1.at about 12000 miles,the right rear of vehicle began to make a knocking noise while going over bumps,braking or accelerating is more evident at low speeds but is still present at higher velocities. 2.the failure is currently still existent,the right rear of vehicle has about 1/4 in loose play before the rear strut binds. This affects handling of vehicle during turns or emergency maneuvers as the suspension is not well controlled by strut binding. When coming to a stop,one can feel the right rear corner of vehicle settle and hear a knocking sound. This issue twice sent the vehicle out of control while turning to the left on bumpy roads and fortunately no one was injured and no damage was done. This defect has been talked about at great length in various subaru impreza sti forums and is referred to as the"rear strut clunk" and it can affects both sides of vehicle. Model year 2004 and 2005 subaru impreza sti are involved in this. It is possible that my 2006 and 2007 are as well but I haven't checked. 3.the dealer has replaced the upper strut mount a few times to no avail. The defective parts are still on the vehicle.
2004 Subaru Impreza suspension complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 17 of 17, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Rear struts (and possibly front) are making a clunking noise when car is driven at slow speeds. The noise is quite apparent and would not be items inside the trunk and/ or car.
2004 impreza sti - rear clunking noise from right rear suspension. Occasional strut lockup in compressed position. Dealer attempted to fix this problem three times before realizing it was a faulty rear strut. Many other owners of the same car have reported the same problem. I was fortunate as my dealer properly diagnosed and repaired the problem. After the repair, the strut issue went away. Subaru of america should be required to recall this model to check for this strut problem. Not only does the strut make noise when compressing, but it sometimes locks in the compressed postion, changing the handling and performance dynamics of the car in an extremely unsafe and potentially lifethreatening way. By replacing the strut, the problem should be corrected. Due to the large number of instances of the same strut failure on these cars, as demonstrated by the number of same complaints to the federal safety agency here at this website, one can only assume subaru of american is well aware of the problem.
Subaru wrx sti has a severe problem with the struts failing in the 2004 model year. I have had my rear struts replaced a total of 3 times and they are broken again and my car is not even two years old. There are several forums on the internet with thousands of people with the same issue. I don't know if there's is a safety issue but it doesn't seem like it can be safe driving around with broken struts.
Rear struts stick and will not rebound after a compression stroke. Causes rear to sag and handling feels very loose. Very noisy. Subaru of america know about the problem, which is either a design or manufacture flaw, and does nothing to issue a recall. There are hundred if not thousand of documented cased on the internet of this problem. I have had three rear struts replaced, so far...and once car is out of warranty, repair costs are $500 per strut labor included to replace.
The rear strut of my 2004 wrx sti clunks all the time. Any range of speed all the way up to 50-60. This is a known problem with the sti's over as little as 5,000 miles. Subaru has done nothing about this!!!
For some time both rear struts in my car have been making a loud clunking noise. It has gotten worse to the point where they will now get stuck in a certain position. This can be very dangerous when driving at highway speeds as it makes the car wander all over the road. I have complained to the dealership and to subaru of america with no resolution. This is a very common problem with many of these particular cars. They have been like this since the car had about 25,000 miles on it.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2004 Subaru Impreza?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history