This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
When braking, the car often stalls and all requires a shift into park, and a restart of the entire engine before being able to proceed. When it stalls, steering is also affected. This frequently happens on city streets, but also happens when pulling into parking spaces and when slowing for turning. This has been happening with increasing frequency.
Power steering stopped working. I was in the parking lot at work trying to leave at the end of the day. It drove fine over lunch and then when I started the car at 5pm the steering made a whining noise (typical, from my understanding, of a power steering failure) and was very difficult to turn. The steering wheel also did a harsh vibrating thing a little as I was trying to turn as if it was struggling. I knew something was up, so I put it right back in the parking space so that it could be towed. There was zero indication that this was going to happen. It drove fine over lunch, so it was very surprising that this just happened. Had car towed to local Subaru dealer to get it checked out. Was told the power steering pump needed replacing. After it was replaced, they test drove it and said the steering still wasn't working properly and was still doing the harsh vibrating thing indicating that the steering column needed replacing because it had failed. Power steering fluid was completely intact. No belts appeared damaged in any way. I see where the 2013 Legacy models had a recall regarding steering as well as the 2016 models. After reading that information, this situation seems very similar to those recalls.
Steering wheel nearly locked - became impossible to turn. Happened while making a very slight right turn at about 5mph from a small side road onto a four lane highway. Was able to continue a very very wide turn to get off the road into a parking lot.
I own a 2012 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the vehicle became difficult to keep aligned, causing it to veer from left to right. The contact also stated that when attempting a turn in either direction, the steering wheel would seize and would not return to the default position once the turn was completed in city driving and hwy driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer multiple times for the failure and was test driven by a technician, who stated that there was no failure present within the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The vehicle was not repaired.
Vehicle vibrates and pulsates every time you apply the brakes while driving at speeds above 50 mph- vibrations are felt throughout the vehicle and the steering wheel. On March 11th; Subaru dealership technicians took a look at the problem and drove the vehicle and confirmed the steering wheel vibrations while braking on speeds above 50 mph, they also found all brakes at 7mm and front rotors with added material to it measuring above 0.0008" - technicians recommended a simple resurface of rotors (charged at owners expense) or to wait until the condition worsen "?" (affecting other suspension, steering or brakes components) in order to repair the vehicle using the warranty. Currently my car has 22,345 and it already continues to pulsate every time I apply the brakes at speeds well above 50 mph. Nothing was say about the brake pads conditions or quality. I did noted on many Subaru forums online that many Subaru owners have experience this issue but it seems that no one has reported such issues to the NHTSA.
- Santa Clara, CA, USA
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The contact owns a 2012 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the vehicle became difficult to keep aligned, causing it to veer from left to right. The contact also stated that when attempting a turn in either direction, the steering wheel would seize and would not return to the default position once the turn was completed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer multiple times for the failure and was test driven by a technician, who stated that there was no failure present within the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 1,000 and the current mileage was 7,601.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Menands, NY, USA