10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
23,435 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.

2015 Subaru Outback body / paint problems

body / paint problem

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2015 Subaru Outback Owner Comments

problem #17

Oct 232022

Outback 4-cyl

  • miles

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

While driving on 55mph road, sunroof suddenly shattered for no apparent reason (no sudden impact from rock or other debris), producing a loud bang, startling driver. Driver momentarily swerved due to being startled by noise from next to head before correcting. No other cars were around on the road at the time and driver is sure no rocks or other objects fell onto sunroof (covered by rooftop cargo box, no trees near street to drop debris). Pieces of glass went upwards and ended up on roof of vehicle.

- Oak Creek, CO, USA

problem #16

Dec 192020

Outback

  • miles
Tapped the accelerator. The car suddenly lurched backward. I put it in neutral and hit the brakes. Nothing happened.I didnt want to hit there garage or my son in laws car so I swerved to the right. I hit the brakes and again nothing happened. The car hit the neighbor bush and eventually came to rest when it hit the neighbors Honda right door. I then put it drive and pulled back onto my daughters driveways and had a difficult time stopping the vehicle. It did approx. $2200 damage to my Subaru Outback sending it to the collision shop for two weeks.

- Saint Johns, FL, USA

problem #15

May 152019

Outback

  • 100,000 miles
The rear doors for our 2015 Outback are stuck in the child safety lock position. This is the second time this has happened. We paid over $300+ to have the mechanic accidentally break the switch and then repair it. The switch on the other door is also stuck with the child safety lock engaged.

- Colorado Spgs, CO, USA

problem #14

Jul 072020

Outback

  • 43,300 miles

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

2015 Outback with 43,300 miles. Total brake failure while driving down a hill. I was able to stop the car with the transmission before it reached the railroad tracks. Dealer said this was due to excessive corrosion of the underbody of the car. Brake lines corroded and ruptured. Dealer said this was normal amount of corrosion. (they did not want to put this in writing) contacted Subaru of America. (case # 1-58312860198) they said that since dealer said it was no big deal there was nothing they could do. Case closed. I am concerned that since the corrosion is so severe that this could happen again. (this car has a long history of other things not working)

- North Huntingdon, PA, USA

problem #13

Jul 012015

Outback 4-cyl

  • 44,000 miles
My car was parked in my driveway and developed a crack in the front windshield. No impact mark or anything. Cracked in the lower passenger side windshield like all 2015 and newer Subaru Outbacks apparently do. There are numerous complaints online with people detailing the exact same issue yet no recall yet.

- Seymour, IN, USA

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problem #12

Nov 052019

Outback

  • miles
Passenger side "child lock" will not disengage. Door is permanently locked from the inside because of a faulty child lock. We set the child lock our child was a toddler but now it's stuck in the on position.

- Maple Valley, WA, USA

problem #11

Dec 272018

Outback

  • 27,000 miles

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

Fuel door does not open to allow access to gas cap. I was low on gas and could not fill the tank because I could not access the gas cap.

- Rockville Centre, NY, USA

problem #10

Dec 292018

Outback

  • 65,000 miles
We were driving our 2015 Subaru Outback at about 55mph on US20, the temperature was in the mid 30's, in East Oregon when our sunroof spontaneously exploded. There were no other vehicles around and there was no impact from foreign objects. There was a loud, distracting, bang followed by a cloud of shattered glass coming from the back of the car. The sunroof cover was closed and the tempered glass fragments collected in the well and rattled around for the remaining 3 1/2 hours of our journey.

- Bend, OR, USA

problem #9

Oct 072018

Outback

  • 25,000 miles
Rear hatch does not reliably open - cannot close after manual override. Vehicle has had issue for over 15000 miles and 5 times at the dealer but has not been resolved. Rear hatch does not open reliably and when a manual override is necessary to remove cargo or pets, the hatch does not close easily and door light remains on even while driving. This causes and obvious safety issue both for cargo escaping the vehicle and also for exhaust entering the vehicle. This occurs with all doors unlocked, vehicle is stopped, key fob is attempted as well as door trigger to open the hatch. No memory set when attempting to open. No user error.

- Hopkinton, MA, USA

problem #8

Feb 212017

Outback

  • 19,059 miles
Rear electric liftgate sporadically fails to open. This condition persists whether I press the button on the liftgate, the dashboard liftgate button, or the key fob button. I can hear the liftgate unlatch, however it fails to open more than a couple inches. Lithia Subaru (Oregon city) has not been able to repair. We purchased our vehicle new from the dealer. It has exhibited this problem from the first day we owned it. Subaru should recall and fix all vehicles with this problem. I feel strongly this is an design defect of the electrical system. This sporadic condition presents itself when the vehicle is stationary, both when the engine is running and when it is not. There doesn't seem to be any set of conditions upon which I can cause or predict the failure.

- Carson, WA, USA

problem #7

Oct 072016

Outback

  • 38,629 miles

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

The front passenger door has delaminated. This is confirmed by a the door sounding like a drum when closed, the lower portion of the door vibrating when closed and a mechanic at the daryl waltrip dealership who inspected the inside of the door. The dealer only wants to put a band aid on the problem by placing pads inside the door to deaden the sound. The concern is for the front seat passenger who could be seriously injured in a side impact collision because of the reduced structural integrity of the door.

- Clarksville, TN, USA

problem #6

Sep 092015

Outback

  • 4,000 miles
The Subaru Outback 2015 was parked in a lot after a 12 minute drive and burst into flames. It was purchased in February 2015 and was not yet due for servicing when the event happened. The Subaru Outback manufactured from July 3rd-27th 2015 has been recalled due to "possibility of fire due to a transmission fluid leak". I believe the same thing occurred with my car and I am concerned that if the model is not recalled someone will get badly injured or killed due to fire.

- Yakima, WA, USA

problem #5

Jul 272015

Outback

  • 10,950 miles
Windshield cracked in parking lot. Very long break starting at base and continued halfway up through the center.

- Kingsville, TX, USA

problem #4

Jul 222015

Outback

  • 3,000 miles
For the second time, after being pinged by a small stone, the windshield developed a crack circa 3000 miles similar experience w/ 2014 Subaru Outback also w/ low mileage never had to replace windshield in some 56 years of driving three times in 7 months seems to indicate some sort of systemic or windshield configuration problem?

- Rochester, NY, USA

problem #3

Jun 072015

Outback

  • 17,600 miles
Vehicle was parked outside overnight. In the morning a 12" S shaped crack had appeared in the passenger side of the windshield. There was no detectable prior damage and no known impact to cause the crack. The crack has continued to grow and branch. Dealer states the windshield fails the "pen test, " I.e. there is a tiny nick at one point of the crack which, they say, proves the crack is due to impact damage. I believe the chip appeared after the crack formed, but cannot prove this (nor can the dealer prove the opposite). Online research suggests there is a design defect in 2015 Subaru Outback windshields, which fail at remarkable rate.

- Chestertown, MD, USA

problem #2

May 012015

Outback

  • 850 miles
This is a brand new Subaru outlander with 850 miles. The windshield got a small chip, about 1mm in size near the very top. As I was driving along the windshield started to crack from the small ding down, approximately 1 foot in length. This should not happen with new windshield glass in a new car.

- Warwick, RI, USA

problem #1

Dec 182014

Outback 4-cyl

  • miles
Note: No accident - reporting safety issue!!! incident date = date issue identified: As the driver, I am seeing light under the hood in the space between the edge of the dashboard and the opening under the hood. Outside light and road images are visible through the opening for the drivers wiper, due to the wide gap between the drivers front fender and hood. I found this shortly after purchase when I adjusted my seat to the position most comfortable for driving. This was reported to my dealer and Subaru. In addition, I presented a video and pictures that shows from the drivers seat, inside the vehicle, I can clearly see outside light and images which is distracting when I drive and to me a safety issue. Please review video and pictures links for full details: Video: youtu.be/6ehucznjw2U standard format version (lowercase all characters expect following /----czn--2U) hd pictures: Https://drive.google.com/open?id=0by5M44gnhdecfllfadm0vmrntm9pns1kbezibej6ewsycvjlexrlsufvthniwupqrxhkr1K&authuser=0

- Madison, WI, USA

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