While driving, the clutch became stiff and unusable. Ultimately the car could not be shifted resulting in using a lower gear than normal to limp the car to safety. The car had to be towed to a mechanic. During the repair the mechanic identified that the cause of the failure was the clutch fork pivot ball punched through the stamped steel clutch fork. Looking online this seems to be a common failure since aftermarket re-designed parts are offered. I feel this is a manufacturer defect which resulted in the clutch failure and a $2500 repair. This car is only 7 years old with 67K miles on it. The clutch fork should not have failed catastrophically at this point in the car's life.

- Mechanicsburg, PA, USA

My complaint pertains to my 2016 Subaru WRX clutch. The clutch stopped working after approximately 14,000 miles and 15 months of ownership. The dealership and Subaru of America have judged this to be regular user wear and tear and are not covering it under warranty. I was told by the service manager and the soa that this is not an unusual occurrence. The clutch failed without warning in December 2016 while I was traveling on the highway at about 60 mph. I had put the vehicle in neutral while coasting down a hill. When I tried to re-enter gear at the base of the hill I found the gear box resisted entering all gears. I was unable to put the car back into gear and was forced to make an emergency exit from the flow of traffic to the shoulder. My car only reengaged into gear when I turned it off, put the car into gear (with some struggle), and then restarted the car. I immediately took the car to a service station. I was exceptionally lucky that I was able to perform the emergency exit from traffic without getting into a crash. Some additional notes on issue. First, the car had undergone regularly scheduled maintenance less than 2 months prior. That maintenance schedule includes an inspection of the vehicles transmission. The authorized Subaru dealership that performed the maintenance reported no problems with the transmission. Second, the vehicle is primarily used as a highway commuter. It has not been used for any motorsport, track racing, extreme driving. Third, for what it's worth ' I know how to drive a manual transmission car. This is my 6th manual transmission car in 15 years and this is my first-ever clutch issue. For a vehicle to fail in such a spectacular fashion with no warning so soon after regular maintenance and at such low mileage is, in my opinion, a serious hazard.

- Prattville, AL, USA

In my 2016 Subaru WRX I have had the consistent problem of getting it from neutral into 1st gear. It is either extremely difficult or impossible to get the car into first from a (I.e. traffic light) stop. It feels like there is something blocking the slot for the gear- sometimes the only way to get it into 1st is to completely restart the car. If I drive 30 miles in a day around town on the street, this 1st gear sticking issue happens 6/10 traffic lights. I took the car into a Subaru dealership shop but they couldn't replicate the issue during a technician test drive.

- Washington, DC, USA

I started having problems with the clutch/transmission in my 2016 WRX at 580 miles. I was exiting a highway and pulled the transmission out of 6th. As I was about to shift into 3rd to go through the intersection I was unable to shift into any gear (stuck in neutral) with the clutch pedal fully depressed. I had to pull over turn the car off and restart it before I could get the transmission into gear. The problem occurred again at approximately 3500 miles. This time I was driving down the highway shifting from 5th into 6th. I pressed the clutch pulled the transmission out of 5th and could not get it into 6th or any gear. I pulled onto the shoulder and still could not get the car into any gear. I turned the car off and went back to restart, with the transmission in neutral, when I let up off the clutch the car stalled. I put the transmission into 1st, pressed the clutch and started the car. When the car started this time it lunged forward. I was able to get back on the highway. I immediately took the car to the local Subaru dealer. They were unable to duplicate the problem and said there was nothing else the can do until the are able to duplicate the problem. Since the second occurrence I started noticing a strong burnt smell at low speed (shifting 1st to 2nd) and at cruising highway speeds in 6th gear. About 1000 miles later it happened again this time not only could I not shift into any gear I could not get the clutch pedal to come up all the way, this occurred at 35mph. I had to press the clutch several times in order to get it to come up fully, then I was able to get the vehicle into gear. The burning smell was present when this happened. I took the vehicle into the dealership I purchased the car from. They have been unable to duplicate the problem. They also claim they can't work on the car until they can duplicate the issue.

- Mills River, NC, USA