2019 SUBARU OUTBACK Complaints

I now have a second windshield that suddenly cracked. I was told that Subaru OEM windshield was installed and their is a Subaru icon on the glass. The first time was when a defrost was turned on. I heard a pop and crack quickly appeared. Crack started on the outside edge about half way up on the passenger side. Within seconds the crack was half way across to the other side. The most recent it was after a hot day on the previous day the next morning open the garage and immediately saw multiple cracks starting from the drivers side this time, about half way up then running almost half across the other side. Both times I had only had the windshield a few months. I took it back to the windshield installer and they are going to replace it because it isn't due to damage to the windshield like a chip. They told me that they are putting Subaru OEM windshields on right now because they have had to replace 20 recently for the same issue. They just suddenly crack no damage. They said there is a lawsuit. I asked the dealership and they told me that haven't heard any issues with windshields. I just wanted to let you know. It is pretty scary and expensive to have the windshield suddenly crack and it is pretty deep. I'm going to take a picture since my Subaru dealership wouldn't record the issue for me.

The infotainment display on our 2019 Subaru Outback for the past 10 months has been inoperable and poses a distraction to the driver. One time this display distraction caused a near miss incident. Moisture under the display causes the screen to randomly touch buttons and beep continuously as they are being touched. The bubbles below the screen became apparent roughly 2-3 months before the screen became inoperable. The vehicle was brought into the dealership and the parts department claimed the part would be in within a month or so every time we contacted them. It is now 10 months later and the part still has not been replaced. Subaru is aware of this issue yet they have sent no notice or recall advisory to any of its customer about this issue. We have contacted Subaru of America countless times and after three call attempts and multiple emails, we received a call saying the part is shipped but were not given any tracking information. We have been told false information by multiple Subaru representatives and have had extreme difficulty getting help with this matter. There were no warning lights indicating this issue had occurred and no way to correct it other than replacing the display.

The infotainment center is prematurely delaminating/failing. On various Subaru forums, it appears this is a common issue on the year/model I own. While this may not seem safety related on the surface, the failing screen is incredibly distracting while driving depending on where the delamination occurs. It mimics pressing the screen, so it will cycles through the screens wildly, incessantly beep, tries to redial the last call made over and over again, etc. which, as you can imagine, is incredibly distracting while you are driving. Even if you turn the screen off, it randomly can pop back on. If you disable bluetooth, it still wildly flicks between screens and beeps. What is also concerning is the replacement units are backordered- so even though this appears to be a very common issue (and i believe a safety issue subaru should cover), even if i wanted to pay to fix it ASAP, I can't! It's making for an incredibly distracting, unsafe driving experience.

My windshield has chipped and cracked 4 times in the 5 yrs that I've owned this car, purchased new. In the first three cases, a minor chip started cracking the windshield almost immediately. In the last case, which I haven't had repaired yet, there wasn't even a chip. The windshield seemed to just spontaneously crack. The glass shop for replacement #3 noted that the car is now rusting under the windshield. The car has only 39K miles on it.

The Windshield of my outback Subaru 2019 has cracked two times since I purchased the vehicle. Not caused by propelled items, accidents or vandalism, instead, these cracks originated from the center bottom part of the windshield suddenly and spread upwards.

Navigation console formed a multiple bubbles underneath the display randomly calling people, going into different function screens, radio changing to different stations randomly.

The windshield is prone to cracking and spreading. The glass or design of the Outback windshield is defective. I had a repair on a rock chip which worked fine until the following week where it spread up and across the windshield. The car was parked and no other factors caused it to crack and spread.

My Subaru 2019 Outback has had 5 replacement windshields in 10 months. The windshield seems to crack for no reason and the cracks spread quickly impairing vision and causing worry that any impact of an object would come straight through the windshield and cause harm to driver, passengers and potentially other vehicles. I have talked with Subaru of America, just this last time on the 5th replacement and they had an engineer look at the windshield to determine cause. The report states: “Subaru field engineer determined caused by chip.” As the driver of the vehicle, NOTHING has hit the windshield while driving, nothing of note that is, normal things like rain, sunshine, and wind, which is what a windshield is meant to protect against.The other techs at the dealer could not make out a point of impact. I picked up my vehicle from the dealer at 6pm, drove it a few miles on the freeway, maintaining safe follow distances with my new windshield, and when I got back in the car 2 hours later there were 4 cracks stemmed from the bottom of the windshield that stretched up more than 6 inches. The windshield is currently cracked and I’m waiting for Subaru of America to get back to me on this issue. There is a problem with the windshields and someone needs to take responsibility for it. One or two cracked windshields can be explained, but now with the most recent one, that’s 6 cracks in 10 months. It seems there is a defect.

The Starlink Infotainment head unit on our 2019 Subaru Outback is faulty. Last fall (2023) the infotainment screen began delaminating from the inside and large spots started showing up making it difficult to see what images were on the screen. Next the radio and hands free phone features began malfunctioning and switching channels constantly becoming a serious distraction while driving and a safety issue. The screen has continued to delaminate to the point where it is almost impossible to see what's behind the vehicle when using the the backup camera, also making for a very dangerous situation. The radio and Apple Car Play are useless because of the constant changing of stations and connection due to the faulty infotainment system. We have not brought this problem to the local Subaru dealership's attention as we don't really trust them. In the past they have tried to have us do repairs to the suspension that we got a second opinion on and found that the repairs were not necessary. We have also had issues with the 12V battery and had to replace the battery with a very strong battery to overcome DCM drainage issue. We just received a letter from Subaru of America that they are extending the DCM warranty and we may be eligible for a temporary bypass box fix until enough DCM modules are available in September 2025. My main concern is the faulty infotainment system and how distracting and unsafe it makes operating our Outback. I understand a number of Subaru owners have this same issue but have not gotten any satisfaction from Subaru in correcting it. If there isn't a recall on this safety issue soon, we will most likely have to trade this car. It's just too much of a liability. Very disappointed Subaru owner...

While driving, paired radio randomly begins dialing phone numbers. Controls randomly do not work or activate wrong control. Significant distraction to driving when trying to halt random uninitiated calls or radio arbitrarily activates and the controls do not function properly.