Wiring Problems of Subaru Outback - part 1

The car intermittently bucks/chugs while driving and then stalls. All the lights flash on. It is difficult to restart. It has happened on the highway and local streets. It also idles very rough when at stops or in park and shudders like it wants to stall - sometimes it does. This has been going on for 2 months now. The first time, I was stopped at a red light and it stalled creating a hazardous situation. My mechanic has attempted to fix it and then he has taken it to the local Subaru dealership where it has spent almost 2 months off & on while they "fixed" it. They give it back and it is back to them within a week with the same issue. The last time they replaced a map sensor and some wiring. This is hazardous and the vehicle is unsafe. It feels like they just keep clearing out the error and giving it back to me.

See all problems of the 2009 Subaru Outback 🔎.

In Dec 2018 the fuel line of my 2018 Subaru Outback had to be replaced because it had been chewed through by a rodent and was leaking in the car. Total damage was over $2000. In may 2019 another $3500 damage was discovered from a rodent chewing on electrical harnesses in the dash. The dealer told me this is because Subaru is now using soy-based insulation for fuel lines, wiring, and electrical harnesses. Rodents are attracted to the soy because they think it is food. In both cases my damage was discovered while trying to start the car while it is parked. But what if I was driving down the road and a chewed wire came loose that shorted something out and impacted my ability to control the car? or what if the fuel line broke while driving down the highway and caused the car to suddenly stall? manufacturers should not be allowed to use materials (e. G. Soy) that actually attract rodents. If anything, they should be using materials that deter rodents. Fuel lines and electrical harnesses are critical to the safe operation of a car and these systems are needlessly being put at risk by using soy to produce them. This is especially troubling for Subaru because part of their image encourages their owners to explore "the great outdoors. " what happens why I go camping and park my car in the woods and chipmunks chew through my components and strand me in the middle of nowhere? or, worse, a critical system on the car fails as I'm driving home and I lose control of the vehicle and crash. The use of soy-based components should not be allowed. Or, if it is, oems should cover rodent damage to these systems under warranty. At the very least, oems should be required to disclose the use of soy in the car before a vehicle is purchased. I had no idea soy-based products were used in this car. Had I known, I would not have bought it. Fyi. . . Subaru denies using soy products.

See all problems of the 2018 Subaru Outback 🔎.

The wiring of the rear hatch door electrical components is faulty and the wires between the car roof and the hatch break over time, due to normal hatch functions (e. G. Opening/closing). Depending on which wires break, rear-windshield wipers, license plate lights, back-up lights fail, causing a safety concern.

See all problems of the 2005 Subaru Outback 🔎.

My 2007 Outback wagon tailgate lights, lock failed to work. Some of the wiring within the flexible rubber conduit broke and shorted out the fuse. The wires could not endure the repeated motion of the tailgate movement. I have now learned that several others have had the same issue. The upper brake light, reverse lights, tailgate lock are affected. I believe the rear wiper motor wiring is in the same harness. A previous owner made a repair of one wire as seen in the photo. Repair did not hold up. Subaru should correct the condition at no charge.

See all problems of the 2007 Subaru Outback 🔎.

There is a well documented faulty design issue that leads to failure of the wiring harness (rear gate cord) to the rear wagon door/gate of this model Subaru ouback wagons. Failure of the wiring harness has affected me while driving the vehicle. As this issue has progressed, more and more wires break, completely severed, and lead to the rear lock not working, then backup lights not working, rear defroster not working, wiper not working, and license plate light not working. This is a safety issue, especially the backup lights, rear defroster, rear wiper, and locking mechanism not working at all! these compromise visibility and car safety. This faulty design, or faulty material choice is clearly Subaru's fault: severed electrical wires, as a result of normal use, should not be acceptable, especially when they compromise safety by disabling backup lights and the rear lock. While the replacement cable itself is only $63, the Subaru dealerships want to charge over $500 in labor. I am really disappointed that there has been no recall, or support on this issue from Subaru of America. I cannot find any official response from Subaru on this issue. I don't think it's fair to have loyal customers like myself, pay excessive labor charges to fix a safety problem that is a design flaw from Subaru.

I was driving my 2006 Subaru Outback at around 40 mph, going straight on a busy road. Without warning, the accelerator stopped functioning and the vehicle slowed down abruptly. It apparently entered a "safe" mode, with a maximum speed of about 10 mph regardless of how much pressure I applied to the accelerator. The "check engine" warning light was illuminated, and the cruise control light began flashing. I pulled into a parking lot and turned off the ignition. When I re-started the car, the warning lights remained illuminated, but the accelerator functioned normally again and I was able to return home. The vehicle's engine management computer provided an error code p2138, throttle position sensor/switch voltage correlation. This appears to be a common problem with Subaru vehicles from around this model year. It has the potential to be an extremely dangerous situation when the throttle suddenly stops working and the car slows to a crawl abruptly. My 17-year-old daughter is the main driver of this vehicle. If the error were to occur on the highway, it could cause a serious accident. There is no reason that the computer needs to put the vehicle in "safe" mode after sensing an electrical abnormality in the throttle wiring. I would like to request a recall to correct this extremely hazardous safety defect.

See all problems of the 2006 Subaru Outback 🔎.

4 headlamps changed. 2 fog lamps, both front marker lights, both rear stop lights and turn signals. Unit was purchased in may of 2014 from dealer showroom. I have changed more lights on this vehicle than my last 5 cars combined. Is there an electrical or wiring issue here?.

See all problems of the 2014 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Twice since purchased March 2017 electrical failures have caused all dashboard warning lights to go on; stability control, anti-lock, various driver aids have ceased to operate, and engine power was severely reduced (although car still ran). First failure was rectified within a few days, but current failure has had the car at the dealer for a month with no prospect of a repair. Car was running at the time of each failure. Dealer is saying the manufacturer is trying to design a wiring harness or instrument cluster that will work, but backorders are piling up across the country and he has no promise to give me. I'm curious about how long I must wait before I ask the dealer to replace the entire car with one that does work.

See all problems of the 2017 Subaru Outback 🔎.

I have 6000 miles on my 2018 Subaru Outback and rodents ate the electrical wires in my engine which caused me not to be able to operate the car and could have caused a major accident. I found out my wires are soy based which attracted the rodents. I was driving on the highway when my dashboard indicators lit up indicating there was a problem. I immediately drove to the Subaru service department and had the wiring repaired. It is the responsibility of Subaru to replace all my wiring with non-soy based wiring at no cost to me immediately and give me a loaner car without soy based wiring until my car has been repaired. It is important that all cars on the road are hazard free.

I have learned because my wifes car is also a 2016 Subaru that soy based materials have been used in wiring and hoses of my Outback creating a dangerous situation since rodents and squirrels are attracted to this product and will chew on them the manufacturer has not provided a replacement to the soy products so this is a long term safety concern that needs to be rectified. We have already incurred dangerous and costly damage to one Subaru and are concerned it will happen again to one or both of our cars.

See all problems of the 2016 Subaru Outback 🔎.

The wiring in rear hatch in really bad shape some showing the copper and two completely broke apart. Causing the latch not to work and alarm going off. Rear wiper not working.

I recently had my Outback towed because my car wouldn't shift out of park. 1st I check the neutral safety switch, good to go no problem. Then move on to my fuses, okay great. Investigate some more to find out the wiring on the Outback has some defaults, I look more into it and it seems it's not just me with the problem. My car is old and carries a lot of miles, keep in mind this car is made for that, but people seem to have the same problem as me with lower miles. The cars liftgate wire harness is a huge weakness on this car. I really hope you guys will look more into this and recall it. I love my suby and have grew up in it and now have the honor of owning it. We still have many more years of driving together so please look into this so I can keep her as long as possible. Temp fix it to remove brake #4 harness and unplug to keep from blowing and smoking. Keep in mind only leaves me with 3 brake lights. (the one unplugged is the one on the hatchback right side) this is very unsafe to not had stable wiring in the brake lights, my car was smoking. I currently do have a 30 fuse in that seems to be able to hold better.

See all problems of the 2003 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Have replaced the low beam h7 bulb 5 times this year and has even blow less than 1 hour after fixed by a Subaru dealership. Tail lights have been replaced 3 times in 8 month. High beam lights 3 times in the past 12 months. Fixtures twice. Charred from extreme amp spikes in wires. Now to top it all off entire wiring harness for passenger side is out.

See all problems of the 2013 Subaru Outback 🔎.

The check engine light comes on along with the traction control light. Also, the cruise control and brake light are flashing. I was driving on the interstate in June, 2017 when this happened. This issue first happened in 4/2017. At that time, I was on a trip hours from home driving on the highway in the rain. Dealer repaired a wiring harness under the hood. This just happened again the other day. I have an appointment on 7/5/17. The stored codes are different than in 4/2017.

See all problems of the 2012 Subaru Outback 🔎.

The wiring harness passing from the vehicle body through to the hatchback is chaffing and has broken wires. I discovered this when my rear windshield wiper stopped working. After replacing the motor the problem persisted. Online search provided many reports of this phenomenon. I called Subaru service and they are aware of the problem and report the fix is around $500-600 and entails replacing the wiring harness. I was told that the wires get brittle with age and it is a tight fit. My issue is on the rubber boot on the passenger side of the car. The vehicle was stationary in my garage as I was troubleshooting the inoperative rear wiper motor. 85,150 miles on the car, never been in an accident, and always parked in garage. I can upload photo documents if requested. As bare wires are present in this area I feel that this is a potential hazard. Rear wiper is also inoperative due to broken wire and could result in limited rear visibility. Service manager was very aware of this common problem. Online research showed reports of rear back up lights becoming inoperative as well.

See all problems of the 2008 Subaru Outback 🔎.

After fuses blown repeatedly and replaced, rear wiper, washer pump and lock ceased to operate for perhaps a year. Recently the headlights got real funky - would not operate in normal "on" position. But then some strange behavior when shifted into reverse (ignition on without starting to allow shifting). Headlights still not lit in either off or on position, but then came on as switch moved back from headlights on to running lights position! I happened upon the video mentioned in an earlier post about rear wiring harness issue which easily could have been related to wiper/lock issue, so took a look. Inspection revealed 11 severed wires with a clump of 5 or so melted together and another 3 wires nearly severed (see photos). Dealer says he'll replace wiring harness for $350 -500, and had a same generation Outback in the shop for same work. Service mgr suggested a call to Subaru customer care line. If you have goofy electrical issues, especially in rear, check the wiring inside boot from body to door on upper right side. It's not easy to get at as wires are short, which may have led to quite a serious, um, short. Call Subaru before your headliner ignites. . .

Rear hatch wiring insulation failed after 8 years & 70,0000 miles resulting in (among many other problems) failure of all brake lights. Wires shorted out resulting in blown brake light fuse. There was no indication of failure of brake lights on any dashboard warning light. It is unknown how long this vehicle (known to have unsafe airbags) was also driven without brake lights. This is a known common failure point and should be a safety recall.

There's seems to be a common issue with the wiring on 2005-2009 Subaru Outback/legacy models that affects both the airbag and the locking mechanism. I have seen multiple threads online where the airbag indicator light comes on specifically indicating that the passenger airbag may be affected and sensors may be faulty? there is also a common error in the electrical system in which when you lock the car - all locks activate with the exception of the rear tailgate which poses a safety risk or total theft of the car. These problems occur upon vehicle ignition and when the car is on or off (for the locking).

Rear hatch wiring has worn to the point of fully breaking four and damaging five other wires out of approximately 14 total going through the flexible boot between the body and the hatch on the passenger side of the vehicle. Systems affected: rear wiper, rear lock, possibly the brake light and license plate lights. This was damage incurred over time of normal use, opening the hatch no more than once per day.

The rear gate wiring harness failed, causing rear brake lights and tail lights to stop working. Without replacing the rear gate wiring harness ($88. 80 parts + $448. 80 labor + 51. 07 tax) soon the rear wiper and defrost would not work and the back hatch would lock. This is a serious safety issue, I want to see a recall and reimbursement of $588. 67 from Subaru of America.

The brake lights, hatch lock, wiper and other electrical components on the rear part of my Subaru 2009 Outback stopped working or working erratically. I checked the rubber boot containing the rear wiring harness for damage and discovered 13 out of 14 wires were either completely broken, or the insulation was worn, exposing bare conductor. In addition to the rear electrical issues, I replaced the bulbs for the headlights at least four times in a two year period. The am channel on my radio no longer receives signals. The rear electrical problems are causing a safety hazard due to the brake/tail lights not functioning, or the rear windshield wiper not working. Subaru is not responsive to this design flaw.

Wire harness, that passes through rubber articulated gasket that connects between vehicle body and rear hatch door of wagon, suffers from wire fatigue that causes individual wire insulators to crack and conducting wires to break, leading to failure of critical automobile safety equipment; namely, rear wiper motor, rear back-up lights, rear middle brake light, rear license plate lights, rear window defroster. This design defect has be reported by numerous owners and has been documented on youtube (https://www. Youtube. . Read more...

The wiring for the rear lift gate lock is broken. The same problem occurred in 2013. Definitely faulty design. Subaru says to replace the entire wiring harness to the lift gate for $500+.

The wiring for the license plate lights failed in the upper right hatch hinge boot causing the license plate lights to not operate. The purple wire had broken inside the boot area. The purple wire is extremely small gauge for a location that is opened and closed often.

Wiring located on the rear passenger side between the hatch door and body (in the protective boot) was severed as a result of poor quality wiring and design. Wires were stress-severed and nearly severed by normal operation of opening/closing the wagon rear door. Apparently this is a common issue as discovered by visiting online forums.

Recently replaced headlights did not illuminate on a return trip home. They turned off without warning while driving. According to the dealer, the wiring harness failed.

Car was just inspected sept 2014. Three light bulbs replaced. Prior to this, we have been replacing lightbulbs every few months. It is expensive because we cannot change the front lights ourselves. . . . It had to go into the shop. We actually now store bulbs in the glove box because the headlights burn out so often. Our mechanic said Subaru has a problem with its wiring harness. Subaru needs to step up and address this as I see it is a common complaint here.

See all problems of the 2011 Subaru Outback 🔎.

Rear wiring harness that passes from cabin to hatch door has several wires broken causing rear door lock and lights failures.

The contact owns a 2012 Subaru Outback. When the vehicle was taken to the dealer for a routine inspection, the mechanic discovered that all four brakes were rusted and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was taken to three other mechanics who did not indicate that the brakes needed replacing. While driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle stalled and was towed to a mechanic. The mechanic stated that someone unplugged and misplaced the wiring under the hood and the clip was fractured. The contact was informed that the clip needed to be replaced and the wires re-adjusted. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 44,000.

09 Outback was blowing fuses on the door lock circuit. Put in a new fuse and it would blow in a few days, often when car washed or driven in rain (or perhaps when rear hatch operated). Last replacement fuse has held for a few weeks now, through summer. Then the rear wiper stopped working. . Read more...

Wires in the rear hatch break repeatedly. Wiring harness comes from the roof and into the rear hatch; most of the wires worn and mechanic has spliced more than half including the antenna wire.

Passenger side airbag on/off light malfunctioning. Sometimes ceiling console passenger indicator light comes on to indicate bag is off (supposed to happen when less than 25 lbs in passenger seat) and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes dashboard red airbag warning light comes on to indicate malfunction with bag and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the passenger airbag on/off light shows dimly as if it's trying to illuminate. Seems like a wiring problem based on intermittent illumination but dealer said needed new $300 plus indicator switch but they were sure airbag working properly. Have already had serious problem with quality of work done by this dealer so unsure of whether they really know what's happening. Why no recall from Subaru? I see several other complaints here about the exact same problem.

Without any accident, under normal usage, the vehicle's license plate lights failed. The problem was traced to a break in a conductor (wire) contained in a wiring harness that connects the vehicle to the rear hatch through a rubber bellows. Once the bellows was retracted, the broken wire was found along with twelve (12) other wires that were all nearly broken: their insulation was cracked and several wires ultimately broke completely upon further flexing. These other wires fed the brake lights, turn signals, running lights, hatch lock, and all other electrical circuits on the rear hatch. It appears that the insulation on this wire does not hold up in this environment and will ultimately fail in the course of several years. This poses a safety problem as the vehicles rear lights (turn signals, brake lights, etc. ) can fail at any moment.

Rear wiper ceased functioning. The problem was due to broken wire(s) in a wiring harness that passes through a rubber accordion boot between the car body and the tail-gate (near the right-hand tailgate hinge). Many of the other wires, affecting upper brake light, license plate lights, backup lights, and tailgate latch/lock, were frayed and were replaced due to imminent failure of the above listed components. Research at an online forum for Subaru owners showed that many other owners (of 2005 and 2006 Subaru Outbacks) have experienced similar failures due to broken wires in this wiring harness. I suspect that it is an under-reported problem. I believe that Subaru should be asked to issue a safety recall notice.

While driving on interstate highway, vehicle lost engine power. Electric was still on. Gas pedal did not work. Cel and cruise control lights both blinking. Was able to maintain 15 mph on flat road, and barley any speed on incline. Got off highway near home and shut of engine. Waited and tried to start back up. 30 seconds of cranking, and nothing. Waited another minute and it started. Got home and pulled a p2138 code. Pulled wiring harness off gas pedal and reseated it. Reset the cel and everything has been fine since. Scary situation, especially at 65mph during thanksgiving eve rush-hour.