While driving at approx 35mph, hood opened and came back far enough to break windshield, completely blocking drivers view of road and traffic near a very busy intersection. Upon closer inspection, it appears primary hood latch failed and secondary safety latch also failed allowing condition to exist. Secondary hood latch had become disconnected from hood but still securely latched to body of vehicle. Secondary latch appeared to have been attached to hood with lightweight plastic trim retainers which became brittle when cold. Outside temperature at the time of incident was approx 10 degrees f. Hood had been opened earlier in the day then the vehicle was operated approx 10-15 miles at interstate and city speeds then parked for ~8 hours before incident occurred.
2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca body complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 27 of 27, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving at night on a county road at approximately 50 MPH, the hood latch disengaged causing the hood to flip over backward against the windshield. The hood was opened the day prior, however the vehicle was operated multiple times without incident prior to the actual latch releasing. The safety latch did not catch when the main latch released, causing significant damage to the windshield and hood, as well as damaging the roof and vehicle interior.
After adding washer fluid, the hood latch would not lock and secure the hood closed. Only the secondary safety latch secures the hood. This presents the possibility of the flying open while driving obscuring visibility and causing an accident. There are already multiple reports of this failure mechanism. I request the federal safety agency initiate an investigation for the possibility of a recall to correct this serious safety defect.
Just finished washing the car outside the my garage, I then moved it inside the garage to clean and vacuum inside. 30 mins later, a strong burning smell and smoke came out from the left rear passenger puddle light area. I have to quickly call 911, and before 911 arrival I managed to open the hood and disconnected the battery and the smoke stopped. There was still a strong smile in the air when 911 came. 911 recommended towing it to the dealership connected the battery and drove it outside where it could be easily tow. Just lucky to be in the garage when this incident occurred otherwise it could have burn the house. This vehicle (subaru tribeca b6 is nothing but a disaster), the dealer/manufacturer rendered no support whatsoever.
On 3/15/2014, traveling at posted highway speed of 70mph on I-71 southbound mile marker 50 at approx. 10 am. The primary vehicle hood latch failed as did the hood safety latch. The hood flew completely up, instantaneously shattering the windshield and completely restricting visibility while traveling at full highway speed. The interior hood safety latch mounting screws were completely ripped from the hood leaving the safety latch mechanism dangling in the engine compartment. The hood was damaged, the roof dented, the map lights were damaged and shards of glass litter the passenger compartment. Vehicle was safely moved to highway breakdown lane. A passing ky state trooper who stopped to assist us looked at the damage and indicated this was likely a manufacturing defect. The hood had not been opened since the oil had been changed nearly 4 weeks ago. A subsequent internet search on similar issues reveals that the 2006 subaru b9 tribeca has had numerous, numerous, numerous identical incidents; some occurring more than once to the same owners, with no manufacturer recall to date. These vehicles need to be recalled and this problem addressed--this has great potential to cause severe injuries and fatalities. As a former attorney with dot/fmcsa until september 2010, I am calling upon the federal safety agency to investigate these incidents. It is paramount that the federal safety agency address the hood latch failures with these vehicles and take action on this report.
Hood flew up while driving on rt9 south in oldbridge, nj @ 45 MPH. Repairs bill was around $5000. It happened to me back in 2009, and just today in 2013 I was about to add some windshield washer, so I opened my hood, and it popped up completely, and that secondary lock did not hold it again! It could have been another accident if it had happened on the running car. This is a problem that doesn't go away with repairs - I had everything replaced even lock mechanism and cable to the handle under your dash. And it happened again today. I learned today that secondary latch gets dirty, sticky, and stops moving at all over time and entire mechanism remains unlocked after you close the hood. There is a spring there which is supposed to return the latch into locked position after you close the hood - this spring has no power to move this sticky mechanism, and that hook remains not engaged after you close the hood. You can not see whether or not secondary lock did lock your hood once you close the hood, but trust me - it doesn`t lock the hood - otherwise there would not be so many complaints from people like me. Then, when you open your hood from the inside - it opens up entirely and secondary lock is not engaged at all - it remains open at all the times. If you open your hood while you drive - it will crash your car - secondary lock is not working. If you hit a pothole or a bump - you hood may fly up as well - primary lock gets released by strong shock, and secondary lock is not there as you already know - this is what happened to me back in 2009, I drove about 50 miles and hit a bump on the road - hood flew up crashing my car. The design of the secondary lock is the problem - it just doesn`t do what it is there for. Both primary and secondary locks on this model are defective by design and can not be fixed by replacement - I am still living proof of this statement.
As I passed under a railroad overpass I hit a large pothole probably caused by a recent 2-4" rainfall. The impact caused my hood to release and slam back into my windshield, obliterating my forward view. I slowed immediately without swerving and activated my warning flashers. Luckily, there was only one car behind me and none approaching when this occurred. Upon stopping I found that my windshield had been badly cracked and the hood struts had broken, allowing the hood to fold back fully. The safety catch on the release mechanism apparently failed to keep the hood from flying up. The hood latched when brought back down, but I no longer trust it. This could have been a far worse situation in traffic.
First time it happened, on the way to work from home, driving on local street when the hood just popped up and slammed on the windshield. Obviously a latch defect but since then, I made sure the hood is properly latched. Second time it happened, driving with my family at 55 MPH, when the hood suddenly popped up again and destroying the windshield. We are lucky there was no accident or crash with other vehicles. See attached receipt of windshield repair as proofs.
My sister, mother and I were driving on the highway doing 65 MPH when all of a sudden the hood slammed into the windshield. It sounded like a bomb exploded in the car. Shards of glass rained down on the interior of the car. We were able to pull over to the shoulder. When we got out to check what happened, we noticed the entire safety latch mechanism was attached to the hood and was dangling there. It was not rusted. It simply detached. We could have been killed driving on the highway with a semi behind us. It was extremely traumatizing and I am mentally worn from this experience.
Driving on the highway at 55mph, the hood few open and smashed the windshield and dented the hood. We put washer fluid in it the day before and drove it for hours without any problem. We have had many problems with this in the past and have replaced it once already.
While driving our subaru tribeca b9 on the highway, the hood flew open and smashed the window. Luckily we were able to steer the car to safety. No one was hurt, other than the emotional toll. A failure of the hood latch and safety mechanism.
While driving 65mph on the nj turnpike southbound by exit 2, the hood on our 2006 b9 tribeca flew open, shattered my windshield, dented my roof and blocked my vision. It was amazing that I was able to keep the car straight and move from the left lane to the right shoulder without crashing. My wife helped navigate us off the road. We were over 2 hrs into our trip. This is clearly a failure of the hood latch mechanism. I closed the hood the best I could and drove 11 miles to nearest subaru dealer. Because we were on a family vacation my kids were shaken up. We had to rent a car to continue trip. Waiting to hear back from subaru and from insurance company. Latch was ripped from chassis, hinges were ripped from chassis, windshield was shattered, roof dented, hood dented, interior damage - mirror, lights.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 subaru b9 tribeca. The contact was driving 70 MPH when suddenly, the front hood unlatched and struck the windshield, impairing the contacts vision of the roadway. The contact had the vehicle towed to a local body shop where he was awaiting repairs. The contact called the manufacturer and the manufacturer stated there were no recalls regarding the hood therefore, they would be unable to assist. The contact was concerned that if he were driving in heavy traffic when the failure occurred, that he could have potentially been involved in a crash. The failure mileage was 100,000.
Within a few months of purchasing my 06 tribeca I started hearing rattles under the dash and a thumping sound from the frontend and also a loud humming noise at 28 MPH. I have taken it back to the dealer several times and they said they could not find a problem. This last time I took it to them they gave me a copy of a service bulletin # 12-95-06r that they said I could follow to do the repair of a pitching stopper bracket that will require drilling out existing rivets and welding the stopper back into place this problem has been there from the beginning of purchase and is a problem with many other tribeca's and I believe subaru should pay for these expensive repairs.
Noise heard, thumping, in front end of vehicle beginning on or about 7/2006. Reported to dealership. Dealer replaced struts in attempt to resolve problem (10/2006) no change in problem. Per subaru tsb - dealer attempted repair to cracks in firewall by welding (11/10/206). Problem still exists. Awaiting resolution by subaru.
2006 b9 tribeca subaru purchased 9/2/05. Approx 3 months later began to hear rattling sound in area of front dashboard. On feb 2, 2006 vehicle taken to dealership for routine service and also asked them to identify and repair the cause of the rattle. Informed on feb 3, 2006, problem was "major" , fire wall was cracked, and pictures were being sent to subaru north america for review. On feb 7th advised that problem with vehicle occurred in production, causing issue with the pitching stopper, and supporting bolts and rivets, which allowed engine movement resulting in cracks in fire wall. On feb 9th advised that further investigation of the problem revealed the problem did not occur in production but rather in the transportation of the vehicle from the indiana plant to the dealership . Was told that during transportation of the vehicle, because of the way it was tethered when it was shipped, it resulted in a series of bolt failures. I'm told that subaru has identified all vehicles that were part of this shipment, but was not told what action, if any, they will take about other vehicles.
I have a 2006 subaru b9 tribeca and the air cylinders that are supposed to hold the rear hatch open fail in cold weather. I live in mn so since it has gotten cold, the hatch has fallen on my head several times. Once it dropped just as I was walking around the car and it hit my forehead so hard that it bled and made my neck sore. This may not sound on the surface that it is a serious defect, but don't tell my head that. When I contacted the dealrs (2) to try to get this fixed, they said the parts are on backorder and they are not sure when they'll get them. The date below is not correct because you didn't have 2006 in the drop-down.
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