When driving our Ascent on both city streets and the highway we have experienced rpms jumping and squeaking/slipping noises coming from the engine unexpectedly. Its very disheartening to have issues with a brand new car that you've spend over $40K on. I have been able to capture some video of the control panel as this happens.

- Danville, CA, USA

We took our 2019 Ascent in because we were hearing some weird noises coming from the front end roughly 5000 miles. Upon further inspection the Subaru dealership informed us that there was an issue with the steering rack. They asked us to allow them to order a new steering rack and they would call us and setup an appointment to change out the rack. On Saturday the Aug 17th we went on a drive with a technician to show him what we were feeling in the transmission. He drove it for probably 15 to 20 minutes, several different speeds. He too noticed some weird shift points. Also could hear the front end. We left it there and called them today (19th) to find out that it isn't the steering rack. It's the coil springs hitting something causing them to chip. The technician stated, we will get with them on a new updated part and you can probably come in and swap out cars until we get the parts in. Meaning, give back service vehicle for ours. I told him at that point that I have no issues with them keeping it to reassure it's safe for our family to be in. He said ok I appreciate it I'll be calling you tomorrow. They also said that they did a torque converter dial in and that the transmission should be back to normal. Hopefully all is well and it does in fact fix the weird shifting and hesitation at all speeds. Accelerating and decelerating.

- Neosho, MO, USA

When driving car at different speeds, the car loses power, RPM increase and decrease significantly accompanied by a screeching sound. The vehicle has about 15K miles and has happened four times within a three week period.

- Chubbuck, ID, USA

When holding speed constant between approximately 20-35 mph, or under very light acceleration in this range, vehicle seems to jerk, surge, pulse, or similar. It feels similar to being in the car with someone learning to drive a manual transmission.

- Jacksonville, FL, USA

Cvt appears to be faulty. While driving, rpms will jump up by 1-2K, stay at that level for a second or two, then drop down. When it drops, car will shudder or accelerate. Occassionally a screeching or grinding noise is heard. This has happened multiple times, but is not predictable. It has happened on the highway at speeds if 65 and above; and it has happened on city roads at speeds of 30. It sometimes happens multiple times in one trip; or it may go a week between events. Dealership has been unable to replicate it, says if they can't replicate it then the "best case scenario" for a diagnosis is for the transmission to fail and for us to be stranded. A internet search for "Subaru Ascent transmission problems" reveals that this is a rare problem, but seems to disproportionately affect Ascents built in August of 2018. Subaru allegedly is replacing these transmissions once problem is diagnosed, but if it's a known problem then they should replace them all proactively.

- Thomaston, CT, USA

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Ascent. While driving 70-80 mph, the vehicle jerked forward and the transmission started to slip. The vehicle was taken to dch Subaru of riverside (located at 8069 Indiana ave, riverside, ca 92504, (951) 428-2314) to be diagnosed, but the mechanic was unable to retrieve a fault code or duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 5,200. The VIN was not available.

- Redlands, CA, USA

Within 5000 miles transmission jump, rear gear not work and the rab light, dealer told me he must replace! I find a lot of story on website, people have same issue and same amount of mileage

- Maspeth, NY, USA

The Subaru Ascent was purchased August 2018 (about 7 months ago) and the car currently has about 14,000 miles. The cvt transmission began slipping around March 16th, 2019, causing intermittent vibration and loss of power when accelerating. This would occur at both low and high speeds, and would occur more frequently after the car had been driven for about 15 minutes. At highway speeds, the car would struggle intermittently to maintain speed. Initially the problem was sporadic, but with every day grew more frequent. After being taken to dealership to be evaluated, the dealer reported that while the technician was test driving the vehicle, complete failure of the transmission occurred and the car was no longer drivable. The dealer has ordered a new transmission to replace this failed one. Total time from onset of problem to transmission failure is about 2 weeks with regular daily driving.

- Maple Valley, WA, USA

Our Ascent started having a squeal and RPM jump around 6000 miles. The car would only makes this noise on acceleration and would cause the car to lock up until the chain/belt would reseat and the RPM return to normal. It throws no warning codes but happens randomly but several times when it does happen. Was told it was a transmission issue, but Subaru has replaced some and they are doing same thing. They told me to drive it like it is and service department was to file a claim with Subaru to try to get them to initiate a fix from the Subaru engineers. Totally not safe to drive at 65-70 and then it stalls out before it fixes itself.

- Austinville, VA, USA