windshield, starting from a pin-needle-sized hole near the bottom left corner, I. E. , on the passenger side of the windshield. I was driving on the freeway around speed limit when a pebble hit it, causing the tiny hole, which only erupted into a huge crack after I parked it. I've only had the car for exactly 1 year when it happened and it's only been driven for less than 6,000 miles. The windshield seems thin and not durable.

Windshield cracked and within 3 days ran across most of the entire width of the front windshield.