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.
The contact's wife owns a 2012 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving and coming to a stop, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was restarted and operated as designed. The vehicle was taken to miller hill Subaru located at (4710 miller trunk hwy, duluth, mn 55811, (218) 722-5337) to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the torque converter in the transmission failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 105,000.
Transmission jerks. Then the instrument panel lights are flashing. Trac control, brake loight and cruise light flashing. Check engine light on and will not pass inspection!checked internet and many years and models have same problem. Repair cost of parts alone over $900 happens while accelerating.
Vehicle stalled out several times while driving. Once when braking hard after a car cut in front of me and the second when stopping quickly at a stop light. The car also shutters a little when idling. The dealer says it is the torque converter. I had a $3K transmission repair last year. They said the torque converter would be $1700. The car has 178,000 miles and has regular maintenance. The dealer said it was time to make a decision about a new car. What?! I know in the past these cars would easily make it to 300K miles. This should be a recall.
The vehicle stalls when coming to a stop. If the accelerator is pushed you can avoid the stall but this is not always feasible. The sudden stall out is very unsafe as it takes putting the vehicle in park, restarting, putting in drive to mobilize the vehicle again.
I've been experiencing intermittent issues with the transmission where the vehicle would shudder like it was about to shut off when braking. I've also experienced issues where after starting the vehicle and placing the vehicle into gear, the vehicle would lock up. I took my vehicle to a certified mechanic back in September 2018 who pointed me to a technical service bulletin addressing the same issues I was having: Tsb 16-90-13R, and recommended I go to a Subaru dealership for diagnostics, and repair potentially under extended warranty. I did take my vehicle and get a transmission flush which seemed to alleviate the issue. However, after taking my vehicle to my local Subaru dealership, I was told they could not reproduce the issue, or see any related codes; there doesn't appear to be any record of this issue recorded except for a related warranty request for seat repair. Now that I am experiencing this issue again, I took my vehicle back to the dealer. They gave me the same response and I escalated to soa asking for help getting this transmission repaired. Their response was the same as the dealership's response - that they could not reproduce the issue, and they will not perform the repair. I feel this is a serious issue that could lead to injury or death while operating the vehicle. However, I am still experiencing the issue from time to time, and I do not feel that this vehicle is safe. My wife primarily drives this vehicle to take my children to and from school and other activities. The last time this issue occurred, the vehicle would not start at the gym, and I had to drop everything to go pick up my child from school. My wife was able to restart the vehicle after turning off the vehicle, waiting for a minute, and starting again. This issue seems to occur at low rpms regardless if it is parked, or on city streets or highways.
- Evans, GA, USA
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When driving on the freeway my transmission suddenly lost power it would intermittently go then stop again. I had a semi right behind me that almost ran over the top of me. As I made it to my exit it began making noise. I drove it straight into my mechanic who thoroughly inspected it and said the transmission had failed.
After 7 years of diligent care of my 2012 Outback, my transmission is failing. This is a known issue in my make and model. This will cost me $7K out of pocket to replace. Subaru claims to have 'quality as our highest priority', but did not address this known issue and have put the burden on their customers. This is my third Subaru, and it would be nice if the company stood behind their work and supported their customers
My vehicle has been stalling when coming to a stop, it starts to shudder when slowing then stalls at stop. Safety is becoming an issue when in traffic, or on highway in stop and go. There has not been a recall for torque converter issues or cvt transmissions just extended warranty. Unfortunately there were not issues when this was extended. This is on a 2012 Subaru Outback, with 130,000 miles
Accelerating from a stopped position, or from a low speed as when making a turn or merging, the vehicle jerks and bucks, comes to a near stall at least once each time, more often 2 or 3 times in quick succession, until the vehicle gains more speed, approximately 10 mph, and the symptoms subside. Vehicle was driven out of necessity a maximum 20 miles on a few days since symptoms began, consistently bucking and near stalling in those conditions, causing traffic disturbances and endangering my family, myself, and other drives on the road. 4 days later the dash lights came on while driving-check engine, flashing emergency brake, traction control, flashing at temp oil-I immediately pulled off the road, bucking and near stalling all the way. Car was towed. Odb-II codes were-transmission control malfunction, and torque converter clutch pressure control solenoid central circuit. Mechanic says can't drive the car. Background checking shows that instead of a recall, a warranty was put in place then due to the extent of the complaints on this, warranty was extended, and Subaru refuses to take appropriate action to resolve this unsafe, expensive, and known issue. There is additionally a sulev emissions warranty which covers this, but it only goes to 150,000 miles and is not a safety issue.
2012 Subaru Outback with approx. 122,000 miles. The cvt transmission began rasping while under acceleration. Randomly, and over a period of several days, the vehicle stalled, particularly when rapidly decelerating under braking conditions. This required the vehicle to be shifted into park or neutral and restarted. Online, I discovered that there is a rather lengthy history of problems with this Subaru transmission, and that Subaru, apparently to avoid a recall, extended its warranty on the 2012 Outback to July 31, 2018 or 100,000 miles, whichever came first. I was never notified of the warranty extension, a fact that Subaru usa on July 29, 2019 tacitly acknowledge (they said they had no record that I had been notified), but Subaru usa said, despite this, that the warranty date and mileage had now expired and they could do nothing for me. Subaru usa also acknowledged that the estimated repair cost of $9500 was "quite high" and told me that as a "good will" gesture they were prepared to offer me $1500 credit toward the purchase of a new Subaru.
My 2012 Subaru Outback engine will shut off when coming to a complete stop when exiting a freeway, coming to a stop on a side street. Speed does not play a factor in this. This happens intermittently and clearly, is a safety issue! I never received a notification on this matter from Subaru that there is a known defect with the torque converter in the transmission. This is something that should have been and still should be a recall. Fatalities could be a result of this! Subaru needs to be held accountable and not just by extending the warranty. Again this is a huge safety isuue!
The cvt transmission failed while traveling at a high speed down the interstate with no warning. After doing further research Subaru is very aware of this cvt issues and has taken a very poor and limited approach to stand behind and fix this issue. They told me at the dealership that I was on my own to pay for the repair and it was a 10K fix.
My Outback stalls when coming to a stop. It would do it randomly but now it does it all the time. Subaru won't do anything for me except tell me how much it will cost to fix the torch converter without even checking it on their computer. I have heard of several issues with the cvt and I want to know for sure.
While in motion, the cvt transmission suddenly failed without warning. Causing the car to stop forward motion. If this had happened in traffic, it could cause a accident. This is a series safety issue. Cvt transmission is a sealed unit, no serviceable parts. Car is 11K outside warranty. Only repair is 8K replacement.
While getting on an off ramp vehicle stalled going 45mph due to the valve body in transmission locking up. Subaru has knowledge of this issue and released a bulletin: 16-90-13R, but only will fix if the issue arises and not before. This issue does not gradually show up but rather happens all at once.
Vehicle shudders when coming to a stop and will stall when going from stopped to motion. Subaru replaced the torque converter 2 years ago and told us this would fix the issue and it did for a little while. The vehicle is now doing the exact same thing--stalling out is a safety issue. Subaru determined that it was once again a faulty/bad torque converter--so this seems like an issue with Subaru torque converters. The first time, they admitted their mistake and paid for the repair. I asked them again to cover it and was even told on the phone by a Subaru representative that the torque converter in a vehicle should not have gone bad the first time, much less the second time...but since my mileage is over their "goodwill" limit for the warranty extension, they will not fully cover the repar/replacement of the torque converter a second time (after having the new one for 2 years, only 45,000 miles.) I know that we are not the only consumers that this is happening too and as it is a known problem with their torque converters and a definite safety issue, my hope is that this will prompt a recall or in some way, have Subaru fix their mistakes and not put it off on the consumer, as if we just happened to purchase a lemon or something.
Vehicle occasionally stalls while stopped at a street light. Dealer says it is probably torque converter lockup. Has happened 3 times while waiting to make a left hand turn. Vehicle has 135K miles on it. Seems like a legitimate safety issue to me.
Vehicle stalls intermittently when coming to a stop or attempting to accelerate from a stop. This is an extremely urgent safety concern. This also seems to have caused inconsistent starting issues. I have replaced the starter and still have issues. Seems to be a torque converter problem. This issue has been reported by many owners and has not been adequately addressed by Subaru with an available fix in a recall.
In August 2018 the car began stalling randomly when coming to a stop. When we brought it to the dealer it was diagnosed with the cvt problem that prompted the extended warranty. However, the extended warranty for our 200,000 mile car had expired 7/31. The fix is almost $5,000 and Subaru will not apply the extended warranty. Even through they admit it is a safety concern and that the extended warranty would have applied two weeks earlier (had the problem started then), they have refused to help.
As many other owners have reported, I have been told that the torque converter on my 2012 Subaru Outback has to be replaced (at a cost of nearly $1800). This is because of the shuddering and/or stalling of the car when coming to a stop. This issue is, and has been, very inconsistent which is why I never brought it to the attention of the service department before the end of the revised warranty option provided by Subaru (100,000 miles or 7/31/2018 cutoff date). My car currently has 110,000 miles on it. The problem with the way this whole matter has been dealt with by Subaru is that, despite the fact I brought the vehicle in for regular service prior to the mileage/date deadlines, I was never asked if I was experiencing any of the problems related to the torque converter. Had the issue been explained to me, I would have said that I was indeed having issues and would have had the part replaced under the warranty. This sort of behavior clearly demonstrates that Subaru is not "dedicated to customer satisfaction." Subaru should be more proactive than reactive to dealing with the torque converter problem. In fact, Subaru should replace the torque converter whenever it becomes a problem. It is absolutely shameful that Subaru and the NHTSA has not done more to address the matter. I guess it is going to take someone getting injured or killed before the problem gets escalated to a point that there will be a recall or Subaru voluntarily replaces the torque converter regardless of time or mileage.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Bemidji, MN, USA