NHTSA — Power Train Problems

2011 Subaru Outback (Page 3 of 11)

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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
92,439 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2011 Subaru Outback drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2011 Subaru Outback Owner Comments (Page 3 of 11)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #163

Oct 262020

Outback

  • 147,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When stopping the car stalls and dies on streets, highways, etc. I have almost been rear ended and it even died while obstructing oncoming traffic. Subaru issued a technical services bulletin (tsb 16-90-13R) which describes the issue perfectly, however due to milage (40K over 100K) they will not correct the bad part, which is no longer even availaable to purchase through them! part # 31100ab170. The new part 31100ab171 and 31100ab172 should be issued to all 2010-2012 Outback owners as a recall. If they will not even sell the original part anymore because they know it is garbage and then play the feel good best car ever commercials, that is misleading and fraudulent. Help NHTSA, you are our only hope.

- Carson City, NV, USA

problem #162

Aug 202020

Outback

  • 99,000 miles
While entering an intersection, upon breaking the Subaru unexpectedly stalled out. We were very startled because the car behind us honked the horn for us to move on. We feel very unsafe now with our everyday driving.

- Malden, MA, USA

problem #161

Apr 012020

Outback

  • 132,000 miles
The randomly stalls when trying to accelerate after coming to a complete stop. This has happened on numerous occasions, and has left me and my son stalled in the middle of an intersection on a few occasions. On one occassion, we were almost hit by a car entering the intersection. In addition to this, the at oil lights up whenever traveling longer distances. The mechanic has said the car has a failing transmission. I contacted soa due to the the extended warranty they have on the vehicle. The car meets the 10 year time-frame of the extended warranty but they will not honor the extension because of the miles which were 132,000. I just bought the car put maybe $1000 miles on it before the transmission started giving us problems. There is a documented issue with the Subaru 2011 cvt that requires a recall, not an extended warranty. Look all of the internet on customers having their cvt transmission fail at just over 100,000 miles and being stuck with $7000 repair bills.

- Mound, MN, USA

problem #160

Jul 272020

Outback

  • 4 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When am driving and I need to stop for any emergency and I hit the brakes the engine will stall due a failure torque converter manufacture, it is really dangerous and after a sudden stop I would not be able to drive away and I was about to involve in a major accident because of this stalling issue.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #159

Nov 222019

Outback 4-cyl

  • 115,000 miles
November 2019, at 115,000 miles the transmission started slipping requiring a replacement. I was told by Subaru of America corporate that "Subaru doesn't have transmission problems." There is a lot of evidence out there to the contrary. May of 2020 the vehicle started overheating. It was diagnosed by a mechanic that the head gasket was failing and needed to be replaced. This is another known issue with Subaru. A $28,000 2011 auto is only supposed to last 120,000 miles?

- Ann Arbor, MI, USA

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problem #158

Jun 092020

Outback 4-cyl

  • 147,000 miles
Torque converter assembly repair. When slowing down to a stop, the car shakes, shimmies and shuts off. I have to restart. This is very dangerous. I've spoken to Subaru and they say they won't fix the problem on my car because it has 149K miles on it. They say they will give me 1,000 dollars toward purchase of a new car. I would like my car repaired.

- Cranford, NJ, USA

problem #157

Jul 012020

Outback 4-cyl

  • 88,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

6 speed manual transmission - when coming to stop quickly from high speed, clutch is fully depressed (and even sometimes in neutral), the engine rpms drop very low causing the engine to shudder. This has been occurring consistently for over 1 year but dealership has claimed they are unable to replicate the problem. This is very concerning due to the fact the engine could stall causing loss of control. This seems very similar to the symptoms of a bad torque converter as recalled on the automatic transmission, however, obviously this can't be the case for a mt.

- Lagrangeville, NY, USA

problem #156

May 292020

Outback

  • 120,000 miles
Subaru of America's corporate call center and two separate dealerships (prime Subaru manchester nh, clay Subaru norwood MA) provided wrong information on numerous occasions that conflicted with their tsb 11-104-11. They affirmatively said that there was never an update for the transmission control module available for the vehicle after it left the factory. This is completely incorrect and thus I spent 2 years troubleshooting a known issue, hundreds of dollars on diagnostic fees, and I even replaced the torque converter as it was afflicted with the squeal described in tsb 16-101-16R and we couldn't rule out that issue. The symptom is an erratic shifting pattern, especially when slowing down for a red light then speeding up when it turns green. I did my own research to discover this tsb via online posts and download it from the NHTSA website. Kristen weaver was the associate I spoke to at Subaru of America on 5/29/2020. She denied that the tsb applies to my car even though it clearly says on the tsb that all MY11 Outback 3.6R are effected. Prime Subaru in manchester nh performed the torque converter replacement and should have updated the tcm at the time, but they said there was no update available. Clay Subaru in norwood MA also said affirmatively that there was never a tcm update available. Milford Subaru in milford nh finally applied the update at my specific request and confirmed that prime Subaru should have done so when they did the torque converter update, and that they did not.

- Hookset, NH, USA

problem #155

Apr 262020

Outback 4-cyl

  • 120,000 miles
P0700/P2764 code after every light on the dash lit up after driving in hard rain. Vehicle shifts hard and is randomly stalling while driving. After extensive research transmissions are failing and Subaru refuses to recall the cvt transmissions in effected vehicles.

- Kirkland, IL, USA

problem #154

Jun 022020

Outback 4-cyl

  • miles
Car shudders and almost stalls when slowing to a stop.

- Brighton, MA, USA

problem #153

Apr 172020

Outback 6-cyl

  • 94,467 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I have been reporting problems with my transmission since 2012 to my regular dealership, star Subaru when the car had just 23,472 miles on it. At this point, I believe that I have been wrongfully denied warranty coverage. Then again, in 2017, while still under warranty, I brought my Outback to star Subaru complaining that while driving slow, the car tends to 'jump' mid-drive, almost like someone rear ended you. The car at this point was at about 94,467 miles, under the 100,000 mile warranty limit. After numerous complaints I finally received a test drive with a Subaru mechanic at star Subaru in bayside, queens, NY. He concluded that it needed transmission parts, a torque converter/valve body. At that point I was set to have it replaced once the parts came in. Weeks went by and I heard nothing. I contacted Subaru of America who was able to set me up with East hills Subaru. The soa person was very helpful with the transition. They performed their own diagnostic, and the condition at the time would not replicate. Unfortunately, when this 'jump/slam' happens, it does spontaneously. We cannot make it happen, nor do we even know when it is going to happen. It was always very sporadic. Sometimes it would happen on the highway going 65, or sometimes less than 5mph. On a long trip back from Vermont, there would be a large revving sound, and then it felt as if someone hit us from behind. Once again, I took the car to Subaru, only to be told they simply couldn't 'replicate the problem', and therefore would not do anything to help us. On April 3rd 2019, I bring my car in again to East hill Subaru. Check engine light on. They do recall. They also troubleshoot the check engine code, which now comes up clearly as P1710 torque converter turbine 2 speed signal circuit malfunction. Now it's not covered under warranty.the price tag is very high, almost $6,000!

- Stewart Manor, NY, USA

problem #152

Feb 262020

Outback

  • 110,351 miles
The vehicle has a faulty torque converter. This will cause the engine to stall during emergency braking. Thus increasing the likelihood of a serious accident. Subaru is aware of the problem and issued a tsb 16-90-13R.

- Boise, ID, USA

problem #151

Feb 252020

Outback

  • 115,000 miles
Vehicle stalls during hard braking causing an extremely unsafe condition when happening on the road. Obviously once the car stalls the operator can no control and must put the car in park to restart. Diagnosed by dealer as bad torque converter.

- Dingmans Ferry, PA, USA

problem #150

Mar 012016

Outback

  • 142,000 miles
My transmission was serviced for a torque converter recall at this date. Just a few thousand miles later my transmission continues to deteriorate.it makes loud noises while driving. My Subaru dealer indicates the transmission could fail at any time and will fail eventually.Subaru corporate says that this is not their problem. They have an arbitrary 100,000 warranty for the issue. I'm concerned the issue will cause me to be involved in an accident. Or leave me stranded, both of which are safety issues. Can you please help me resolve this with Subaru. Shouldn't by transmission warranty have reset, when they serviced the trans for the torque converter recall. Thank you for your assistance.

- Berkley, MI, USA

problem #149

Feb 082020

Outback

  • 120,600 miles
2011 Subaru Outback engine occasionally shudders and is slow to start up, particularly in extreme cold. Starting today, 2/8/2020, when driving and coming to a stop, running engine stalled and shut down on multiple occasions. First when driving on a busy street; turned ignition off and restarted engine, driving slowly home. Second when braking to a stop at an intersection on drive ti berman Subaru of Chicago dealership for inspection. Berman's inspection said no codes were stored, provided this service recommendation: "give owner option of either a new trans or a torque converter. If converter is replaced there may be internal trans issues. Recommendation: Replace torque converter and O ring. Approved: $ $154.95 - declined: $ 2,457.53"

- Oak Park, IL, USA

problem #148

Jan 192020

Outback

  • 140,000 miles
I have read other owners having problems with their torque converters causing the car to stall out and die. Now I am having this problem in my car. This will cause dangerous situation and Subaru will be sued because they did not perform a recall

- Mount Juliet, TN, USA

problem #147

Nov 112019

Outback

  • 120,000 miles
My 2011 Subaru Outback started to stall out when coming to a slow stop. It would intermittently feel like it was going to die when slowing down and waiting in the middle of intersections which was very terrifying especially in heavy, on-coming traffic. Sometimes it would completely stall and the engine would stop which I would then have to quickly restart. It was taken to a Subaru dealer for assessment and it was determined the torque converter was failing. After googling this issue, I found out that is such a common problem that Subaru has admitted to it and offered an extended warranty (up to 100,000 miles) on some 1.5 million of their cars. Well, my car was just over the 100K mile mark so I was told I was out of luck. Of course this is a $4,000+ repair done at the dealer. And if the torque converter caused damage to the cvt transmission then you have to have the entire cvt replaced at a cost of $8,000! the drain the transmission to see if any metal flakes are in the fluid. If there are then you'll need to get a new cvt transmission. We will never buy another Subaru again after all their issues and significant recalls. This is clearly a safety issue and I don't understand why it's not a serious recall!

- Tacoma, WA, USA

problem #146

Jan 062020

Outback

  • 133,000 miles
Tsb was issued for this defective torque converter. Original warranty was extended, but vehicle is now out of warranty extension. Subaru denied my request to fix their design flaw as documented in service bulletin # 16-90-13R. The car engine shuts off when applying the brakes - thus creating a major safety issue.

- Apex, NC, USA

problem #145

Dec 232019

Outback

  • 114,000 miles
The car jumps and jerks, similar to a manual transmission stalling. This has occurred during acceleration from a stop at a red light, to deceleration in highway traffic!! upon taking it in for service at the Subaru schumacher in West palm beach, fl. The service manager informed me it's a common problem. Subaru is well aware of it, yet there is no recall. Sudden stalling of the vehicle is a serious safety issue! apparently someone must die for action to be taken! the dealer says to replace the valve body at a cost of $2345 + tax. Then mentions they will test drive the car, and if not resolved, they must replace the torque converter at $3500 +tax!!! any online search will tell you this car with 114,000 miles is not worth that! Subaru knows about this serious problem, and continues to place these faulty cvt transmissions in service. Problem persists up to 2017 models, simply because 2018/19 models haven't reached the mileage yet for failure. This statement came from the service manager himself. Thank you arnaud for being honest. Goodbye forever Subaru, you've lost a customer and hopefully you don't get anyone killed over this!

- West Palm Beach, FL, USA

problem #144

Nov 272019

Outback

  • 135,000 miles
Automobile stalling completely after braking to complete stop at stop light and stop signs on 3 separate occasions. Shuddering and shaking or automobile observed. Torque converter replaced in order to solve problem. Not known whether or not problem is completely fixed.

- Parkville, MD, USA

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