I have a Subaru because I live off the paved road and it is an off-road car. Two problems: 1) if driving in snow, snow packs into the wheel well and prevents front wheels turning properly. I carry a weedout, other people I have talked to carry ice picks and trowels for getting the snow out. This has happened to me since Dec 2010, whenever driving in wet snow. I heard it discussed on car talk, so I know it is a common complaint. 2) manual transmission linkage is now exposed on the underside of the 2011. The car gets stuck in one gear and will not shift. Happened in 2nd and 4th. I got it to the dealer and they removed sticks and gravel from the linkage. They said they had many 2011 manual transmission subies in that week with sticks and gravel in the linkage due to the bad weather. I could not go up hills or start from a stop when it was stuck in 4th. I could not drive over 20mph when stuck in 2nd. I could not reverse either way. This is not safe, especially when driving in snow and traffic in the mountains. I asked the dealer if they could put on something to cover and protect the linkage and they said no, ever since Subaru went to 6 forward gears the linkage is exposed and they cannot add anything to cover it. I think the 6 forward gear manual transmission Outbacks should be recalled, and they should go back to 5 gears forward and properly cover up the linkage.

- Corbett, OR, USA

I turned right into a driveway with a steep upward incline and had to stop my car briefly to speak to a person helping with parking for an event. My car has a manual transmission, so I engaged the electronic parking brake to hold the car so I could get moving again without rolling backwards. However, the parking brake on my car automatically disengages as soon as the gas pedal is depressed (or even, actually, touched at all). Because of the very steep incline, by the time I had enough revs to engage the clutch, my car had rolled back into the street behind me. Fortunately no vehicle was passing at the time, though a serious accident could have occurred. I have noticed that the electronic parking brake needs to be manually disengaged if the driver seatbelt is unfastened, presumably as a reminder to fasten the seatbelt. In the future in a similar driving situation I would be tempted to unfasten my seatbelt before attempting the steep hill start, which would be the less dangerous of two dangerous options. I emailed Subaru to point out the problem and ask whether it would be possible to modify these vehicles such that the parking brake is always controllable by the driver. My concern was dismissed, seemingly without much consideration. I live in an area where steep hills are the norm, and have always driven a manual transmission car without incident, but the electronic parking brake on my new car presents a serious hazard. I would like to have this addressed before someone is injured or killed.

- Canby, OR, USA

When coming to a rolling stop and then stepping on the accelerator as our 2011 Outback was turning, the new vehicle, with 9 miles on the odometer, experienced a brief hesitation followed by a hard transmission clunk and the vehicle lurched forward a few feet before driving normally. This occurred several times during rolling stops both when going forward and when turning a corner. We feel this is extremely unsafe and could lead to loss of control of the vehicle. We returned the vehicle to the dealership's service department within 17 hours of purchase and, after they had the car for 10 days, we were informed that, while they acknowledge the problem, there is no current fix for the issue and have no estimate as to when there might be one. In researching online, we discovered that a very similar, if not identical, problem was reported by owners of the 2010 Outback model and a Subaru service bulletin (11-94-09R) dated 01/05/10 was issued announcing that 'ECM' reprogramming files' were available to rectify the problem.

- Granada Hills, CA, USA