CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2014 Outback is showing an early trend of problems with hesitation when accelerating.
The vast majority of owners experiencing this problem have reported that Subaru has not been able to find the cause of the engine hesitation, or fix the problem.
Especially because this is a potential safety defect, we are flagging the 2014 Outback as a model year to watch out for.
I bought my third brand new Subaru Outback and shortly after taking it home I noticed the driver's seat moving slightly forward when I stopped and then back again as I accelerated. I brought the car in when I needed my first oil change and asked them to look at the seat. I was told that the movement was within tolerances and that there was nothing wrong. I contacted Subaru Corporate by email and told them I had safety concerns about any movement whatsoever in the driver's seat and was urged by "Bob" to take the car back in and make sure that I let Subaru Corporate know when I took it back so they could speak to the dealership at the time they had the car.
When I took the car in the second time I emailed "Bob" to let him know I was taking it in and they gave me a loaner to use and said that the seat was only moving because I had it raised to it's highest point but that they were going to replace the entire seat anyway. After three weeks they asked me to pick up my car and wait until the seat came off national back order as they wanted to replace the entire seat.
I took the car in a third time when they told me the seat part was received. When I went to pick up the car the seat still moved. The service manager on duty looked at the paperwork and called the service tech in the back and stated that they only replaced the seat back and not the entire seat and upon sitting in the car he thought it felt like the seat wasn't tightly secured to the chassis. Even when the seat was lowered it still had the same movements.
The dealership called the next day to say that they really did replace the entire seat and weren't sure why there was confusion. They said they didn't know what else they could do to fix the issue. I then contacted Subaru corporate again and after two weeks of missed calls back and forth they finally told me that the movement of the driver's seat was within their tolerances.
I asked about their level of confidence in the safety of a moving driver's seat and inquired as to if they had done the math to know how much extra velocity a shifting seat would create in a sudden stop to determine if the car would be safe and they did not know. I expressed my concerns about the safety of the car and mentioned that it was extremely unlikely that I would ever buy another Subaru and they didn't seem to care.
This was a very disappointing experience with a formerly great brand.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought my third brand new Subaru Outback and shortly after taking it home I noticed the driver's seat moving slightly forward when I stopped and then back again as I accelerated. I brought the car in when I needed my first oil change and asked them to look at the seat. I was told that the movement was within tolerances and that there was nothing wrong. I contacted Subaru Corporate by email and told them I had safety concerns about any movement whatsoever in the driver's seat and was urged by "Bob" to take the car back in and make sure that I let Subaru Corporate know when I took it back so they could speak to the dealership at the time they had the car.
When I took the car in the second time I emailed "Bob" to let him know I was taking it in and they gave me a loaner to use and said that the seat was only moving because I had it raised to it's highest point but that they were going to replace the entire seat anyway. After three weeks they asked me to pick up my car and wait until the seat came off national back order as they wanted to replace the entire seat.
I took the car in a third time when they told me the seat part was received. When I went to pick up the car the seat still moved. The service manager on duty looked at the paperwork and called the service tech in the back and stated that they only replaced the seat back and not the entire seat and upon sitting in the car he thought it felt like the seat wasn't tightly secured to the chassis. Even when the seat was lowered it still had the same movements.
The dealership called the next day to say that they really did replace the entire seat and weren't sure why there was confusion. They said they didn't know what else they could do to fix the issue. I then contacted Subaru corporate again and after two weeks of missed calls back and forth they finally told me that the movement of the driver's seat was within their tolerances.
I asked about their level of confidence in the safety of a moving driver's seat and inquired as to if they had done the math to know how much extra velocity a shifting seat would create in a sudden stop to determine if the car would be safe and they did not know. I expressed my concerns about the safety of the car and mentioned that it was extremely unlikely that I would ever buy another Subaru and they didn't seem to care.
This was a very disappointing experience with a formerly great brand.
- C S., Austin, TX, US