Let me start off by saying that from the research I have done on this problem (Sudden Unintended Acceleration), this appears to be a problem that has plagued Subaru Outbacks, Foresters, and Legacys for years and the complaints have been largely ignored. Hopefully that will change.
Here is a good place to start if you are looking for similar incidents :
https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2013/SUBARU/OUTBACK
So, here are the details of what happened :
I was driving in a campsite where the speed limit is 10 km/h (6 m/h) on gravel. I had been traveling at this speed for about 1/4 mile when I arrived at my destination. I had my foot on the break and was slowly creeping into a parking spot while turning right. As I was coming to a complete stop, the engine suddenly surged and the vehicle instantly accelerated into the bumper of the car that was parked in front. The car's engine continued to REV up and down a couple of times before i turned off the ignition. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. My vehicle as well as the other had damaged bumpers.
I had never experienced anything like that in the past - it was like the vehicle was possessed.
I returned home after the incident and at each stop or light, I would pop the car into neutral just in case the issue would arise again. It did not.
I brought the vehicle into the dealership mitigating the risk of having another incident by putting the car in neutral before applying the brakes. After having inspecting the vehicle for 2 days and doing 2 test drives, the dealer said that they inspected all the components and there were no codes indicating that there was any problem. I reluctantly drove home concerned that at any moment this could happen again.
I have reported the issue to Subaru Canada and I have been calling them regularly for the past 50+ days but the Customer Service reps have not been of any assistance. I have asked that they escalate the case and I have been promised return calls by the manager and/or regional service manager but they never call.
Additionally, I have opened a case with Transport Canada for those interested, the case number is TC2020-1329. Interestingly enough, they contacted me and sent someone to my home to check out the car. I was told that when an incident like this occurs, the car should save some details and measurements from the time of the incident. After hooking up a device to extract the details, they found that there was no data saved for the incident. The technical engineer said that the reason there was no data is because there is a minimum speed threshold before a vehicle will save an incident. Since I was below 10KM/h, nothing was recorded. I was told that the case will remain open with Transport Canada.
For those of you in Canada that experience this problem, please take the effort to report it to Transport Canada. In the USA, the NHTSA would be the place to go. If enough of these issues are reported, it could initiate a more profound investigation and potentially force a recall.
So, after 50+ days since the car was returned to me, I have driven it 56 KM (35 miles) most of which was my return home from the dealership.
Just to be clear, this is extremely dangerous and there are no warning signs. Imagine, you could be braking for a pedestrian crossing and suddenly surge forward killing someone. There is little/no reaction time when this happens.
I will continue to press Subaru Canada to do something about this issue.I have set them a formal notice and i will be opening a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in days to come.
I did a bit of research using the NHTSA database. I looked up my 2013 Outback as well as 2 year preceding mine and the 2 years following mine. Here is what I have found :
2011 - 8 Similar reported incidents
2012 - 0 Similar reported incidents
2013 - 10 Similar reported incidents
2014 - 5 Similar reported incidents
2015 - 23 Similar reported incidents
Unfortunately, no similar database exists in Canada.
SUBARU, PLEASE ISSUE A RECALL AND FIX THIS.
Thank you to carcomplaints.com for providing this forum to help consumers report these incidents.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Let me start off by saying that from the research I have done on this problem (Sudden Unintended Acceleration), this appears to be a problem that has plagued Subaru Outbacks, Foresters, and Legacys for years and the complaints have been largely ignored. Hopefully that will change.
Here is a good place to start if you are looking for similar incidents : https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2013/SUBARU/OUTBACK
So, here are the details of what happened :
I was driving in a campsite where the speed limit is 10 km/h (6 m/h) on gravel. I had been traveling at this speed for about 1/4 mile when I arrived at my destination. I had my foot on the break and was slowly creeping into a parking spot while turning right. As I was coming to a complete stop, the engine suddenly surged and the vehicle instantly accelerated into the bumper of the car that was parked in front. The car's engine continued to REV up and down a couple of times before i turned off the ignition. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. My vehicle as well as the other had damaged bumpers.
I had never experienced anything like that in the past - it was like the vehicle was possessed.
I returned home after the incident and at each stop or light, I would pop the car into neutral just in case the issue would arise again. It did not.
I brought the vehicle into the dealership mitigating the risk of having another incident by putting the car in neutral before applying the brakes. After having inspecting the vehicle for 2 days and doing 2 test drives, the dealer said that they inspected all the components and there were no codes indicating that there was any problem. I reluctantly drove home concerned that at any moment this could happen again.
I have reported the issue to Subaru Canada and I have been calling them regularly for the past 50+ days but the Customer Service reps have not been of any assistance. I have asked that they escalate the case and I have been promised return calls by the manager and/or regional service manager but they never call.
Additionally, I have opened a case with Transport Canada for those interested, the case number is TC2020-1329. Interestingly enough, they contacted me and sent someone to my home to check out the car. I was told that when an incident like this occurs, the car should save some details and measurements from the time of the incident. After hooking up a device to extract the details, they found that there was no data saved for the incident. The technical engineer said that the reason there was no data is because there is a minimum speed threshold before a vehicle will save an incident. Since I was below 10KM/h, nothing was recorded. I was told that the case will remain open with Transport Canada.
For those of you in Canada that experience this problem, please take the effort to report it to Transport Canada. In the USA, the NHTSA would be the place to go. If enough of these issues are reported, it could initiate a more profound investigation and potentially force a recall.
So, after 50+ days since the car was returned to me, I have driven it 56 KM (35 miles) most of which was my return home from the dealership.
Just to be clear, this is extremely dangerous and there are no warning signs. Imagine, you could be braking for a pedestrian crossing and suddenly surge forward killing someone. There is little/no reaction time when this happens.
I will continue to press Subaru Canada to do something about this issue.I have set them a formal notice and i will be opening a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in days to come.
I did a bit of research using the NHTSA database. I looked up my 2013 Outback as well as 2 year preceding mine and the 2 years following mine. Here is what I have found :
2011 - 8 Similar reported incidents 2012 - 0 Similar reported incidents 2013 - 10 Similar reported incidents 2014 - 5 Similar reported incidents 2015 - 23 Similar reported incidents
Unfortunately, no similar database exists in Canada.
SUBARU, PLEASE ISSUE A RECALL AND FIX THIS.
Thank you to carcomplaints.com for providing this forum to help consumers report these incidents.
- Richard L., St-Constant, QC, Canada