About a month ago (April 2011) while moving forward at around 5 to 10 mph I reached for the glove box and my shirt cuff caught the shift handle and thru the transmission into reverse. While I was lucky and there were no injuries this appears to be a serious safety defect that should be addressed by Subaru of North America. There are no built in safety locks or mechanisms to prevent the transmission from being moved from reverse to drive or drive to manual shift option. Actually you can shift anywhere from reverse to manual auto by bumping or pulling the shift handle with very little effort. Someone could have been seriously injured or killed. Is there a recall available to correct this condition. Every american made car I've owned had a built in mechanism that required that you push down / pull up and push forward or pull backwards at the same time thru some type of manual locking mechanism...... thanks I'm still driving the car but damage to the transmission is unknown.

- Weymouth, MA, USA

The contact owns a 2009 Subaru Outback. The contact was driving at 45 mph when every service warning light illuminated. The vehicle began to jerk abnormally while changing gears. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the contact was informed that there was a miscommunication between the speed sensor and transmission. The dealer made repairs to the vehicle. The warning lights were no longer illuminated. Two hours later, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where another repair was performed on the vehicle. The failure persisted intermittently after the second repair when driving between 25 and 35 mph. The failure mileage was 13,357 and the current mileage was 14,800.

- Durham, NC, USA