2023 SUBARU ASCENT Complaints

Windshield is delicate and very easily chipped. Windshield has three different chips from 4000 miles of paved road driving. Small chips have quickly spread into long cracks across the windshield.

On May 12, 2024 I placed my vehicle in Park. As I exited, it rolled back. The door knocked me down and the car rolled over my left leg, injuring my lower leg, ankle, and foot. Problem has not been reproduced. Vehicle has not been inspected. I phoned the dealer, who denied any knowledge of the problem.

The vehicle is stated to get 20 MPG in the city, 26 MPG on the Highway and 22 MPG combined according to the monroney label that I have when I purchased the vehicle new in October 2023. I am only seeing about 15 -17. I drive mostly in the city. I took a highway trip once and got about 20 MPG after resetting the meter and a fresh fill up. I hear of other people in online forums getting a little better MPG but they have to drive it very carefully. Like never letting the RPM's get over 200, slow starts and coasting a lot. To me this is not normal driving. I am expecting at lease 20 MPG in the city with normal driving, not driving like an old grandma. So I believe that Subaru has misrepresented their information on the monroney label. I am ok with you inspecting the vehicle. no warming lights on indicating a problem.

The heated seats do not heat. They are luke warm and you can barely feel any heat. I took the vehicle to my local Subaru dealer and they determined there was no issue. Was told the seats are not suppose to get hot. So what is the point of heated seats then? There are several online groups for Subaru where owner discuss issues with their vehicles and give advice. There are many customers who are complaining about the same thing. (Seat being luke warm). Then there are other customers who say their seats get super hot on the same model vehicle. I contacted Subaru of America, told them about the issue and the complaints in the online groups about the issue. They only advised me to go to a different dealer and be retested. Obviously in certain vehicles the heated seats are defective because some people say they are super hot and some say they barely get warm. I just can't get anyone at Subaru to admin there is an issue and take corrective action. I am ok with you inspecting the vehicle. no warming lights on indicating a problem. The vehicle was bought new October 2023 and the seats have always been this way. I feel that the seats are defective in some manner and that alone is a safety risk. All that energy that is suppose to be heating the seats and isn't has to be going somewhere and could lead to a fire or electrical shock.

Brakes have been replaced once and serviced once afterwards. The vehicle now needs the brakes serviced again. This will be the third time taking the vehicle in for this problem. I am unsure if the vehicle is safe to drive. The only trip I am now planning is back to the dealership to have the brakes done. Again.

Subaru Eyesight will turn off randomly while driving or while parked (turn the vehicle off, unlock the door, sit for a minute or two and when restarting the vehicle, eyesight indicator is orange - off. Example - getting fuel at a full service gas station. Yes the vehicle is available for inspection. Our safety is put at risk. Once Eyesight is off it will not reset/restart, so you are driving without the number one Subaru safety feature. We can reproduce the error. The Dealer just looked at the codes and said it was normal operation. We reported the error to Subaru Customer care and we have a case number. Subaru Customer care is going to contact the Dealer. There is a small red "i" indicator light in the dash that will light up after Eyesight fails. There are no warnings of the failure. We understand rain, snow and fog will impact Eyesight. We had a 2020 Subaru that Eyesight only shutdown when expected (heavy rain, snow, fog) and would restart once we were in the clear, but now we are told that sunlight and windshield condensation affects Eyesight's functionality. We were also told by Customer care that the cameras where changed on the 2023 Ascent model.

Tire blew out at 70 mph on interstate with no warning and no debris on roadway. (245/50R20). Police officer aided us after we changed the spare to re-enter interstate safely due to high traffic speed. Beginning of a road trip so bought a new tire when we found a town & shop disposed of destroyed tire though we do have a photo. Heavy traffic and difficult to get to shoulder safely as vehicle began fishtailing as we maneuvered onto the gravel shoulder. Extremely frightening. Had to put spare on next to cars flying by just next to the rear passenger tire that blew. Vehicle only 3 months old and with less than 10k miles.

Right around the 10,000 mile mark I started noticing a shake when braking. I was pretty concerned about this as the car only has the mentioned 10,000 miles. I took it to the dealership where I bought the car. They were able to fix the problem by replacing the rotors and break pads. I was informed that the rotors were warped and had hot spots. The vehicle no longer shakes when braking, but I’m worried that it will happen again in another 10k miles. It may be an issue with the size of the brakes compared to the weight of the vehicle. This causes the rotors to heat up more than intended which leads to warping and hot spots.

I have owned the car new since July 1, 2023. About a month into ownership the TPMS light came on. My wife was close to a tire shop so they checked all the pressures and all were fine. The light started coming on with regularity, any drive over about 25 miles would trigger it 99% of the time and it would reset shortly. Took to dealer they saw the faults in memory but did not know why they were being set. Cleared and reset the modules. The light was back a few days later and then on September 10 and 11 was on full time so I set an appointment. By the time I got the dealer the light had cleared. they found similar codes but they were not useful. The dealer wanted me to agree to pay for diagnostics if the "warranty company" turned down the claim. The warranty company being Subaru of America. I declined to pay for a safety issue being diagnosed on a brand new car. I have notified Subaru of America of my concern and have not received a response at this time. Looking at the Subaru forums on-line it appears that this TPMS issue is quite widespread. It is also apparent that Subaru is not willing to fix its safety issues without my agreeing to pay as well.

On 7/16/2023 I was driving my 2023 Subaru Ascent on I-95 when the tire PSI warning alerted me to low tire pressure on my rear driver side tire (Falken 245/50/R20 - tires were on the vehicle when purchased in April 2023). I immediately turned on my hazard lights, lessened my speed, and carefully made my way to the shoulder hoping to exit the highway for assistance. The tire pressure dropped from 34 to 0 in a matter of seconds (I watched the PSI monitor in the dash display). I barely made it to the shoulder. A AAA technician [XXX] from A-Z Towing) changed my tire and noted that the tire may be defective after inspecting the tire, given the sidewall damage and no other obvious tire damage to cause the flat and that I had less than 4k miles on the vehicle. Internet searches yielded a recall for my exact vehicle and tires, my exact experience with sudden loss of tire pressure; yet my VIN was not included in the recall. I am concerned that the recall is not expansive enough and there may be other vehicles with defective tires driving unaware because their VIN was not identified. The recall may need to be more expansive and inclusive. I have an appointment with Subaru Hunt Valley today and have been in contact with Subaru of America - case [XXX] . Thus far, Subaru is not acknowledging my experience as part of the recall. I am fearful to drive my new car in that I worry the other three tires will rupture spontaneously. This is not the safety I expected when purchasing a new Subaru. I was on I-95 traveling at 55mph in the rain in the second from left lane when the tire PSI alert sounded. Thankfully, I acted immediately out of an abundance of caution and concern, since there was no reason for my tire to suddenly lose pressure it was alarming. I could have caused an accident and have been severely injured. I do not feel safe driving my vehicle knowing it has three other tires susceptible to the same issue. (Also filed complaint as to tires.) INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 5