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.
The vehicle has a power drain that occurs randomly. I purchased the vehicle used in Jan 2023. The car is driven daily at least 40-50 miles. The first occurrence it would not start in 11/23, jump started and it was fine for 3 months. The second time it would not start I checked the battery and it was completely drained. Jump started and I have had no problems yet. No accessories or lights were left on. I have a monitor on the OCB port and it shows the battery voltage on a 24 hour scale. I can see it drops down to a low level for a short time every 4-5 hours and then returns to normal. I don-??t want to lose the battery in the middle of nowhere.
Purchased my 2022 Outback Premium March 2022. In less than a year, the Star Link Console was restarting at least once a day. Then it began restarting more frequently. The Subaru Dealership updated the software and the restarts slowed to maybe once every few weeks instead of the 3 to 4 times in 30 minutes. Then the restarts began again. The Subaru Dealership updated the software a 2nd time in less than 9 months. Then the restart began more frequently; again. The 3rd service visit to the Subaru Dealership upgraded the firmware to a newer version. In less than 6 months, the screen is rebooting with more frequency and Eye Sight is causing Subaru to email and text notices of an issue. This is now February 2024, my 4th visit for the same issue. Although, this time is worse. The screen is restarting every 2 to 3 minutes, but the screen won't stay when it shows the logo and the screen is completely black. Now, the electronic driver's controls screen and the Star Link screen ae malfunctioning. It doesn't matter if the vehicle is travelling (any speed) or idle when it restarts or goes completely black. Once the car was turned off for about 1 hour after reaching my destination. I returned to my Outback, started the ignition and it took more than 2 miles for both the black screen to boot up and show any information. Several codes and symbols showed up, but then the screens rebooted again. My 2022 Outback has been at the Subaru Dealership for nearly 7 days and service is informing me that Corporate has to collect digital information to confirm replacement of the Star Link Consoles.
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 50 MPH, he observed a noise coming from the front window. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that an unknown component in the A/C needed to be replaced. Additionally, the contact observed a crack in the middle of the windshield. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure six times and a case was filed. The failure mileage was 25,000.
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while attempting to drive off from a stop light, several unknown warning lights were illuminated, and unknown messages were displayed, and the vehicle stalled and failed to restart. During the failure, an audible alarm was activated and the message "Shift to Park and Restart" was displayed. The vehicle was later towed to the local dealer who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. No cause for the failure was found. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 40,000.
The contact owned a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at 30 MPH, she heard an abnormal sound emanating from the front of the vehicle, and the vehicle suddenly lost all electrical power. She was able to coast to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. A short time later, the contact's wife observed white smoke rising from the engine compartment, and within 15 minutes, the entire vehicle was engulfed in flames. Local emergency services were called and were able to extinguish the fire. A fire and police report were filed, and no injuries were reported. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard, awaiting inspection. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 23,000.
- Manahawkin, NJ, USA
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The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the engine started sputtering with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle started losing motive power. The accelerator pedal was depressed, and the engine revved and responded as needed. The contact stated that the power steering and power brakes failed while attempting to pull over to the side of the road. The contact continued to rev the engine which appeared to stabilize the instrument cluster view; however, the power steering and brakes were inoperable. The contact stated that the vehicle was shifted into park(P) but while attempting to shift into drive(D), the gear shifter failed to move. The contact turned off the vehicle and waited for approximately one hour and when the vehicle restarted, all functionality had returned. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 17,000.
The relatively new car (2022) stalls out randomly at intersections and red lights. This is a major safety issue as we have had the car totally shut down in the middle of 2 busy intersections. We had to dial 911 and have the police come to assist. We brought the car to the dealer and they did not find a problem but it continued to happen. There were no warning lights or messages - stalling happened randomly. May be related to the gas saver engine stop feature when at a complete stop.
I've experienced problems with the center Infotainment screen about 2 months after purchasing a 2022 Outback Wilderness edition. It seems to happen when I use Apple CarPlay (as this is the only way I listen to music and must plug in my phone using the USB to start CarPlay). The Infotainment screen has a long lag time to respond to clicks on the center screen, will freeze, and crash the system suddenly. The most extreme effect of this is that when the Infotainment screen crashes/freezes, the EyeSight safety features of the car such as Lane Keeping Assistance, Blind Spot Warning, Forward Crash Warning also stop working. I'll see all of the dashboard signals and notifications on the dashboard screen indicating the features are disabled. Additionally, I'm unable to control the AC when the screen crash happens. This happens while the vehicle is in operation and the vehicle user manual doesn't provide any troubleshoot options. Sometimes the screen will remain on after I've turned the car off. I can only hope the screen will shut off and restart after I've completely shut the car off to "fix this". There have been many times I've had to keep driving without the Eyesight safety features or AC when the screen crashes. I've tried to update the Infotainment screen myself with the supposedly "over the air" updates Subaru offers. It says my system is up to date even though I've found online Subaru service bulletins saying there are new software versions released. At my first six month dealer service, I asked about released updates and the service manager denied the newest updates can be installed on my car (which is STILL less than a year old). I brought my vehicle to another subaru dealership with this issue and they said they are aware of it. The service manager also said that the software update only fixes about 20% of vehicles that have this issue and a full replacement of the center screen unit is likely needed. Why has the NHTSA not directed Subaru to issue a recall?
8/1/23 - the Electronic center console display as well as the display behind the steering wheel continually fails. The center console controls all electronics such as defroster, heater, and of the advance safety features. The display behind the steering wheel controls the odometer, speed etc. The inability to control any vehicle functions is a huge safety risk. For example, the defroster can not be accessed not controlled. If you had an immediate need for this, you would have to stop driving immediately. No advanced safety features can be accessed, you have no idea of your speed, the list goes on. We have brought the car in twice and had a software update but the problem persists. We left the car for a week and were told it was fine but the next day the issue persisted. The display screen will come and go which is completely unacceptable from a safety standpoint. The Subaru forums seem to indicate this is a widespread problem that Subaru has yet to address or come up with a viable solution. We have the records to back up all of these assertions as well as video of the failures of the display screen once returned to us.
Multiple occasions of dead battery or stalling in an intersection have occurred since the car was 6 months old, with mileage of only 3,000 miles. Dead battery accompanied by electrical malfunctions such as loss of nav system, climate control system, and driving safety systems. Battery failure in cold weather in Michigan winter resulting in long waits for tow truck. Loss of heat in very cold temps on a road trip.
1. Vehicle doesn-??t start when sitting just for a couple of days. Battery isn-??t dead as lights, radio, etc work. The vehicle will start if jumped. Happened last year and was in and out of the dealership 3 times with this issue. They replaced the battery, but issue still persisted. They ended up doing a -??software update -?? which seemed to fix the issue. But just a year later I-??m having a very similar issue with the vehicle not starting. This vehicle only has 14,000 miles on it. Do their batteries only last 1 year/ 7l miles? 2. The information screen freezes quite a bit we-??re you-??re not able to control the radio, air/heat etc. there seems to be electrical issues with this vehicle.
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated he had taken the vehicle to the dealer for standard maintenance. When parked, the contact noticed that smoke was coming from underneath the vehicle. A loud popping noise occurred then a fire started underneath the hood of the vehicle. The fire quickly spread. The fire department extinguished the fire. There was no damage. There were no injuries and medical attention was not needed. A fire/police report was filed. The vehicle was towed and is with insurance waiting for the condition of the vehicle to be determined. The vehicle had not been officially diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 4,260.
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, she entered the vehicle to start the vehicle; however, the engine failed to turn over. An unknown electrical system warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the battery tray and battery holder needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 9,322.
On January 28, 2023 at approximately 1930 hours, vehicle battery was dead after being in a parking garage for a week. Vehicle was jump started and being driven on a highway for about 10 miles at highway speeds. At a location on the NYC Harlem River Drive, traffic came to a stop for a minute or so. The 'Auto Start Stop System' stopped the motor as designed. When traffic started to move again, the motor would not restart and the battery was dead. We were disabled in the left lane of an unlit high speed, high volume highway in the dark with our emergency flashers rapidly going dim. After about 45 minutes and numerous near serious collision misses, a tow truck arrived to tow us off of the highway. The system that failed was the 'Auto Start Stop System' and the vehicle is available for inspection. I have 40 years of investigating and reconstructing fatal and serious motor vehicle collisions and this defect put the safety of the motoring public at a serious risk. It is unknown if the problem has been reproduced and the component has not been inspected by the manufacturer. There was not any warning indicators or other symptoms of the problem. To the contrary, the vehicle operator had the false assumption that all systems were operating properly. This defect presents a high risk of serious injury to highway users.
Main Wiring harness / Main Electrical system malfunction, causing all dash lights to consistently be on. which in turn prevents all of the ADAS functions to no longer work. Vehicle has now been in 2 accidents which could have been prevented by these safety features. vehicle had had main harness replaced at dealers cost at dealership, and one at cost of insurance, problem remains unfixed/unfixable. vehicle is specifically 2022 Subaru outback Onxy XT.
Subarus forward looking eyesight and rear auto braking functions will stop working periodically also the stereo/infotainment system will go blank causing you to no longer access the the safety features of the car or any controls for the heating/AC system.
On or about April 28, 2022, while traveling on route 95 North (an interstate highway) utilizing the Factory GPS system which is in the center console, the entire console went blank. I immediately grew concerned the vehicle steering or acceleration was about to fail and pulled over on the shoulder of the interstate. I turned off the vehicle and restarted it, yet the screen remained blank, which meant I could not control the heat, defroster, air conditioning, GPS, radio, the USB ports, the telephone connections, and etcetera; all were inoperable. As I continued to drive the screen remained blank or blacked out. I pulled into a rest area and waited 20 minutes with the vehicle turned off, and when I restarted the vehicle, it operated normally. On April 29, 2022, vehicle mileage 10,389, I took my 2022 Outback to Subaru, while at the dealership the dealership diagnosed the problem as follows: a new center console Cockpit Control Unit Assembly-Navigation and Display Assembly was ordered. I was told the dealership would contact me when the part arrived. I did not hear from the dealership and on June 27, 2022, vehicle mileage 16,282, I returned to Subaru for the third (3rd) time, and I informed them the problem with the center console continued. I was advised that additional testing was needed. According to the service records a miscellaneous check for the latest software was completed, issue was not resolved, the console failed to accept the updates and a new console was ordered. No warning lamps, codes or errors were noticed, the screen goes blank and the driver wonders what will occur next. In this model, 2022 Outback XT Limited, the screen is over 12 inches tall and is the predominant electrical system in the vehicle. The problem was replicated by the dealership on 5 service visits, it is available for inspection, although the concern occurs daily it is intermitent. After 6 visits the problem has not been repaired/rectified.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Diana, TX, USA