Wheel Problems of Subaru Outback - part 1

Severe tramilining effect from tires. Risk of personal injury tramilining effect confirmed by courtesy Subaru, rapid city and heuberger Subaru colorado springs, CO. Inspected prior to accident right rear camber out of specification. No warning lights or messages from vehicle.

See all problems of the 2024 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Vehicle had 45,000 miles on it when right rear wheel bearing failed. It was covered under 5 year/60,000 mile warranty and was repaired today by a certified Subaru dealer and I no longer have the bad part for inspection. Safety risks would be anything that occurs from a bad wheel bearing like wobble, seizing, overheating, and more damage to other drivetrain components. You could hear the wheel bearing noise at 20 mph constant while driving, only getting louder with increased speed. No warning lights were present on the dash. I feel like at 45,000 miles, a wheel bearing should not be failing.

See all problems of the 2020 Subaru Outback 🔎.

I have experienced premature rear brake wear and excessive tire wear. Issues with infotainment system and pre-collision braking system. (1) regarding tires: performed all dealer recommended tire rotations and aligned vehicle when recommended. Needed new tires at 31,169 miles. Tires showed excessive inside wear. Bought new tires from a 3rd party shop and had alignment done with hunter alignment system. Showed rear right camber at -2. 0. Subaru recommends -1. 8 to 0. 3. Rear camber is not adjustable on this model. Took vehicle back to dealer for brake job and they said camber was fine. . . There is a spec for a reason. Did not want to attempt to bring it in spec with aftermarket kits (I. E. Adjustable cam bolt) or fix under warranty. (2) regarding brakes: needed new brakes at 31,169 miles. Not covered under warranty and not what I would consider typical wear based on my driving style and my past experience with Subaru vehicles. If this is an expected side affect of the ebd system I would highly recommend Subaru consider ways of improving brake life on their vehicles. (3) I have the onyx xt trim with navigation. Infotainment system is constantly glitchy. Examples include booting with blank black screen, failing to load, excessive lag while operating system or will freeze and beep repeatedly while buffing a menu selection. Also, had my car battery replaced under warranty within the first two years due to a bad battery. (4) issues with adas system, specifically pre-collision breaking. This system is extremely sensitive and will over-react / take control in certain situations where I didn't need it to even when I was in the process of braking. Have had this system activate on the highway at high speeds while switching lanes on the highway or when having a vehicle merge quickly into my lane in front of me. Constantly, have to turn off this system which is a chore as this system is defaulted to always being on. Do not feel safe driving with this system on.

See all problems of the 2021 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Odd noise arising from front driver side wheel while driving on the interstate at 70mph. No indicator/warning lights/messages. Noise became much louder prompting us to stop driving and inspect. One of the 5 lug studs had broken off. Two of the 5 lug nuts were loose enough to hand rotate. Once diagnosed, we tightened all 4 remaining lug nuts. After driving 15min on the interstate at reduced speed, the noise from the front driver side wheel returned. The car was slowly driven off the interstate and re-inspected. The lug nuts were loose again. At this point, I felt the car was unsafe to drive, so I and my two passengers had to find an alternative ride given our safety was at risk. We were about 200miles away from home. The car was towed to the Subaru dealership in midlothian, virginia (hyman bros) for further inspection/repair. The Subaru dealership repair team told me that the lug stud was corroded and snapped off. The same Subaru dealership had recently (2,500miles prior) serviced the car including tire rotation and inspection in which they report they inspect the lug studs and they were sufficient for driving.

See all problems of the 2012 Subaru Outback 🔎.

The camber on the right rear wheel is out of specification at -1. 8 degrees. This causes the vehicle to constantly dart and sway on the highway and worsens at higher speeds >40mph. This erratic motion makes driving unstable. It is worse on grooved pavement. The manufacturer has measured the camber and showed the result as being out of specification but no fix was provided. Further they are saying that this is "how the vehicle is suppose to operate" there are no warning lamps and the lane control software was disabled. The service department confirmed the erratic behavior when doing a test drive.

Wheel lug bolts continue to snap off. Have had 5 so far and this could effect the ability of the wheel to stay attached to the vehicle. I have several friends with the same vehicle (different years) that have had the same issue multiple times. In 50 years of vehicle ownership have never had this happen once, let alone 5 times.

See all problems of the 2015 Subaru Outback 🔎.

This vehicle has 3 major issues that the dealership has not been able to resolve and are as follows: 1) battery---is not able to hold charge. In early 2022, dealership replaced a new battery, however, the problem still exists. Battery size does not have the charge capacity required to start the vehicle even less than 1 week of parking during warm weather months. 2) heating system---has a defect, specially on driver side of the system. With seat and steering heating on, the vents on driver side emit uncontrollable hot air that forces the driver to shut the driver side heating system. During winter this is unreasonable! did inform the dealership of this issue and were unable to resolve the problem as I understand was inherent with the design. This problem is likely to cause fire if electrical wires are exposed to the heat. 3)tires---are supposed to be inflated with nitrogen, and this innovation is to maintain the tire pressures for most weather conditions. However, all of my five tires are unable to maintain the pressures. Did bring it to the attention of dealership at each service. However the problem still persists. Possible problem can be any of the following individually or in combination: a) seal between the tire and rim is inadequate. B) slow leakage in tire valves or c) tires are of poor quality permitting air to escape from the body of the tires.

In the morning of Jan 28th, I drove this car off highway(north bound mopac) to the ramp to frontage road to 360 in austin TX. The vehicle lost control out of sudden and crashed to the left side of the road. The accident caused total loss of the vehicle but luckily a>the passages and the the driver on the car are ok. B>no other vehicle was involved . As the drive of this vehicle , I feel the crash was so strange so later on I requested both insurance company (aaa) and Subaru to investigate the possibility of malfunctions of the car. Aaa -- claim number 015641968 Subaru --case 230128-1800367 aaa claimed the total lost but refused to do further investigation. Subaru took my request in March. Early this month, Subaru said their finished the comprehensive inspection and simply claimed the car was running normal when the accident happened. They don't want to share any further information about what they've found and they also don't want the inspect technician to talk to me about the results. I would like ask NHTSA, as the regulatory authority, to look into the their inspection report to make sure this vehicle does not have any abnormalities as their claimed. Thanks!.

See all problems of the 2017 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Failure on multiple lug nuts due to rust and corroding bolts. The vehicle is mostly garaged, and exposed to the elements only when driven. For a < 68000 mile vehicle, this type of failure is on the higher side. Additionally, the lug nuts break when trying to open using company specific torque. The repair facilities advise me that it is a known Subaru issue. This is a safety hazard in that, if I am stranded due to a flat tire, I will not be able to change my tire.

Battery failed and had to be replaced wheel bearing replacement.

See all problems of the 2018 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Under 50,000 miles all 4 wheel bearings needed to be replaced. Under 50,000 miles all 4 struts needed to be replaced. The door key would not work , the dealer had to fix the mechanism. The passenger window stops working suddenly, the dealer has to reset it all the time. The car braked in the middle of highway two time, I was lucky that no one hit me in the back. Under 65,000 miles control arm broke and did $8,400 damage. Car would not let me in on one of the parking, dealer could no help. Subaru from india was able to unlock the car and make it active again. Car lane keep assistant is like drunk driver. The dealer told me, that I need to buy a newer car. I have been to dealer every month.

See all problems of the 2019 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Driver side rear wheel bearing speed sensor experienced a spontaneous failure, leading to abs failure and nearly lost control when rapidly decelerating from 45mph to 0mph in a short left turning lane. Failure occurred in well maintained 2013 Subaru Outback with less than 70,000 miles on it. Vehicle immediately lit up several dashboard lights (check engine, cruise control, abs, and break lights) indicating the car was unsafe to drive at moderate/high speed following the incident. Abs failure could have led to an accident in inclement weather. Wheel bearing is being replaced by mechanic.

See all problems of the 2013 Subaru Outback 🔎.

We bought a 2020 Outback used with 12k miles from local Honda dealership July 2021. At 18k miles we took it in for service and were told there was gross misalignment and all the tires were worn down and needed to be replaced. The Subaru dealership made it sound as though this is a recurring issue with the 2020 Outbacks - the alignment is going off early and the tires are wearing down very fast. This is the car our nanny uses to transport our kids - we are concerned that there could be other families out there that don't realize how quickly their alignment and tires are going downhill and could result in safety issues.

Tpms showed one tire with low pressure alert, checked and corrected all 4 tires. Drove vehicle for over 30 miles and all 4 tires showed same pressure but one tire continued to show a false alert. This is the 2nd time this has happened, the tpms shows false alarms and cannot be relied upon as a safety feature.

Under the following three conditions the front tires appear to become airborne and the tires skip making the vehicle seem to be out-of-control; when traveling at speeds >35 mph, wheels are turned >10 degrees, any long bump (such as a rough transition "bump" from asphalt to concrete). This has been worsening over the last year and is now unsafe for my children to be in the car. My local Subaru dealership spent nearly 2 days inspecting all aspects of the car to include the alignment, bushings, and shocks. A senior technician was taken for a test-drive in the car and I was able to recreate the "skip". The technician was alarmed and surprised by the skip and thus held the car for a 2nd day to further investigate the reason for the "skip". They were unable to diagnose any defect. There has been no inspection by the police or insurance company. There have been no alarms or warning.

My wife and I, financed our brand new 2018 Subaru Outback premium from world Subaru, 688 shrewsbury Ave. , tinton falls, new jersey 07701, in June 2018. There are 3 main problems with the car, but I’ll only be addressing the most recent one. The main people in this situation is myself-james a lep jr, my wife-donna lep, Subaru, owner and general manager-joe wajda, service advisor-rudolph j degaetano, and fixed operation director-lou zuluaga. The 2018 Subaru was brought in for an oil change filter, etc. , on April 19, 2021 and I went right up to the service advisor rudolph j degaetano to tell him besides the oil change and filter to please take a look at this back tire wear, on the edges to about an inch in, its bald, about 3 inches then full thread all the way around the tire, rudolph said you need an alignment, so I told him to do it with the oil change and filter, so when they were done rudolph came back to me and I paid $165. 47, with this rudolph showed me the alignment paper and said this can’t be fixed, no mater what you do, the right front caster in red at 4. 3 cannot be fixed. And as you see on the original paper, on the right front caster in red, it can’t be fixed. But at the bottom in red it states, “ or more values are not within specification. Tire wear, handling and safety problems may result”. So its telling me the car is unsafe to drive and world Subaru cant fix it. I told rudolph thats unexceptable. Texted owner and general manager joe wojda who turned it over to fixed operation director lou zuluaga who in turn sent me a text, that it could be the body of the car. I explained to rudolph that Subaru had a big problem with the new ascents, and it either would cost Subaru to much to fix or they couldn’t fix it, and Subaru gave them all brand new ascents, but what about my car we bought brand new, they expect my wife to drive an unsafe vehicle???james a lep-732-221-8338 possamato@gmail. Com owner joe wajda-732-741-6200 lou and rudolph-same number.

Driving on grooved concrete highway the car wandered all over the road. It feels very un-safe and that you are not in control of the car. This started the day I pick up the car 2 weeks ago, 1700 miles.

This vehicle is 5 years old. The first battery lasted 4 years. The second battery was dead in 10 months. Now we will try a third. In looking up other drivers comments, this is a known product problem. There is a technical bulletin out about this, but it doesn't do anything to fix the problem. There is also a know tire wearing problem. I have had to replace those, 3 times. I have 92000 miles. I have replaced them with michelin twice. Good for 60,000. Lucky to get 30,000 on them. Twice now because of the battery, I have been stranded. This last time, I was at my vacation home, only one other person in the area. Luckily they had jumper cables, and jumped the car and followed me to the auto store. The first time I missed work, and had to wait till my husband came home to give my car a jump. Both times, the car was sitting overnight.

See all problems of the 2016 Subaru Outback 🔎.

2006 Subaru Outback head gaskets went bad at about 35,000 miles. Had to replace those called Subaru and they help me get those replaced. Thought all was well soon after, the electrical system including the air conditioner and the heater . Then I was told that the airbags were defaulted and to bring it into replace them which I did. The final straw is that they called me again two weeks ago to bring the rigging to replace that same airbag again. I asked them why they gave me a car that wasn't safe. The wheel bearings also wore out very early around 50 miles. This car has been so expensive. And now they informed me that there was a second recall on the airbag. So I bring it in for the second time realizing that now in 2021 this car has not been safe the whole time I've been driving it with my family my daughter learned how to drive in this car and so did my son. As they were repairing the faulty airbag they cracked the dashboard and then informed me that it would be $300 to fix it because it had a tiny crack in it. Please note that they were the ones that took the dashboard off in the first place. Super rude! I called Subaru of America and they decided to reimburse me for the dashboard. They were talking about gluing it back together last I heard I'm very much hoping this is not the case my daughter ensures me that it isn't but we'll see. Also he informed me that my head gaskets were leaking again. The mechanic said that this is common once you've had your gaskets replaced. This makes no sense to me. My car has about 160,000 miles on it and it seems like it's already played out and not safe. What a joke. I'll never buy a Subaru again. This has been the worst car and apparently the most unsafe car I've ever owned. Note:this car was consistently unsafe while driving for the last 15 years. I bought it because it had a five star rating for safety what a joke!.

See all problems of the 2006 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Early in February, my car started to send me intermittenat error massages stating that the tires had lost pressure. This happened while driving the vehicle. There was a recall regarding the software, and the dealership stated that they thought the software update would correct the problem. It did not. The next fix involved replacing the module that monitors the tire pressure. This did not fix the problem either. It has been over a month since the problem started. And the dealership does not know how to fix the issue.

While traveling through michigan's upper peninsula and northern wisconsin during snow fall with a fully packed car on the highway I experienced the rear end "ghost walking" or "steering" or "pulling" to the left and to the right. I had to drive 40mph while two-wheeled drive camrys, civics, vans, etc. Passed us by. Growing up in northern michigan, I'm no stranger to winter conditions and all wheel drive vehicles. I don't think all-wheeled drive vehicles make me invincible, but they do make driving in wintery conditions better. After our trip, I took the car into the Subaru dealer and they said at 37k miles, the suspension looked great, alignment looked great, and that they would recommend new tires (tires are at 4/32 and have even wear and tear). I asked to speak directly to the tech working on my car and he said that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and that although they were recommending new tires, the current tire condition would not cause what I was describing. My wife and I then researched and came across several online forums with other driver's experiencing the similar issues, but with prior year models. I called Subaru's main customer service line to see if they could help and they said that they would make note of my complaint, but that if the Subaru dealer tech said the vehicle was fine other than suggesting new tires, I should get new tires and the vehicle would be fine. Subaru also said there were no "campaigns" open with respect to this problem and that they were sorry I "felt like I had this experience" and there was nothing they could do. . Read more...

The car was built & sold new, with the rear suspension not aligned properly, and cannot be aligned to factory specifications. The car has been taken to 4 service stations, 3 Subaru dealer service repair shops, without being able to be aligned. After further investigation, I’ve found this to be a common problem for this vehicle type. I consider this safety related due to the unusual tire wear & risk of tire failure.

I purchased a pre-owned 2011 Subaru Outback from a licensed auto dealer, and the vehicle was delivered to me on Monday, July 27th, 2020. 8 days after receiving delivery of the vehicle, and after driving approximately 500 miles, the left front wheel fell off of the vehicle while driving on the highway on Tuesday, August 4th, 2020. I was able to avoid other vehicles, and steer to the right side of the road. I contacted the dealer immediately after the incident. After having the vehicle towed to a repair facility near my residence, the dealership's general manager asked me to deliver the defective wheel and hub bearing to him for inspection by his technicians. My father delivered the requested parts on Thursday, August 6th, 2020. On Friday, the general manager notified my father that they would not accept any responsibility for the wheel falling off the vehicle. I believe this incident was caused by improper fastening of the lug nuts, during the pre-delivery inspection of the vehicle.

See all problems of the 2011 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Loud cabin roar since purchase. Diagnosed on 11/1/2022 to be front right wheel bearing being bad (not damaged/worn) at 40k miles.

Have had 2 wheel bearing fail and need replacement. The first at 45000 miles and the second at 65000 miles.

Tl- the contact's wife owns a 2018 Subaru Outback. The contact's wife had noticed an abnormal noise while driving at various speeds without warning. The contact took the vehicle to hughes Subaru(3010 atlanta hwy, athens, GA 30606) to have the brakes inspected and the dealer found no faults with the brakes. As the failure persisted, the vehicle was taken back to the dealer where they discovered a failure with the two front tire wheel bearings and they replaced the two front bearings under warranty. The dealer also suggested that all four tires would need to be replaced due to the wheel bearings. The contact then took the vehicle to an independent mechanic where he inspected the vehicle and discovered that all four tires were chopped. He stated that the two front tires were worse then the rear tires. He also stated that this failure could lead to suspension issues with the vehicle in future. The manufacturer had yet to notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 26,000. Jo.

Bought vehicle used one owner no previous occurances, 8000 miles recorded. Gradually, a rumbling sound comes from front driver side when turning wheel on flat dirt driveway predominantely. Concurrent noise from dash. At 10,000 miles the car now makes rumbling noise at low speeds while traveling in straight line on good pavement (inaudible at high speeds) same front right location, dash was repaired replacing speaker grills and still makes rattling noise after fixing. Rumbling noise from drivers left front area checked by dealer and reported nothing looked wrong. Noise continues from dashboard. Rumbling noise from front driver side left wheel/dash area continues more often and seems to be inaudible at higher speeds - rumbling noise upon turning wheel and going straight on pavement as well as on flat graded dirt driveway. Subaru dealer service manager states that his field manager has concurred this has been reported elsewhere and cannot be fixed at this point in time. Taking back to dealership to have them check everything more thoroughally, if they cannot find problem, will take to dealership in another town to check, if they cannot find problem wiill either sue using the lemon law, or trade in for another make of vehicle.

Both rear wheel bearings required replacing at 83,967 miles. The wheel noise began prior to the current mileage but just now took the car to dealer. The wheel noise got louder as the speed increased.

Bought car new, 7 miles on odometer. Took car into autonation Subaru - centennial colorado for noise complaint in driver-side front when going over a bump. Missing parts were noticed by shop. Shop said it was completely fixed, but we still had this noise, it was just quieter. Vehicle felt like alignment was off, as it shakes at highway speeds. Car makes tire squealing noise when turning in and out of parking spots at low speeds. Took car back to dealer shop many times for over 1 year. Shop always insisted no alignment was needed, front-end was in good report, tires were in good balance, and rotation was not needed. Shaking persists, 20k miles later driver side front tire is worn down to almost steel only on in-side of tire; all other tires have at least 6/32nds on tread (see attached photo: out-side of tire is thick treat like all other tires, in-side treat is gone). Original tires. No modifications to car. Serviced only at Subaru dealership. Vehicle shakes so bad now it feels like the car might fall apart. I do not feel comfortable having my pregnant wife drive our only vehicle. Help! not fair to buy a new car with missing parts and safety issues.

Alloy wheels failure. The wheels have catastrophic failure (large crack and hole in center of rim) while driving. Vehicle was in motion and there were no pot holes or debris in highway. Location: exit 1, us 7 in norwalk connecticut. Date/time: August 23, 2019 @ 6:00pm in full daylight.

Rear wheel bearing failures. Both replaced at 89,967 mi. Dealer advises there is some risk if one drove on a long drive, that overheating could allow entire wheel to fall off. Sound is noticeable over 40 mph so most people would get suspicious and ask a mechanic.

Windshield cracked for no reason on July 25,2019. Pulled out of my driveway and headed down the street when it was starting to crack. Toke a picture when I got to work. First time in over 40 years of driving to ever have a windshield crack.

My Subaru has 51,000 miles on it and has had 6 wheel bearings replaced as follows. 3-22-17 @ 29k miles replace both rear wheel bearings and front right wheel bearing. 11-12-18 @45k miles replaced both front wheel bearings (2nd time for front right) 7-12-19 @ 51k miles replaced front left wheel bearing (2nd time for front left) the vehicle has had 6 wheel bearings replaced in the last 23 months. Front axle both sides changed twice and rear axle changed once each side. The last wheel bearing only lasted 6k miles and was near total failure making the vehicle inoperable. I am very concerned about this issue as it could cause a catastrophic accident. Therefor I believe the NHTSA should open an investigation into this vehicle.

Smoke electrical short issue in driver side mirror. Diagnosed by Subaru mechanic to be a short in the approach light module. Significant smoke was emitted from mirror with burn marks on bottom inside middle of mirror. The car had just came to rest in a hospital parking deck. Car was removed from deck in order to prevent fire hazard. Note - a 10 amp fuse did blow which caused a failure of the tpms (tire pressure monitoring system) and the remote lock/unlock system.

The traction, oil temp, brake sign turns on in my vehicle. The vehicle brake sign is a safety isssue.