I was on a highway and when I was passing a tractor trailer (while in 6th gear), I stepped on the accelerator and I could hear a loud rattling noise coming from the engine bay. Shortly after, when the speed zone dropped by 30 kms/hr, I put it in neutral and coasted until I was at a lower speed. I then put into a lower gear and it was very difficult to put in. There was grinding noise. I had it in 4th and then there was some very violent noises coming out of the transmission area. I pulled over in an abandoned parking lot and turned off the engine. Got towed to my dealership in town.

Long story short, when the vehicle gets built at the assembly line, they're supposed to paint the flywheel bolt with green paint to show that they torqued it to spec. There was no paint which meant that it was not torqued properly.

So, when I accelerated the torque caused the bolt to come lose and shred my flywheel and clutch. Everything was covered under warranty and free of cost. I was out of a vehicle for about a week and a half.

Fast forward to present, I've noticed that every time I disengage the clutch, a loud squealing/squeaking noise occurs and then when I reengage the clutch as well. I brought it in. They confirmed that the clutch fork and throw out bearing needs replacing. My guess, when they replaced the clutch and flywheel, they didn't lubricate the clutch fork and throw out bearing. Pain in the butt for sure.

On November 27, 2016, my leased 2015 Subaru WRX broke down while driving on the highway with white smoke coming out of the engine compartment. It was towed to the Jim Pattison Northshore Subaru for repairs as it was the nearest location, which turned out to be the only Subaru dealership in the area not open on Sundays. The car was purchased brand new and only has 25,000 km / 15,000 miles.

I had to wait 3 days until they diagnosed the problem and called me back. I was informed by the service department that the clutch/flywheel is destroyed and would need to be replaced for an absurd $2,400 CAD. They did not ask what happened or if there were any previous issues with the clutch – they immediately placed the blame on my driving and refused to repair the car under warranty. I have not experienced any previous issues with the clutch (no vibration, slipping or strange noises). I do not rest my foot on the clutch, race or abuse the car. The car's primary use is for a 20 minute commute to work (not even stop and go traffic). The clutch failure occurred unexpectedly in 6th gear on the highway, slipping and providing no power to the wheels. Luckily this occurred early in the morning and there was little traffic so I was able to pull over safely. In busy traffic this issue could have resulted in a serious accident.

I argued that the car is brand new with only 25,000 km and any issues with the clutch or transmission are a manufacturer’s problem and the repair should be covered under warranty. Any component that fails at such a low mileage is clearly faulty or improperly engineered. My request for the repair to be covered under warranty was denied as this is a “wear and tear item”. Regardless if a part is “wear and tear”, you expect a certain level of quality and a lifespan longer than 25,000 km. The $2,400 for the clutch does not include the potential for further issues with the transmission, which has yet to be opened and inspected. When you purchase a NEW vehicle, you have an expectation for quality parts; this was not the case with the 2015 WRX.

Just one month earlier, in October 2016, I had all 4 tires replaced at the Wolfe Subaru Surrey dealership. They test drove my car after replacing the tires and their service report did not mention any issues with the clutch. This further supports the argument for a faulty part, any slipping or wear should have been noted during the test drive.

I also contacted a 3rd party repair shop for a quote. They would be able to do the same repair for $2200. When I asked the Subaru dealership for a discount or price match the response was “we do not do price matching”. I asked to pay for the diagnostic work and I would have my car towed to the 3rd party shop. Less than 5 minutes later the service department at the Subaru dealership calls me back and agrees to the discounted price. I needed to threaten to take the vehicle to another business before they were willing to assist me financially. I have read about clutch problems being covered under warranty or good will policies in the US, this apparently does not apply to Subaru dealerships in Canada.

I also contacted Subaru Canada directly, who were equally as unhelpful in resolving the problem. I sent in a complaint using their online form but have not had anyone contact me regarding the issue.

My advice to anyone in the market for a new vehicle: DO NOT PURCHASE A SUBARU. You will have nothing but problems with the vehicle and the service provided by dealerships is abysmal. The customer service at the corporate level is just as poor. Needless to say I will not be purchasing a Subaru in the future.

The problem started about 2 weeks after driving it off the lot. It was reported to the dealer that the Clutch was clicking, bad transmission smell and jumpyness in first and second.

Now, I want to add this bit of info before going ahead. My wife bought this car and its her daily drive and family car, I drive a forester XT, Its my 3rd subaru. She learned to drive on a stick and has primarily driven a manual. Throughout this whole process at the subaru service centers (Miller & Haldeman ) they treated her like a girl who doesnt know how to drive stick. Thats pretty sad. This started to get into her head so we went to test drive a new 2016 to see if it was in fact her driving and it clearly wasnt. The car wasnt jumpy, our necks werent snapping when shifting from first to second and downshifting, it didnt stall out when going slow through a parking lot without having to ride the clutch, no clicking clutch. Having said this, here is a ruff timeline of events.

Car was bought with 0 miles on it in May 2014. In fact Haleman Subaru said she couldnt test drive it that the salesman had to. that was weird.

About 2 weeks later the clutch started clicking and bad transmission smell.

June 2014 took it to dealer and they sai it was the normal characteristic of the car.

June 2014 - June 2015. Just delt with the problems because we were told it was normal. All the while the click was getting louder and more frequent. Bad trans smell and it seemed to get rally hot under the hood. Car started to REV on its own on the highway in 6th gear.

June 2015 - Aug 2015. There were several occasions where the car just wouldnt go into gear at all. Would turn car off and back on several times and finally it would go into gear and drive crappily.

August 2015 (Milage 14,248) - Leaving an appointment, it would not go into gear for anything. Subaru roadside assistance towed it to Miller subaru. They Test drove car, found Clutch to be slipping severely, Pulled trans to check clutch, Found fly wheel assembly to have severe heat cracks in it

Without blinking an eye they replaced Clutch and Flywheel assembly.

• Work order:

Revving in 6th gear - Corrected by JAA12 Transaxle ASSY Complete R&R

Corrected by FLYWHEEL and or PILOTBERRING R&R

Installed: Disk Complete Clutch Cover Complete Clutch Bearing Clutch Release Flywheel AY Flexable GSKT EXH Pipe R Cotter Pin

September 2015: Clutch felt totally different than when it was new. felt tighter more jumpy in first and second.

November 2015: Clicking clutch again starting to smell the trans.

March 2016: 18k miles. Car is back in service for clicking clutch.

This really sucks, its a horrible driving experience. We are considering trading it in since they think there is no problem with the car. My hope for this report is that when the second buyer has the clutch burn out the look up this report and see it was a lemon off the lot.

Drove 2 manual cars prior to this one, each one had well over 100,000 miles... never had a clutch issue

clutch on this car lasted 15,000 miles... dealership refused to warranty it (claimed it was "abused" even though it is just a commute car and not even driven in stop & go traffic... and none of my previous cars ever had clutch issues... what a joke)

subaru clearly put a garbage clutch in the WRX (clutch isnt strong enough for the transmission) and refuses to stand behind their products.

the last subaru I will ever buy

awful company

always laugh anymore when I hear about how reliable subarus are... my hyundais were more reliable and the company actually stood behind their warranties unlike Subaru

I am very frustrated with the service I have received from the Subaru customer service at Huffines Subaru in Denton, Texas.

During the month of September 2015, I was driving on the high way and noticed at 6th gear the car was not accelerating the way it should. I immediately pulled over to the closest exit and called road side assistance. The car was taken to Huffines Subaru and the clutch was fixed as a good will under warranty .

About a week later I received my car back and upon entering my vehicle I noticed the clutch was unusually tight and I immediately stalled out in the parking lot of the dealership. I spoke with a representative and was told that, “ the clutch will be tight since it is new, drive it for 500-1,000 miles for it to loosen up.” I did as I was directed from the Subaru representative and continued to drive my WRX.

About 2 weeks later and roughly 1,200 miles I noticed that the clutch went out and did the exact same issue as the first, except a bit worse. I immediately coasted into the closest exit and called roadside assistance AGAIN. At this point I was very frustrated with the performance of a 2015 Subaru WRX. I have studied the vehicle before purchasing it and was very confident in the performance until now.

After the car was looked at, I was told that the vehicle had now a destroyed clutch as well as a destroyed transmission. I was told the WRX was in the condition it was because of “negligent driving and abuse.” I have driven stick for over 11 years now and never had this issue with any of my previous vehicles.

I was told that the vehicle would be a little less than $7,500 to fix the transmission as well as the clutch. That is outrageous and frankly not fair that a new vehicle has this issue and is not covered because it was a faulty new clutch.

First off - this post is by no means a complaint about the dealership that I take my WRX to. The staff at Palm Springs Subaru have been extremely helpful to me and my family, which I am extremely grateful for. They're in the process of replacing the clutch at no charge; not a dime out of pocket.

I'm posting this problem regarding my 2015 WRX for two reasons: one, because the clutch went out after less than 17,000 miles, and two, because the warranty normally doesn't cover wear parts such as this. The service rep mentioned the second part, only to inform me of the warranty coverage for my information (they had already decided to fix the clutch free-of-charge and had the parts on order ... like I said, dealership is great, no complaints).

My wife and I have been driving cars and trucks with manual transmissions for almost 20 years. However, worst-case-scenario - even if the WRX was our first stick-shift ever, there's no way imaginable that it should've gone out after 17k. We love the WRX; it's a great grocery-getter, but with all of the other clutch-related complaints online, we're justifiably worried about the longevity of this car.

Clutch starting slipping in higher gears when trying to accelerate. Dealer took it apart and sent pics to Subaru to determine the nature of the problem. Was told that they would cover it "one time only". Car had 14K miles on it when the clutch failed.

I've been driving manual transmission cars for 43 years. The WRX was my 16th new car with a manual in it. I've never had any problems with a clutch. I'm very gentle on my vehicles, and certainly not abusive with the transmission and clutch. The dealer did not tell me that this clutch is any different than the one from the factory. This tells me I'll be replacing the clutch every 12 - 16 months if I keep the car.

Traded it today for a 2016 Miata. I've owned 4 Subarus and this will be my last.

Son was down at a car show and was returning home. Reminder, this car has already had one clutch replaced. He was coming down an on ramp onto the highway, went to pull in the lane and turn the cruise control on when the RPM's peg and again burns out a clutch. Took it to a different Subaru dealer here in the area and they say Subaru will not cover it under warranty as they can "Prove" this was due to aggressive driving which I'm amazed that they can determine. Son dishes out $1500.00 to get it fixed.

Starting to wonder if there is a design flaw or a manufacturer defect in the housing of the clutch causing issues.

Was the first day of significant snow and my son was in a parking lot learning how to handle the vehicle in the snow (teenager, yeah, I know). He called me and said he wasn't able to get the car to go into gear unless the engine was off. I went over to where he was and finally got the car moving but a real hot smell started and then it wouldn't go into 3rd gear (was limping it along to get it to a safe location) and then it just wouldn't go into gear. I'm not going to say he was being nice to the car but at 2500 miles what happened shouldn't have. Had the car towed and they fixed it with the "One time good faith" like others have reported. Of course they claimed it was aggressive driving on my son's part.

While I didn't argue at the time it seemed plausible that a brand new car throws out an entire clutch.

On 12/26 at 4:30pm an appt online for clutch slipping on WRX.for 10 am 12/27. stood in service area 15mins finally greeted Brittany told her the the issue. Brittany stated wait in waiting room the manager I made appt with was out sick.At 10:45 she came to waiting area to ask how made the appt. I told her I made it online.She stated why would you make an appt online such a serious issue thats only for oil changes, you should have called, we don't have any subaru techs working today due to holiday.further stated would not be able to get a loaner these needed to be arranged for and two were reserved.I explained that if appts shouldn't be made online then why does it allow it and confirm and why isn't anyone looking at appts, like a service manager especially when svc guy is out along with service techs. She stated well its automated and we cant do anything, you can go to another dealer because we are busy so wed would be best come back...WEDNESDAY NEW YEARS EVE .my clutch is slipping the car is dangerous and you want me to come back because your busy?After listing to more excuses on why she can't do her job and get my car fixed, she finally made appt Mon 8:30. dropped the car off again dealt with her attitude and excuses on why no one is paying attention to appts made and that she is busy and only 1 person. At 10:30 she calls and states transmission needed to be dropped and the service tech agreed clutch was slipping but it is SUBARU PROTOCOL to verify if agressive driving was cause. I stated I had no idea what agressive driving meant. At 1:35 she called and told me I was abusing my car that the clutch plate n flywheel where bade and that Subaru was doing me a onetime a favor to fix. I searched the internet and find that the WRX HAS THIS PROBLEM ALL OVER THE PLACE and always the service guys try to blame the customer. First of ALL WHO IS SHE TO TELL ME I ABUSE MY CAR, infuriating doesn't begin to describe the experience and especially since I DON'T abuse my car for this person to tell me I am and she was doing me a favor? When I went to ask how long before car is ready she hung up on me. I called the Service Manager MIKE C at 1:37 pm to complain about the service, or lack there of and still have not received a return call. I see why the service department is garbage, the manager doesn't follow up on weekends nor during the week either. I Searched internet THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE. No return call on status of car rest of day. I paid 30K for this car on 5/30/2014 and drive it very carefully. I have driven clutch cars for 30 years and some service person is going to tell me I abuse my car. HOW DARE YOU!!! I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS PLACE AGAIN THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE. No return call on status of car rest of day. WARN OTHRS COCONUT CREEK HORRIBLE

Update from Jan 2, 2015: So after they blame me for the clutch issue. Finally got car back first time on highway after they dropped the transmission and played the blame game and the hose pops off my car and I am dead on the road. Never was called by Subaru Service Manager after complaining, blamed customer for clutch issue and RUDE as could be stating no way it was defective. NOW hoses popping off car like magic after being in THEIR service department for two days.