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.
The contact owns a 2013 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 35 MPH, there was an abnormal noise coming from the transmission. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the technician informed the contact that the failure was the transmission. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the CVT transmission needed to be repaired. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 117,000.
When driving on interstate, all at once, dashboard lit up with lights, one of the lights being the check engine light. Towed car to dealership and found there was a problem in the CVT valve body which was replaced. I think this should be a recall because it's dangerous to be driving down an interstate with dashboard lit up. Have no idea what would have happened to engine or other parts of car if I wasn't able to get off highway in time.
The transmission valve body failed on this Subaru Legacy at 83874 miles. This caused the vehicle to stall and three engine lights came on. This was covered under an extended warranty as this is a known problem with this car. I have three complaints / concerns where I believe the consumer is now on the hook for the manufacturer's problem. I am told the new valve body is identical to the old and will fail again. The dealer also told me the transmission fluid must be replaced every 30000 miles, not the 100000 miles in the owners manual. This is at a current cost of $413; also - I had to pay today $413 to replace the fluid, which is not covered by the extended warranty, even though dirty fluid is the cause of the failure. This issue affects many Subaru and should be on a permanent recall repair list at Subaru's expense for the servicable life of the car, or a recall where the valve body is replaced by one that will not fail again. No one should be required to perform a $413 fluid change every 30000 miles.
Torque convertor clutch solenoid went out while driving on the highway at 75mph. Ended up having it replaced at 138,000 miles on 2013 Subaru Legacy. Cost $1,700 at Subaru dealership.
- Plainwell, MI, USA
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There was a horrible whining that started very quiet on and off in 2017 and became louder this year. We drove into a city intersection to turn, and the car stalled. We were lucky that we didn't get hit by another car. We took it to the dealership as we do all recommended maintenance and something was really wrong to make it stall like that. The dealership said that it is a cvt transmission, and they are known to have this problem. Told us to call Subaru. There was an extended warranty offered in 2018, but we never were notified of that and are the original owner. If we had the notification we would have had this fixed as it occasionally made the noise but it did not repeat when at our service center. We would have had the dealer check it if we knew about the problem and warranty. I expected a Subaru to last longer than this before needing an $9,000 repair. Called Subaru and they offered me $1,000 toward a new Subaru. I paid $36,000 for this car. I don't think $1,000 off one now is going to help me very much for a known problem with this transmission that put us in a very dangerous situation.
While traveling on a busy interstate. My car suddenly jerked as if I had put into neutral. I was traveling approximately 65 mph. Nearly causing an accident trying to get off the highway. It would not engage in manual or automatic mode. After having it towed to a mechanics shop, it was discovered that the cvt transmission had failed, without warning. This could have resulted in a very serious accident if I would not have been able to get to the shoulder of the road.
Car has extended cranking issue - it acts like the starter is bad or the battery is dying. Took it to the dealer and told them that the car has a hard time starting. It has died a couple times so I replaced the battery with an interstate battery and they told me that the battery was bad. I had the battery checked and it is definitely not bad. Asked the dealer to check the starter and they said it is fine. It seems that the car has some other issue with power being drawn from somewhere else.
The contact owns a 2013 Subaru Legacy. The contact took the vehicle to be serviced at heuberger Subaru (1080 motor city dr, Colorado springs, co 80905, 719-475-1920) for transmission failure. Initially, the dealer would not cover the cost of the repair due to the warranty expiring; however, the manufacturer was notified and ultimately agreed to service the vehicle under warranty. Since then, the vehicle remained in the possession of the dealer for nearly two months. The dealer informed the contact that the ECU unit and gear shifter were defective and needed to be replaced. The dealer stated that the repair would cost $1,900. The contact associated the failure with NHTSA campaign number: 19V297000 (electrical system). The manufacturer was contacted and stated that the VIN was not included in the recall. No further assistance was offered. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 100,128.
I bought this 2013 Subaru Legacy limited on June 12,2019 and a week later the emergency brake light and cruise control did not work and the lights were on the dashboard. I brought the car to a Subaru dealer in wilmington, nc and was told that it needed the control panel for the emergency brake which effects the cruise control. This same problem is a current recall in Subaru Legacy manual transmission and I feel that there should be a recall with the automatic transmission as well since my car is affected by the same problem. The car was just out of warranty and just over 100,000 miles. The repair is over $1200 and it is just not right that this has happened and it is not a recall. Please issue a recall for this same problem as the manual transmissions on the automatic transmissions. I can be reached at [xxx]. thank you, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Extended crank issue - I've had an extended crank issue with my car for the last 10 months. The car has been taken to the Subaru dealership where it was purchased 3 time. The car spent 30 days in the shop due to this problem. The car is having a very hard time starting after it's been sitting for a few hours. And sometimes not starting at all, when it does eventually start it's cranking for an additional 10-30 seconds. One it does start the engine knocks and runs rough until it warm, then goes away. When the car was at the dealership, I was informed that the extended crank is a known issue for the year I have. I was told the computer system in the car needs to be replaced in order to fix the problem. I representative from Subaru came out to the dealership to look at my car and 2 others same year make and model that were having the same problem. The representative deemed it "normal" he said " nothing I can do until a recall gets approved" and "Subaru needs to fix bugs in the system". he also said that while the car has the extended crank issue it is putting more wear and tear on the engine and it would soon need to be replaced. I was then sent on my way because, they couldn't do anything for me. Needless to say the car is still having issues because of the extended crank, nothing has been resolved.
About mid September my son took the car in due to a noise he heard, was advised that it was the serpentine belt & needed to be replaced. Had the recommended service done..heard noise again and returned car, was advised "tech can not duplicate noise". took car back 3rd time and made tech get into car with him to go for ride..tech now hears noise and advises my son to leave the car, you'll have it back in an hour. A couple hours later he gets a call advising that they couldn't diagnose the problem and would contact a field engineer to respond to this dealership and would give him a loaner car. When asked over the phone whether he could drive his car he was advised the "car was unsafe". we were advised that the transmission problem was diagnosed over the phone when we went to pick up the loaner car. When asked if we are getting a refund for a replacement belt that was not bad we were advised that "there was a known problem with the belts but there was no recall". noise would start at 15mph and above.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Oakland, CA, USA