2005 Subaru Outback: check engine light

Filed Mar 10, 2022 · Acceleration · 177,000 miles · MT

The contact owns a 2005 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the vehicle was experiencing cruise control failures. Additionally, the contact stated while driving at 50 MPH up a steep hill of a bridge, the brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle decelerated significantly to 20-25 MPH. The accelerator pedal was depressed but failed to respond. The contact stated that the vehicle lost motive power and remained at the bottom of the hill facing an incline, while there was oncoming traffic. The check engine warning light and other unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact engaged the Sport mode first gear and the vehicle moved slowly. The contact continued to depress the accelerator pedal but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact switched to the slow lane and drove to the top of the incline and made a left turn off the end of the bridge downhill. The vehicle rolled down, allowing him to veer to the side of the road. The contact parked the vehicle. Upon inspecting the vehicle, the contact noticed that the engine was running at 2,000 RPM, even though the vehicle had no motive power. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle. The contact shifted to drive and low gear, and he was able to drive the vehicle to an independent mechanic. The independent mechanic diagnosed that the throttle position sensor had failed. The vehicle was repaired. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 177,000.

Filed Jan 4, 2022 · Acceleration · 215,500 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2005 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving downhill at 40 MPH, the check engine warning light was illuminated. The accelerator pedal was depressed however, the vehicle failed to respond. The contact parked on the side of the road and restarted the vehicle after 3-4 minutes and continued driving to his destination. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was turned off after restarting the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 215,500.

Filed Mar 19, 2019 · Engine, Fuel system · 162,167 miles · NC

Traveling at highway speeds (~75 MPH) during the morning rush hour on the highway, experienced sudden loss of throttle control and resulting deceleration. The check engine light glowed steady and the cruise light was flashing. After pulling off to the shoulder (across three lanes) and shutting the engine off and restarting the engine, throttle control resumed. Check engine light still glows steady and the cruise light is flashing with the cruise control not working.

Filed Nov 6, 2018 · Fuel system · 120,000 miles · ID

As I was driving, I all of a sudden lost all power and control from the gas pedal. The car decelerated and I was only able to idle forward. The gas pedal became completely unresponsive. I turned the car off and restarted it. The check engine light is on and the cruise control light blinks but the car drives fine until the the problem happens again. There is no way to predict it. I'm glad it has not happened in the middle of an intersection or a more dangerous situation where decelerating that quickly was more dangerous. The car is in motion on city streets when this happens. I believe the check engine code reading is p2138.

Filed Aug 28, 2018 · Acceleration · 174,000 miles · CA

1) recurring phantom revving (in neutral and/or clutch depressed, both while completely stopped and while slowing down from any and all speeds) upwards of 4-5k RPM with difficulty getting the rpms back to normal. Happens sometimes daily, sometimes constantly, sometimes it goes a few days without happening. 2) complete loss of pedal control/response (a "limp" pedal) while going 60mph on a freeway, managed to coast to safety and let the car sit for 10+ minutes, when it restarted and the throttle worked again. Stored code p2138, cel on and cruise control disabled. Have only driven the car a few times since, out of fear of losing pedal control again. -- online research has LED me to a number of possible solutions, most common being defective throttle position sensor connections (which frequently get exposed to the elements and corrode, apparently), bad accelerator pedal position sensor, and many people replaced the entire pedal assembly when the previous "fixes" did not solve the problem.

Filed Dec 14, 2017 · Acceleration · 81,000 miles · MA

Intermittently and without warning, the accelerator pedal will become unresponsive. On multiple occasions, the vehicle was in motion when this happened. The speedometer fell to 0, and when pressed, the accelerator pedal did nothing. The vehicle had to be limped to the side of the road and restarted in order for it to work again. The check engine light would then come on. On other occasions, the accelerator would not respond immediately upon starting the vehicle, and the check engine light came on immediately upon starting. This has the potential to be extremely dangerous or fatal if the car were to go limp when driving on a highway at high speeds, or taking a turn. Research has shown that this is a widespread problem with the outback, and action needs to be taken by subaru. This should be treated as a recall.

Filed Dec 5, 2017 · Acceleration · 171,000 miles · IL

Car randomly goes limp while driving, accelerator will not respond. Have to put it in neutral and eek to the side of the road. Very dangerous! Check engine light illuminates, pulling a p2138 code.

Filed Aug 18, 2017 · 27,779 miles · MI

Bought car in 2006. Check engine light came on after having a couple of months. Under warranty replaced oxygen sensor, went out after a month; also headlight went out. Had senior replaced again, went out again after 1 month. Wasn't under warranty, the sensor was but not the labor. Single income couldn't afford to keep replacing. My check engine light had been on for 9 years, and I haven't been able to use my cruise control. My 1 st subaru was a 1986; been driving one sense. Just thought you would like to know.

Filed May 8, 2017 · Acceleration · 131,000 miles · MN

While driving or accelerating from a stopped position the accelerator loses control. Check engine light comes on and I then have to coast to a safe place on the road. I turn off ignition, remove and replace gas cap, restart the xar. Had the check engine code checked as p2138. Trottle/pedal position sensor switch. So far I have been lucky and not been hit while this occurs.this has been happening for 2 weeks now. Going to repair shop to hope for repair.

Filed Dec 28, 2015 · Acceleration · 160,000 miles · CA

Accelerator pedal randomly stopped functioning while driving straight on flat road approximately 30mph, resulting in no speed control, able to drive only on idle speed. First seems like not 'shifting gears' correctly, then no speed control. (many comments in online forum of elusive problem to diagnose by subaru dealers and much money spent with only random success.) when restarted car drove normally with 'check engine light' on about 3 miles then same thing, accelerator went limp, no speed control but got me home. Car taken in to dealer the next day.(drove down hill approx 30 miles with no problem). Service department claimed "not current code" (clearly the problem is intermittent) and said never heard of such a problem (nonsense, it's all over the web); they cleaned the throttle mechanism, hoping that would fix. Drove car to san francisco about 100 miles and four days later it failed again, same scenario--acceleartor fails to function while driving on flat ground, this time going about 20mph, 55f outside, after about 5 minutes of driving, in san francisco this third time! Serious safety hazard if happens on a freeway, a bridge, a hill, etc. Called two subaru dealers, nobody wants to help!

Filed Sep 22, 2015 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 110,000 miles · TN

Car suddenly looses power and will not run above 1500 RPM it will run but you have to turn it on and off several times it does this when pulling out or going steady down the road .... Cruise light flashing and check engine light on

Filed Aug 13, 2015 · Engine · 150,000 miles · RI

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 subaru outback. While driving at approximately 25 MPH, the accelerator pedal was applied and the vehicle experienced a loss of power as the check engine light blinked off and on. The vehicle was merged over to the side of the road and then driven to the contact's residence. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000.