2020 SUBARU OUTBACK Complaints

Windshield spotaneous cracking: Going to work in the morning, absolutely nothing wrong 8:05-8:15am .parked car in parking lot. industrial warehouse. No people traffic, clear weather 30-45 degrees. Then as soon as i get in the car for my break. 11:15-11:30. I notice a very long crack that appears to originate UNDERNEATH the plastic window trim at the base of the windshield. Multiple pictures and videos have been taken. ABSOLUTELY no impacts of anything. I come to discover shortly after researching THERE is a lawsuit on the this outback windshield for random large cracks. NEED recall!

Cracked windshield, very very small pebble hit the driver corner near the pillar, I heard a little “tick” followed by seeing a massive crack form. The crack has now gone straight across to the middle and is making its way up to obstruct the “eyesight” camera

I just purchased a Outback XT with the 2.4l turbo engine. After more researching with owning the car I discovered these cars with this engine can have a oil pan leak due to the bad RTV sealant applied to the lower oil pan from the factory. I went outside to go look under my car to see if this issue is occurring to mine. To discovery my car has a small oil leak from the rear of the oil pan. it has 31k miles. Further research shows the WRX whom has the same engine also has an issue with RTV falling apart within the oil pan and having the oil pick up tube sucking up the gasket in small pieces. These pieces are then and can get stuck at the top of the tube where a small screen is and can STARVE the engine from oil! MULTIPLE pictures of various shops have shown this LITERALLY. This is a big issue and is common for these engines to have this from the factory many YouTube, forums, blogs are saying this! Search " '22 WRX RTV oil pan pick up tube issue" , "Subaru 2.4l Turbo oil pan leak" , "Subaru 2.4l Oil peak up with RTV" This MUST BE CORRECTED it can cause SEVERE engine failure. THIS NEEDS to be RECALLED IMEDIATELY!

Received a couple of rock chips on the windshield while driving on the highway. Two days later, two large cracks appeared (one on the driver’s side, one on the passenger side). Both cracks are longer than six inches.

On March 2, 2023, I discovered a big crack in my windshield. The crack was not there in the morning. The crack was discovered at 2pm that afternoon. The crack started under the lower windshield trim and part way up windshield on the passenger side. The crack has a raise when you run your fingertip over it. The windshield was not struck by a rock. The crack randomly appeared while sitting in the parking lot at my work.

When we started vehicle, a wide array of systems shut down including cruise, Eye Sight, lane detection, auto high bean, adaptive light cornering - essentially anything “automated” or assisted - along with the heating. The car ran at a higher RPM at idle - 2000 vs a usual 700-800 - and rough shifted at speed. Again, as if the automatic transmission lost its sync. The water temp gauge was also off. Have since learned this was the “thermo control valve” and somewhat of a known fault on Outbacks of this year. We were lucky to reach home from the long trip we were on and to the dealership. At the dealership, the service team did not admit this was wide spread. Nor did they tell us there is an updated part from Subaru available. They intend to install the OEM part, which concerns us that in another 40-50k we will face the same $2k problem. We are unlucky that we just went over 60k miles, so this will not be covered under Subaru’s 60k drivetrain warranty. That Subaru is covering a cooling system problem under the guise of being drive train tells me they know they have something to keep quiet.

On Friday Feb 24, 2023 our Subaru suffered a complete loss of electrial power leaving us stranded in very cold weaher here in northeastern Ohio. We were finally able to get one door open only to find nothing else in the car would work. We contacted Subaru roadside assistance and they dispached a Lift car & a tow truck to our location. The tow truck driver determined the battery had a complete failure. He told us this was a very common problem they see on the Subaru cars. He was successful in getting the car started via jumper box. Later in the day we received a follow up call from Subaru roadside assistance to confirm our safety. I asked if this battery failure on new Subaru vehicles was common he said more than 90% of the rodaside assistance calls are related to this issue of early battery failure. As I called my dealer to schedule an appointment on this issue I was told Subaru has placed strict inspection rules before replacement is allowed. Does it take a genius to know a car with 8000 miles should not experience a complete battery failure. My previous experience with Subaru is that they only respond to correct an issue when forced. Had this failure occured under different circumstances it could have been more dangerous.

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving at a slow speed, the trim on the front driver’s side door started to detach from vehicle. Several days later, the front passenger’s side door also experienced the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the trim on both doors were reattached; however, the failure returned on the front driver’s side door. The contact reached out to the manufacturer online and completed a survey. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 14,000.

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that their daughter was driving approximately 35 mph when the dashboard displayed that an electronic power steering failure had occurred. The driver then lost control of the vehicle and ended up going over a curb hitting some rocks on the landscaping. The air bags did not deploy due to only the undercarriage being the only part that hit the curb and rocks on the landscaping. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. A police report was filed. As a result, the transmission as well as other parts of the vehicle to be damaged. There were no injuries or medical attention needed. The dealer diagnosed that the steering gearbox needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 37,000.

Multiple battery failures. Original battery failed at ~2 years, then a new battery failed 6 months later. First failure July 2022, second failure Dec 2022