2008 Subaru Legacy brakes problems

Filed Jul 21, 2023 · Brakes · IL

The issue occurred on a 08 Subaru Legacy GT Limited while the driver was driving the car with their family on a local street around 35-40mph. Initially, while the car was stopped at a traffic light, the driver noticed that the brake pedal seems off where it seems to be depressed much deeper than usual. While coming up on a second red traffic light, the driver noticed that the pedal has to be depressed all the way down to the floor before bringing the car close to a stop while using the emergency brake to complete the stop. The driver knows that this is a major issue given the symptoms and drove to a safe spot to stop the car and inspect the issue. At this time, the brake light has also came on in the dashboard. Upon the driver's preliminary inspection, there was brake fluid leakage coming from the rear passenger wheel area and the brake fluid in the reservoir has reached the minimum line which would confirm why the brake light came on. Given the situation, the vehicle was then brought to the Subaru official dealer immediately to be dropped off for a diagnostic on the next Monday since the dealer was closed when the driver arrived. After the diagnostic by the Subaru mechanic, they confirmed with the driver's suspicious where the brake line has been broken due to corrosion to a bare metal area of the rear brake line that was supposed to be addressed by the brake line corrosion recall, WQK-047. The line was broken at one of the clip point where the brake line has no sleeve over it to protect the line from corrosion. Subaru issued a recall on this area as they know that this was a design flaw where salt used on the road from the winter might get in accelerating the corrosion of the line causing it to leak or break. This is an serious issue since the car could have crashed if the brake fails completely without any brake fluid anymore. the federal safety agency should intervene on this as many owners have this issue and SOA, who boast about safety, did not address the issue with the recall.

Filed Apr 3, 2023 · Brakes · 149,000 miles · OH

I had the recall done in 2017 and I was recently driving on the highway when my brakes had no pressure, I nearly crashed my car. Pulled over and realized my brake lines were leaking from where they said it had been fixed during the recall. I called the Subaru Stealership that did the recall and they informed me when I brought the vehicle in “it showed no signs of leakage” so they sprayed “anti corrosion” on the lines. I called Subaru of America and they want me to pay $200 to diagnose the issue and pay for the repair since the lines busted from “wear and tear”. Spraying anti-corrosion does nothing when the rust has already ruined the integrity of the brake line. Subaru is trying to pull a fast one and scam their customers by spraying anti-corrosion when the lines need to be replaced instead.

Filed Jul 23, 2022 · Brakes · PA

I received my Subaru legacy from the dealer after an unrelated repair. My wife got in the car and very slowly drove through the lot to exit the dealership. She was going 5-6 mph at most and luckily after putting the car into gear she had her hand resting on the center console literally right above the hand brake. As she approached the stop sign to exit the dealership, she put her foot on the brake pedal and it went immediately straight to the floor with no resistance or application of the brakes. She immediately grabbed and pulled the hand emergency brake to stop the vehicle from entering a busy route 3 (West Chester Pike.) After nursing the car back to service at very low mph she parked the car again using the hand brake. Service looked at the car and found ruptured brake lines. The lines were the subject of a recall in 2015 and were supposedly inspected and an anticorrosive was applied.

Filed May 27, 2021 · Brakes · 76,877 miles · PA

The contact owns a 2008 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated while driving approximately 30-35 mph, the brake pedal went to the floorboard while depressed. The contact was concerned that the brake was failing with her husband and four-month-old baby in the vehicle. The contact veered to the shoulder and turned off the vehicle. The contact’s husband inspected the vehicle and saw that there was fluid dripping near the rear passenger’s side tire, below the fuel tank. The contact’s husband then drove the vehicle back to the residence. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the dealer had performed a recall repair on the brakes on January 22, 2021. The contact was informed that anti-corrosion wax was sprayed onto the brake line connectors as part of the remedy. The manufacturer referred the contact back to the same dealer where the vehicle was repaired under recall, to have the vehicle diagnosed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed that rodents had chewed the brake line and the brake line was not part of the recall repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and informed the contact that the vehicle was not repairable. The manufacturer offered a $ 1,000 voucher for a newer vehicle. The failure mileage was 76,877.

Filed Nov 3, 2020 · Brakes · 183,000 miles · MD

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 subaru legacy. The contact stated while inspecting the vehicle, he became aware of corrosion around the brake line. There was fluid leaking from the brake line. The contact stated that while driving, the brake pedal felt soft when depressed. A dealer was not contacted. There was no warning light illuminated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure however, informed the contact that the VIN was not under recall. The contact referenced the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v311000 (service brakes, hydraulic) as a possible solution to the failure however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was 183,000.

Filed Oct 28, 2020 · Brakes · 213,569 miles · NY

While driving the vehicle and trying to brake it lost the ability to apply the brakes almost causing an accident. After further inspection found this was a recall for this vehicle. I called the manufacturer and they said it was performed and they could not do anything further. The exact area pertaining to the brake lines failing as described in the recall is where it has failed. Their is no evidence of the recall being performed as the repair indicated spraying the vehicle with anti corrosion spray. It does not appear that was ever done. This is for the brake lines in the passenger rear of the vehicle next to the gas tank. Recall number they say was completed is wqk-47. Research shows many other people have this issue still and subaru has not repaired the vehicle as it should have been. Thank you

Filed Aug 24, 2020 · Brakes · 125,765 miles · IL

I saw the brake light come on while driving on city street, I tapped the brakes lightly and checked if my ebrake was up a few times and the light went away for a bit before it finally stayed on while driving after doing that. I thought maybe it was a sensor since light taps and braking seemed fine. I guess when I was tapping and testing the brakes over and over, I was just pumping all the brake fluid out of the corroded brake line in the back and could barely stop when I actually had to use the brakes to come to a complete stop. The brake pedal went all the way to floor and I had to assist in braking with my e-brake and engine braking into 1st gear. When I got under the car and had someone pump the brakes, I can see fluid come out of a corroded hard brake line next to the gas tank. Looking online this is one of the spots where 2 previous recalls were issued for brake line corrosion. The recalls were taken care of in 11/2013 @~89k miles and 09/2014 @~97k miles by the dealer. My car is currently at ~125k miles and has only been driven in the summer for past few years. It looks like the recall does not fix the issue and still creates a dangerous driving situation.

Filed Jun 29, 2020 · Brakes · 200,000 miles · FL

Driving car and had complete loss of brakes. Vehicle has had issues or random consumption of brake fluid. Passenger rear brake pipe burst open and failed due to corrosion not addressed by previous recalls. Subaru of america will not honor replacement and services cost because the legacy model is not specific to the recall and out of warranty. Soa did honor $350 credit for repairs that cost $1100.

Filed Jan 7, 2020 · Brakes · 133,000 miles · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 subaru legacy. The contact stated while driving at approximately 25 MPH and when attempting to press the brake pedal, brake fluid began to leak from the vehicle. The contact stated they were able to park the vehicle safely. The contact referred the failure to the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v311000 (service brakes, hydraulic). The vehicle was not taken to a local mechanic or a dealer for diagnosis or repairs. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 133,000.

Filed Dec 17, 2019 · Brakes · 180,000 miles · NY

This is in reference to subaru recall wqk-47: while driving vehicle, brake indicator on dashboard illuminated and within a few minutes of driving, I could feel something was a bit different with the brake pressure. Within a few moments of that while attempting to stop, I noticed the pedal went all the way down to the floor and on subsequent pumps of the brakes I got some pressure. Attempting to drive the vehicle further (slowly), resulted in very little, if any, braking power. I checked brake fluid reservoir and noticed it was below the min mark. I had some brake fluid in the trunk and filled it. I attempted to drive the vehicle a bit further and was able to recover brake functionality for a few more minutes before the same issue occurred. Thankfully this was done while on a road that had a low speed limit and there weren't many vehicles around. Losing brake power while on a highway for instance on a turn would not have been as good. I took the vehicle to a dealership where they found that the right rear line was leaking. I went in to look at the vehicle and inspected the four-way connector mentioned in the recall as well as the line that runs near the fuel tank where the clip holds on to it. This part of the line is exposed just as the recall mentions. I noticed that the 4-way connector was covered sufficiently in the wax component that the recall mentioned should be used but the area where the leak was does not appear to have any wax at all the work for the recall was performed in october 2018, so a little over a year later and the brake line corroded through where the recall wording indicated it could. If the lines had been sealed as indicated, perhaps this issue would not have occurred. The dealership quoted $1300 to replace a single brake line. Another concern is that if that one line was corroded enough to leak, then the others could too.