As we were driving down the highway, we heard what sounded like a airplane propeller whirling. The car then stopped. The mechanic at the Subaru dealership said we blew a cylinder. The car is now in need of a new engine or will be scrapped. We kept the car service religiously and was in great shape. How does this happen? I thought we had a reliable car.

- Pittsford, NY, USA

The 2005 suburu suddenly stops no matter weather going 35 mph or 70mph without warning! later the engine warning flashes, then the cruise control flashes, after abt. 20 seconds it starts, but stops intermittently w/O warning. Life/death risk.just bought it 5 mos. Ago. The turbo malfunctions--cracks.

- Joplin, MO, USA

The vehicles turbo failed and destroyed the engine. The turbo and engine were all factory original. I replaced the part that I thought was causing problems with the engine and turned the car on and black smoke came out off the exhaust. According to the mechanic shop I took it to the oil union bolts are the cause of the problem to starving oil to the turbo and then the turbo fails. I think it is unclear that these engines have a major flaw in them. Most people have these problems way before the 100,000 miles on the odometer mark. I would need a completely new engine for the vehicle. I did oil changes every 3000 miles and did the recommended services at each time or mileage intervals.

- Forest Park, IL, USA

Car has been very slow to reduce rpms when shifting gears or when stopped (and in neutral) for the past few weeks. Today, when pulling into a starbucks, the car surged forward. Luckily I have a stick shift and just pushed the clutch in. After surging, the check engine light came on. Using a diagnostic tool, I found that the car is throwing error code P2138. This indicates that the accelerator pedal position (app) sensor is either bad or has a poor connection. The detail on the error stats "the ECM has detected that the app sensor 1 and app sensor 2 disagree more than 4.5% for less than 1 second." Essentially, one or both throttle-by-wire circuits isn't functioning properly. I went online and found that this is an all too common problem and some folks have found that their cars are surging forward, threatening safety.

- Saint Paul, MN, USA