This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Lane Departure feature malfunction at higher speeds: will reactivate a few seconds after physically deactivating the control; spontaneously activates and inactivates or activates on one side only - pulls aggressively to one side or the other, even though vehicle is centered in highway. Will not stay inactivated but fluctuates on/off. It is dangerous and causes fatigue in wrestling with the steering.
Battery was completed dead after sitting for 2 weeks in my garage. The Subaru 24 hour road side assistance came and jumped the car, and told me to drive it for 15 minutes. Once I turned off the car, did my errands, and returned, the car would not start again. Had to have it towed to my dealership and Subaru replaced the entire battery. This car is only 15 months old with 3200 miles on it. I was told that I wasn't "driving it enough" -- but with the pandemic, where would I be driving" should a car that is so new experience these kinds of problems already"
VIN [XXX] there is a problem with the electrical system. The auto will not keep the battery charged sufficiently to start the car reliably. The battery has enough power to illuminate the control panel of the vehicle, but it will not start the engine. Overnight, he battery drains to a point that it will not turn the engine over. The dealer had the car for about five hours to diagnose the cause of the discharge. They found no trouble with the electrical system and said the battery and alternator functioned normally. The dealer found no adverse electrical leaks causing the battery to discharge overnight. The dealer suggested that we weren't driving the vehicle enough. They sold and installed a trickle charge device to alleviate the problem. The trickle charger has not helped. Safety concerns: we have to jump start the car EVERY day. We have to remember to disable the auto stop/start option to prevent the car from shutting the engine off during idle while waiting for a stop light to change. On numerous occasions we must exit the vehicle, attach a jump start battery pack to the car's battery and start it as traffic is whizzing by. We have been in remote areas where mobile/cell service is unavailable to call for help and only because we have the jump start battery pack are we able to start the the car. The dealer was unable to reproduce or verify the trouble. They were only able to state there was no problem found. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone else. No warning of any kind is exhibited leading to the trouble. This problem is a hazard. It puts the occupants in harms way if the car shuts off in traffic. Having to start the car in bad weather is another risk. This problem has been going on since January of 2021. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The battery has drained 6 times: there are no lights on or doors open, etc. I have been stranded, alone. The car has under 8000 miles. It doesn't matter what distance I drive. The first time was the day after a 200 mike trip, daytime. Next morning, dead battery. Other times, it was a trip to the store, 15 Mike's, when I came out after an hour, battery was dead. There is no pattern, I cannot rely on this car.
Auto is mainly garaged since purchase 1-1/2 years ago. Battery went totally dead and car became inoperable in 2020 after non-use for approx. 4 weeks, requiring lengthy re-charge. Subaru checkup showed no malfunction, according to company. This month (Aug, 2021) battery again went totally dead, this time after non-use for approx. just 2-3 weeks, again requiring lengthy re-charge. This renders auto unusable for any form of travel when car must sit unused, perhaps in a garage or parking area, without possibility to periodically run car to maintain battery charge.
- Napanoch, NY, USA
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The Outback had a complete loss of power, cause still not identified. In the process of attempting to get to my portable power unit I discovered a significant safety concern that could result in the death of any rear seat passengers.If there is no electrical power there is NO MEANS OF UNLOCKING THE REAR PASSENGER DOORS. The mechanical door handles do NOT work. I checked the child safety locks and they were not engaged. In the event of an accident/ front end collision that damaged the battery the occupants of the rear seats are trapped. If they needed to vacate the car for any reason they could not. Parents can not get to their children. Please investigate and make Subaru modify the back doos so the mechanical handle will operate when there is nor electrical power.
The car only has 7500 miles on it, the battery has gone dead 3x, with the third time not possible to jump start. I had to have it towed to Subaru dealer, they replaced battery with another Subaru battery. From what I have read this one will likely go dead also.there has to be a better solution.
I bought my Subaru Outback in July 2020, it-??s barely one year but I already had two major problems happened to the vehicle. 1. The transmission was broken, it-??s confirmed by the dealership and they were able to replace the whole transmission system for me. But this concerns me a lot, from safety perspective, if I wasn-??t able to identify the issue in early stage it could cause malfunction while I-??m driving and I always have my daughters in my car. 2. It-??s a barely one year car but my battery drained twice. I have to call road side assistant to jump start. I always make sure to shut all my lights and I don-??t understand why this keep happening. There was one night I have to drive to the grocery store and my battery died within that 20 minutes while I-??m in the store. I was waiting for road side assistant for 45 minutes while it-??s getting dark and my kids are home by themselves.
My 2020 Subaru Outback has had to be towed to service a battery that failed to start the car even after is was jumped by AAA and driven for 20 miles. Subaru assured me that the battery was simply not properly charged and the car was returned. Then a couple of months later I left my car unproven in my driveway while I was out of town for 2 weeks and my car would not start. I again had it towed to my Subaru dealership where Subaru ran the same test and told me that they replaced a bad battery. They also told me that when they jump started the car in their shop they discovered that the interior dome light had been left on while I was out of town. The later is inconsistent with my experience as I loaded my Subaru Forester sitting right beside my Outback in the dark before leaving town. Had the dome light been left on, I would have noticed the light as I packed my car. In addition their test of this battery later showed this battery to need to be replaced. My safety concern is I cannot trust this car to start. Had I driven my 2020 Outback to the airport for a 14 day trip rather than my 2020 Forester, I would have found myself on the 4th level of the terminal parking lot with a dead battery upon my return. This is the second time that I have had to have this car towed to the Subaru dealership to have the battery serviced under warranty. I cannot simply purchase and install a 3rd party battery under warranty.
With in the first few months of ownership it would not start. I used roadside assistance to get a jump. A couple of moths later same thing. Same driver from road side assistance jump started me and stated, " all I have been doing lately is jumping Subarus". It soon died again, the dealership tested battery and found it defective and had to wait for a new "stronger" battery. 4 days later I get it back. It was still under warranty.
My battery has died multiple times this summer, most often when the rear liftgate is open. I have 17,000 miles on this car and would expect the battery to last longer.
2020 & 2021 model Subaru Outbacks, as well as Accents come with a battery that apparently are unable to power the vast electrical components contained within the car made by Subaru. Subaru service states the auto has to be continually driven, not just running, for the battery to recharge. They do not give a straight answer and place the issue on the vehicle owner usage habits.
Four times in the last 3 months, the car has failed to start and required a jump. I now feel like I can't drive the car alone or to remote places, and I fear degrading the electrical system over time through constant jumping. The dealer has inspected the battery and done a full diagnostic and reports no issues. Their advice is that we're not driving the car often enough to charge the battery. But the last instances have been with a trickle charger, and with long drives on the highway. It seems clear that either the electrical system is draining the battery while the car is off or that the battery isn't charging efficiently while driving. We've checked all the internal lights and other devices that might be draining the battery. We haven't yet done a third party inspection but will do that shortly.
The vehicle was purchased new in September 2020. It is now 10 months old. I drove the car twice yesterday. Today I went out to the vehicle and the battery/electrical system was completely dead. No interior lights, no response to the fob. Other than the two drives, I programmed the PIN entry system, last night. The vehicle has been garaged since new and was in the garage since driven yesterday.
Battery died at only 10months old. Left stranded for over 4 hours in remote area since we were camping when it happened. Nothing had been left on in the vehicle. Was able to eventually get a jump start and get vehicle to dealer for check. They found battery deeply discharged and recharged but battery died again 2 weeks later. Battery replaced that time. Fear this could happen while driving if i forget to turn off the auto stop/start system or even cause the car to stall while driving and result in loss of braking or control.
The main control module goes completely blank while driving, eventually rebooting itself. Just recently I have documented blanking on April 9th, May 1, May 9, May 30, and June 13. One instance of the voice for navigation going silent on May 14 also occurred. The module was replaced today and on the way home from the dealership, it went blank again.
After leaving this car in an airport parking lot for 4 weeks, it would not start. I also noticed that all of the doors except the hatchback were unlocked. I coincidentally had a jumper battery unit in the car and was able to start it with the external battery jumper. When I drove the car the 30 minutes to my home, I found that the battery had not charged at all. This meant that until Subaru fixed this on warranty, I could drive the car but would have to raise the hood, hook up the external jumper unit, start the car, disconnect the jumpers, close the hood and finally drive where I was going. This procedure grows old after doing it repeatedly to shop for supplies after being away for 4 weeks. The Subaru dealer fit me in the following day and confirmed the battery had been destroyed by the car sitting unused for 4 weeks. He recommended that I always leave a small charger on it whenever it will not be used for 2 weeks or more! That would have been impossible at the airport parking lot. I have taken this car on very many severe backcountry drives where failure to start when it's time to leave could be problematic or even fatal. Whatever is the problem should be fixed. If the new battery will fail the same way, it should be replaced with a battery that won't, on warranty. If it's the charging system that's at fault, then the faulty design should be corrected.
I have had to call Subaru Roadside Assistance at least five occasions. Randomly on occasion, when I go out to use my Car, I find my vehicle locked with the battery drained. Everytime it happens the dealer gives me a loaner vehicle while they try to troubleshoot the problem. Every time they say they cannot not find a power drain. The service department then said that I must have bumped the rear dome light and that drained the battery. I am pretty sure I did not bump the light so this last time I taped that dome switch with clear tape so that could not move. This morning 12/15/21 my started fine. I drove more than 50 miles to the VA Hospital in Tampa. I stopped my car a line for a pre-op COVID check. I turned the car off 5-10 minutes and when the line of cars moved again and I went to crank the car up again, it would not start. I got out and called Subaru Roadside Assistance and got locked out. I used my hidden key in the Fab. Subaru brought a gallon of gas which was not the solution and then he told me to try to start the vehicle. He said the battery was drained (which is strange because had just drove fifty miles to th location and the alternator should be keeping the battery full). He the connected a battery power pack jumper and successfully jumped the car. I have faithfully waited and been patient with Cannon Subaru explanations and reasons to no avail. I explained to a sales representative that my 2020 Subaru Outback Limited is a Lemon and I want to exchange it for a new car (Under the Lemon Law) or get my money refunded (I paid almost $37,000 cash for the vehicle). I was given Subaru of America's phone number 1(800)782-2783, and was told to contact them for a resolution. I was given a case number(1-7056862051) and was told a case manager would call me in an hour or two, which is yet to happen. I purchased my vehicle on June 22, 2020 and I am filing this complaint form to protect my rights under the Lemon Law, and the NHTSA. This about the fifth Incident.
In the last month, twice within 30 seconds of starting the car, the head unit has done a complete reboot, which meant that I had no rear-view camera as I was backing out of a parking space. Since the car was already in motion, it was very distracting as it took about a minute for the unit to reboot. This seems to indicate that there is an electrical problem with the car as many others have noted. Many of the car's controls (such as climate control) are soft buttons displayed on the head unit and cannot be adjusted otherwise. Therefore, it is essential that this unit operate properly and dependably.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Frankston, TX, USA