I complained to the dealer about the issue since day one, or more precisely 400 miles after I purchased the brand new Outback. After I start the car, once it is warm everything is OK, but after I stop and start moving again the brake light would come on. By the way if I turn off the car with the electronic brake on, it won't start again for some reason. I have to wait at least 15 minutes for the pbm to go away.They could not reproduce the problem so it went on. I took it so many times to the dealer.
They changed the electronic brake control unit but that did nothing. The car was still under warranty then. Then one day on an icy road, the symmetrical all wheel drive outback slid a slope and I was going to hit the back of a car stopped at a stop light in front of me. Instead I decided to hit the curb to get it to stop. My hub cap flew in the distance and I managed to stop without any damage. I took it to the dealer again (34000 miles later), that's when they finally decided the VDC (ABS) unit was bad. They asked for $1200 to replace it. I said but this is a defect from the factory. I had to argue with them. Then one of the customer service reps finally looked into the records and found that it my complaints started right after purchase. Then they fixed it for free. When they put the new unit, somehow they did not connect some brake lines correctly which caused the brakes not to work. I almost got into an accident. Luckily as soon as I realized this I parked the car and had it towed. Back to the dealer, then they fixed the lines and I was on my way. Whewww!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I complained to the dealer about the issue since day one, or more precisely 400 miles after I purchased the brand new Outback. After I start the car, once it is warm everything is OK, but after I stop and start moving again the brake light would come on. By the way if I turn off the car with the electronic brake on, it won't start again for some reason. I have to wait at least 15 minutes for the pbm to go away.They could not reproduce the problem so it went on. I took it so many times to the dealer.
They changed the electronic brake control unit but that did nothing. The car was still under warranty then. Then one day on an icy road, the symmetrical all wheel drive outback slid a slope and I was going to hit the back of a car stopped at a stop light in front of me. Instead I decided to hit the curb to get it to stop. My hub cap flew in the distance and I managed to stop without any damage. I took it to the dealer again (34000 miles later), that's when they finally decided the VDC (ABS) unit was bad. They asked for $1200 to replace it. I said but this is a defect from the factory. I had to argue with them. Then one of the customer service reps finally looked into the records and found that it my complaints started right after purchase. Then they fixed it for free. When they put the new unit, somehow they did not connect some brake lines correctly which caused the brakes not to work. I almost got into an accident. Luckily as soon as I realized this I parked the car and had it towed. Back to the dealer, then they fixed the lines and I was on my way. Whewww!
- Mastan A., Philadelphia, PA, US