2009 Subaru Outback Complaints

When I parked my vehicle in the garage, I smelled an odor coming from the engine compartment. I found that the front right inner axle boot had leaked grease. I then saw that the grease covered the catalytic converter. I am not sure when this started to be a problem, but my main concern was it could have started a fire.

The contact owned a 2009 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed and went to the floorboard, and the vehicle failed to respond. The contact swerved to avoid a crash and moved over to the median. The contact stated that the vehicle spun around, and the contact used the parking brake to stop the vehicle. The contact was unaware of a warning light being illuminated. The contact stated that on another occasion, the air bag warning light intermittently illuminated weeks before a crash. The driver’s and passenger’s side air bags failed to deploy. A Police report was not filed. There were no injuries sustained. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The Insurance company was not contacted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact stated that there was a gasoline odor coming from the engine weeks prior to the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 106,000.

The rear hatch on this Outback won't lock. As a woman on her own, my safety is at risk. I have read of other people who have this issue and has been able to fix this on their own. This is a safety issue if your vehicle won't lock completely because the wires in the hatch are compromised.

The dashboard becomes sticky and shiny and therefore makes it difficult to see. Subaru offered a limited recall but too many vehicles such as mine were overlooked. Also apparently the repair they offered only replaced the dashboard with one of the same caliber. So eventually more cars will be affected by the sticky and shiny dash as time goes on.

Passenger Side - rear brake line failed. Upon inspection the brake line rotted out at 4 way junction box - just in front of the rear tire- passenger side. Had to remove the plastic shield to get to the problem. I was driving at the time when it failed. Pretty scary as the car almost did not stop. I lost about half of the brake fluid. I know Subaru of America had a recall and this car was inspected years ago. Their fix was to spray a wax coating on the lines. They should have replaced the brake lines on all the cars subject to the recall. There is obviously an issue here with the quality of the lines they used as I see that 2005 to 2009 subarus have this problem. Safety put me or others at risk - yes