2018 SUBARU OUTBACK Complaints

The batteries cannot seem to hold a charge. We have called AAA several times, but the recharging doesn't last, and they say this is a problem with the Outback. In addition, the Subaru dealer has replaced the battery twice. It just failed again. This most recent battery fail stranded my 70 year old husband in another city. I have contacted the dealer again asking for service. There is no warning whatsoever that the battery has drained. This is not a safe situation. The date below is the most recent incident of a drained battery.

Electrical issues affected the battery becoming completely drained, unable to unlock doors, or start the car. This issue has become stressful and worrisome as I have a child and pets. I always have my baby with me and am anxious that I can't unlock the doors. I have taken the car to the manufacturer (dealership) for service three times. They've been able to identify the issue, however, the problem has reoccurred (now the third time). Warning panels would suddenly light up with different messages and the car computer did not retain the information in the last two incidents, however, recorded the information in the latest incident. The first time this happened was in December of 2021 (approximately 50,000 miles).

During a photography trip of May 2021, in a very remote area, the Outback's rear gate was kept opened for my dog for a few hours. When it was time to leave, the battery wouldn't start. Luckily, I had a battery charger. There was nobody present to help in this area and no mobile phone service available. Later in the day, the battery died again, under the same circumstance. We were fortunate to have extra food, water, and blankets if needed to survive the night. I thought maybe the battery was old. I replaced the battery on May 24, 2021 with an Optima 25 battery. This is a better battery than what Subaru installs. This February 2022, we went camping in a remote area of Death Valley with no available services. The fairly new car battery wouldn't start. I used my emergency starter again. This time the rear door and side doors had been opened constantly due to camping activity. It was not possible to disable the lights so as not to drain the battery.

Windshield has a long crack in it that begins under the passenger side windshield wiper. There are no signs of impact whatsoever. First noticed the crack in early January of 2022. Initially, it was a small crack, however, within hours it grew to the driver side. I noticed the initial crack when I was parking and the crack grew without me moving my vehicle or driving it.

This is the second windshield on my 2018 Subaru Outback that has cracked near the A-pillar without any evidence of being caused by an impact.

Windshield washer barely works, only one of the three nozzles will spray fluid. Pump sounds like it's working and fluid is full. For sure a safety issue in winter months.

Bought the vehicle used from Carmax on 2/14/22, drove 25 miles home and parked in driveway. Next morning battery was dead, put a trickle charger on the battery and the charger detected only 4 volts and would not charge vehicle.

Battery keeps dying in cold weather. I’ve charged it 3 times in the past 2 weeks fully and double check to make sure no lights are on when I leave the vehicle. The next time I drive again it’s dead

My windshield was cracked unreasonably with minor contact through routine snow removal with a snow brush. With routine wiping of the snow off of my windshield, the snow brush made minor contact with the windshield, and the bottom of the windshield cracked. The resulting crack is approximately 2-3 feet long at the bottom of the windshield. The crack partially impedes vision and may impair the functioning of the Eyesight safety system in the car. After online research, it appears that this is a problem present in the windshields of most Subaru 2017-2020 models. The contact was very minor as would be expected in any daily snow removal, and if this level of contact causes this level of damage to these windshields, that could cause many safety and visibility issues if a stray pebble were to strike the windshield of a moving vehicle.

WHILE BEGINNING A LEFT TURN WITH ARROW, THE MOTOR DIED AND THE VEHICLE STOPPED. I PUT THE TRANSMISSION IN NEUTRAL AND ATTEMPTED TO RESTART WITHOUT SUCSESS. I THEN PLACED THE TRANSMISSION IN PARK IN THE DRIVING LANE WITH MOVING TRAFFIC, ATTEMPTED TO RESTART,THIS ATTEMPT WAS SUCESSFULL.IPROCEEDED HOME WITHOUT FURTHER TROUBLE. THE NEXT DAY I LOOKED ON LINE AND READ OF THE FUEL PUMP ISSUE. THE SYMPTOMS SEEMED THE SAME AS I HAD EXPERIENCED. I THEN INQUIRED AT THE SUBARU DEALERSHIP AND GAVE THEM MY VIN # AND THEY INFORMED ME THAT OUR VEHICLE WAS NOT PART OF THE RECALL.PLEASE HELP