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.
Over the past year my mechanic has put in two new batteries in my car. My 2011 Outback has a problem with starting, this was back when I had 80,000 miles on it. The connectors where fine and he cleaned them. The issue still has not been resolved, he can't seem to figure out what is causing it. There is no problem with the alternator. The passenger rear brake light has been replaced three times in four years of ownership, again no cause for the problem. I've taken it to authorized Subaru dealerships and the original one I purchased from to no prevail. Today I write with the issue of my cvt. The fact that I received a one year or 100,000 miles from date of year made is or which ever comes first is complete crap. Today I started experiencing issues with the car wanting to what I describe as stalling out. I was going down my road which was slushy from snow/rain but mainly wet from the rain that came. Subaru told me there is nothing wrong, and won't do anything till something brakes. So if the problem which has plagued almost fifty thousand Outbacks causing 'stalling" like manuals when the clutch isn't engaged and being told it needs to brake"? this is not safe to owners. This is not safe to other motorists.this is deaths waiting to happen, this needs to be addressed and made a recall. Only in the United States can a manufacturer get away with such things as this. I'm heading into winter in new england, last thing I need is for my car to fail in a storm, medical situation etc.. and be stranded because the automaker isn't taken full responsibility. Snow blows don't stop on a time, is it really necessary to continue to neglect the problem ?" which should be a recall which is failure on the government for not forcing the issue.
The Subaru Outback front halogen head lamp bulbs keep going out. Have had to replace both sides within the last 8 months. Now front left lamp is out again and needs replacement.
Two low beam highlights burned out at same time after starting car at night around 10:00 pm. After that, the battery was getting worse and dead at the service center just before replacing the highlight bulbs. The manager said that the battery's situation was not related with the problem of the high light, and there was no clues.
Manufacturer recall number wqe41; NHTSA recall number 12V602000.puddle lights for 2011 Subaru Outback. In January 2013, I received a recall notice from Subaru.. since receiving the recall notice, I have made numerous, really, numerous, attempts to have this recall addressed by my local Subaru dealer. All attempts to have this recall addressed have been unsuccessful. I have been repeatedly told that the parts are on back order. My puddle lights have ceased working which is an indicator of an electrical short within the electrical system which may result in smoke or fire according to the ntsb. On April 8, 2017 my latest attempt to get a definitive answer from my local Subaru concerning repair of the puddle lights and completion of the recall was again unsuccessful.
The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. While reversing the vehicle, the brakes failed. The contact attempted to shift and turn off the vehicle; however, it would not power down. The failure occurred without warning. As a result of the brake failure, the rear of the vehicle struck a tree. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. After restarting the vehicle, it was fully functional. The contact stated that the failure occurred once previously. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000. The VIN was not provided.
- Smithtown, NY, USA
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The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. While driving approximately 35 mph, the ABS, brakes, traction control, check engine, and cruise control indicators remained illuminated. The contact drove home and contacted an independent mechanic who performed a function test of the ABS pump/module and was able to clear all the codes. The failure recurred after one year. The contact called the independent mechanic and was advised to bring the vehicle back. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was 61,986.
My headlights have gone out 6 times! the last time I switched to an led system and now it has blown my rf headlight in 6 months! led it supposed to last longer! I definitely have some kind of electrical issue!
The contact owned a 2011 Subaru Outback. While driving approximately 30 mph, the steering lost power without warning. The vehicle was pulled to the side of the road and smoke appeared underneath the hood. The contact quickly exited the vehicle. Within a couple of minutes, the vehicle became engulfed in flames and was destroyed. A police report was filed. The fire department arrived and extinguished the fire. There were no injuries sustained. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.
Ongoing failure of both passenger and driver side headlamps. Same complaint that others have documented that this is an ongoing issue and the headlamps are difficult to replace. Serious safety hazard and can also lead to traffic violations. Subaru needs to provide a fix, not just a one-time reimbursement of replacement headlamps.
Frequent replacement of low beam bulbs. Not easy to replace and Subaru service best equipped to do procedure. Labor costs at various dealers for this service widely vary and can increase without reason. Subaru of America recently sent out letter saying warranty on bulbs has been extended (not that there is issue with electrical system). Soa will replace or refund, however, this does not solve the issue of continued (perceived) deficiency in the lighting system overall and refund requirements are very stringent per the letter they sent. I consider this issue as a safety defect. We have both an Outback and legacy that are both affected by this. Have owned legacy since new and replaced both bulbs four times since taking ownership. Have tried other brand bulbs to no better result (hence my belief it is electrical system). Per one of the service advisors I've spoken to in the past, the system is designed such that when one bulb burns out, more current flows to the one bulb still working and will burn it out prematurely (furthering my belief that it is a safety issue). They said this in recommending replacement of both bulbs at once. Would like to see recall or greater effort on soa's part.
I have replaced the passenger side low beam lights multiple times also when I started the car the brake light, traction control light, and multiple other lights started blinking while driving. This scared me very much. The owners manual seemed to imply brake failure and to stop immediately, which I did. Called aaa and they towed my car to thoroughbred transmission in laurel. They checked the codes and nothing made sense to them. The called Subaru and described the problem ans Subaru said it was a software problem and it needed to up upgraded. Since I had an extended warranty with Subaru I took the car to them. I also took the Subaru wvu31 bulletin with me. Subaru said they did not see the codes and even though I took the thoroughbred documentation with me they refused to upgrade the software. It is clear that Subaru was not interested in fixing the issue, refused to accept the warranty and charged me $70. So next time this does the same thing and I keep driving I may in fact have a serious problem but not know it. I need Subaru to install the software upgrade.
Started vehicle and center counsel would not light up. Headlights and fog lights worked and electric windows were ok. Second incident: Same as first - also heard sound in dash that acted like a loose wire or stripped wire that had touched metal and shorted out. Latter on after resting, the electrical came back to the counsel.
Ascended steep hill and stopped at stop sign. Processed to drive through intersection uphill. All lights on dash began to flicker on and off and car stalled out going down the road. After this occurred, I lost all electrical functions of car. I was not able to restart car, place car into park, apply emergency brake, turn on hazard lights, and the power brakes and steering were not present. I spent 5-7 minutes trying to restart the car and trying to figure out a way to stabilize the car since I was currently going down a steep hill without anyway of stabilizing it. After this time, smoke began coming out from under the hood. I had to coast car down hill into busy intersection and turn it onto next road in order to find a flat area to stabilize car so I could get out of it. When I got out, I began seeing flames drop down from front driver side of engine area. The car quickly caught on fire and most of the engine burnt out before flames were extinguished. The fire appeared to start in computer area. This car was bought new and have had no previous problems with the car, except we have had to change the low beam headlight bulbs several times while owning it. After I witnessed my car catch on fire and afterwards discovered Subaru has a service bulletin for the torque converter, I believe the headlight issue and the torque converter issues are all connected. I believe what happened to my car is the torque converter failed that day causing an over voltage/over draw of power that was so bad it took out my computer unit, I then believe the battery continued to feed the computer unit, in its unresponsive state, until it caught on fire. The fire inspector told me sometimes bulbs will burnt out due to an over voltage situation. Something is definitely overdrawing power and it needs to be looked into because it endangers every driver, passenger, and anyone around these cars.
Have owned the vehicle since new. After one year of use began having trouble with low beam headlights burning out. At this time I have replaced at both sides at least 5 times. I do not have this amount of trouble with any other vehicles. I always use gloves when replacing the lights. Replacing the bulbs is not easy as you must go through the wheel well. This can lead to delay on replacing the bulb. Given that they fail frequently, my concern is they will both fail at the same time. I am not having this issue with the high beams.
Vehicle has repeated loss of lighting due to frequent headlight bulb failure. The low beam light bulbs have suffered electrical failure 3 times in the last 1.5 years. Both sides of the vehicle have been affected each time at the same time. The bulbs fail in the same manner each time, in which the filament breaks off inside the bulb. This failure is typical of excessive voltages being applied to the bulb, and not of "normal wear." All 3 replacements, the brand of bulb was changed to determine if a faulty bulb was made. However the issue persists. Continued failure could result in an accident should the unpredictable failure occur at night. Please investigate as this failure appears to be common among many owners.
Driver's side headlight bulb burned out three times in three weeks, harness apparently needs to be replaced. Common problem on legacy wagons and vehicle is out of warranty. Lots of deer around here, so two headlights are a safety item for sure.
This vehicle must have an electrical problem. Since this auto was purchased I have experienced low beam head light failure four time...two were covered under warranty. The taillights/stop have been replaced three times. Lights are an essential part of safety on the road. Subaru has a problem which they have not come up with any remedial help for the consumer.
I purchased the car (2011 Outback) new in October of 2011. Since then headlights have been replaced at least 4 times and now (September 2015) other exterior lights are starting to fail. It appears this is a common problem. I replaced the driver's side headlight less than a month ago and it is already burned out again. This is a repeated problem and it seems that we're getting less and less life out of the headlights as time goes on. The Subaru dealer seems to think this is just an effect of driving with the headlights on (what am I supposed to do, drive without light?) and not an actual problem with the car.
The battery was not producing power after 4 yrs. Service. Replaced battery without any complications other than the fact that the electronic parking brake is nonfunctional. Search for error codes using obdii was non-productive. A brake should work whenever needed, not when the computer (or other peripheral device) decides when it should work. The electric parking brake should be eliminated from automobile design. This should be a high priority safety concern as property and people are at risk from non-functional brakes.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Sheffield, MA, USA