Error code p2138, lots of people are talking about how subaru is not fixing or calling out the defect in the accelerator pedal position sensor. Issues with connections of the plug, water/dirt causing corrosion to not allow it to work, and dealers not fixing the real issue. I was driving and slowing down as light was red but then it changed to green. I pushed gas and wouldn't allow me to accelerate and check engine light came on. 30 seconds later pretty much all of my indicator lights came on. Cruise light was even blinking. Videos I've been watching talk about fly by wire pedals and how it puts cars into limp mode. Which is what it was doing when I first try to accelerate. I cleared a lot of codes by doing the cruise button reset which for now turned most lights off but still have limp mode issues when first trying to accelerate after a complete stop.
2006 Subaru Outback acceleration complaints
Page 2 of 4: complaints 11 to 40 of 98, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Repeated pedal slip codes 'p2138' happens about once a day now and happens from stop to start positions at random times.
Car will suddenly go limp. With no warning or anything the car is still running but there is no throttle or throttle pedal response. You can floor the gas pedal and nothing happens. It has happens while driving down a road and all you can do is hope that you can get to the side of the road. I was driving down a country road when this last happened. I came to a turn where you either have to stop or merge to the right onto another road. As I went to accererate there was no response from the car. I looked down and the check engine light is on as well as the cruise control light is now flashing. I tried turning the car off and back on several times. I finally shut the car off for 3-5 minutes before the throttle would respond. If this happened on the a busy freeway with heavy traffic, it could be very dangerous!!
While in motion, rapidly applying the brakes causes check engine light to come on, the cruise control indicator flashes and control of the accelerator pedal lost. The car essentially becomes limp and is not able to receive input from the accelerator pedal at this time. Turning the car off and letting it sit for 30 seconds and then turning the car back on re-provides control to the accelerator pedal. At this time the check engine light is still on. After a couple of days the check engine light goes off. My local authorized subaru shop traced the issue to a faulty accelerator pedal sensor. The entire assembly was replaced and the car is operating nominally. Two two instances where this caused a serious concern was when I was left stranded in the middle of an intersection when a car in front of me slammed on it's brakes and chose to turn right instead of the intended direction of travel straight through the intersection. The second time was to avoid an animal running across the road in front of the car. In both instances the car was moving at roughly 25mph.
The cruise and check engine lights flash. Car looses power and stalls while driving.
No gas pedal response
While driving car check engine light will come on and cruise control light will flash. Car goes into limp mode and the accelerator will not longer respond dropping the cars speed drastically. This can happen on any road, at any speed, and any weather condition. Temporary fix is to stop and cycle the cars power three or four times. More permanent fix is to replace the pedal assembly-accelerator at a cost of $199. Happened a few dozen times before I finally got the pedal assembly replaced. Issued started early 2016, and replaced the assembly in 2018.
Accelerator pedal goes limp and unresponsive at random moments including highway driving. It has happens more and more often and other subaru owners have said the same. It seems to happen the most during colder weather and the cars gas pedal becomes completely unresponsive and requires the car to be pulled over over and turned off to sit for a some time. When putting the car into park the rpms jump up and rev higher to around 4000, unsure of what's causing it.
While traveling at highway speed the gas pedal quits working and car goes into limp mode, this is where car travels at 30 MPH with no control from the gas pedal, the check engine light comes on and the cruise control light flashes, the only way to reset the fuel pedal is to pull over, shut car off for 1 min. And restart pedal will work but check engine light and cruise control light will flash until error code is reset. Code is p2138 . This may fix pedal temporary but it will happen again. When pedal quits working this is very dangerous in heavy traffic. This has happened to the car at leased 20 times, have not found a permanent fix yet. Needs to be recalled and repaired
On street, from park with engine idling, car in drive, accelerator pedal dead at first, then high RPM 3000+ with pedal released. No control of engine RPM. Cel and cc illuminated on instrument panel. Put transmission in neutral. Killed ignition switch. Engine shut down. Restarted engine and RPM was normal. Very frightening! Found dtc p2138 acc pedal sensor failure. Called subaru support, no such record of failure. Called dealer from which car was purchased, answer was bring car in and will try to repair. This is a serious failure and danger. Please see this failure on google. Many people are reporting the same issue. I am apprehensive to put this car on the road especially with other people in it. An investigation should be pursued in these drive by wire vehicles as this car is. Please take this seriously.. Thank you
While driving on the highway, the car went limp and lost all accelerator function. Check engine light illuminated and cruise control light was flashing.thankfully, was able to coast to the shoulder of the highway without incident. Diagnosed with code p2138 and failed pedal position sensor. Based on subaru outback forum searches and identifix database, this issue is very common for 2005 and 2006 model year subarus. The pedal assembly was redesigned in 2007 but is not reverse compatible. This is a significant safety issue which subaru of america refuses to recognize.
My car has been experiencing episodes where it suddenly stops accelerating while I am driving. This has happening both on city streets, and on the highway. It's mostly about 5 minutes after I initially turned the car on, but not always. I will be driving normally and all of a sudden the check engine lights and cruise control lights will come on and then the car will instantly stop accelerating with no additional warning. The most recent time this has happened, my car actually sped up without me pressing on the gas pedal. The code reads p2138. After turning my car off and waiting a few minutes it drives fine (although sometimes the lights are still on). I have had a subaru dealership check out the problem and after looking at the car for about one week they could not find the problem. The problem is that this issue appears suddenly but then goes away so that by the time I can get it over to a mechanic it is no longer an issue. This has been going on for about 4 months and I would say I've experienced the issue about 6-7 times. It is very dangerous when I am driving on the highway and the car stops accelerating.
Upon pushing the accelerator to enter traffic, there was no response from the throttle. The engine remained running and the car idled into the street and driver was able to avoid an accident and coast to a stop. Vehicle was towed to dealership where the dealer service department diagnosed the cause as failure of the accelerator position sensor component of the throttle by wire system.
On two different occasions in the last two weeks, I was driving my outback, when it went "limp". The engine was running but there was no response when I pressed the accelerator. My car continued to move forward at the speed I was driving. When I pressed the brake, it slowed but, when I let up on the brake, the engine continued to rev and my car continued in forward motion before totally dying out from under me. Fortunately, I was on a side street near my house. On the first occasion, after a period of time, the engine stopped revving and I coasted to a stop. On the second occasion, I was pulling in my drive, after a two mile trip, when the same thing happened. The motor continued revving with the car moving forward and I had no control of the accelerator. When I tried to brake, the car would slow down but immediately pick up when I let up on the brake. I nearly hit a 6' bank of firewood at the end of our drive.
While driving in traffic on I-95 the accelerator stopped responding and I had no control over the speed of the vehicle. After I pulled off the next exit, I had to put the car into neutral in order to bring it to a stop. My check engine light came on as well as the cruise control light. Later, I checked for obd2 codes and came up with "p2138". After researching this issue, it appears that many subaru owners are having the same problem which appears to be caused by the "pedal travel sensor" part # 36010ag021. That part was redesigned after the 2006 model year. This is a very dangerous problem and I am very fortunate that no one was hurt through this part failure.
While the vehicle was in operation both in park, and in motion, and while both turning and going straight, the throttle intermittently stopped responding to all input, and the vehicle only ran the engine at over idle rpms (about 2100rpm in neutral). The problem would usually persist through several restarts. Eventually the car would restart at normal idle, and the throttle would be responding again. The vehicle code indicated to my mechanic that the throttle position sensor needed replaced, however after replacing it, the problem has persisted. I have read many accounts of this issue online over the past few years, and any issue regarding vehicle acceleration while driving should be considered a serious problem. Subaru needs to issue a response and acknowledge this problem.
I was driving on the highway traveling about 70 miles per hour in the mountains of colorado when my car's accelerator stopped working. I was on a sharp downhill curve when I was no longer able to accelerate my car to keep up with traffic. This was extremely dangerous as I was almost hit by the cars behind me. There was no warning prior to the incident.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 subaru outback. While depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond. While driving various speeds, the vehicle stalled and the check engine warning indicator illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact mentioned that the failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 118,341.
Just received "takata recall" letter stating there are now sufficient parts available. At the same time my check engine light came on and cruise light started flashing. I made an appointment for the recall work and to have the car checked out. I googled this and found that a code p2138 is found with this occurrence and it seems to be happening with many of these vehicles. My wife called me on her way home from work and said the car would not accelerate. She pulled off of the highway into a parking lot. I drove to her location. She started the car and gas pedal seemed to be operating as it should. I followed her home and was thankful there were no problems getting back. I will determine whether to drive vehicle or have it towed to dealer for scheduled appt. Next wed.kind of makes sense now because when I drove the car the day before to get gas, there was hesitation when accelerating, which I found unusual, as the car runs great with plenty of power.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 subaru outback. While driving various speeds, the check engine indicator illuminated and the cruise control warning indicator began to flash. As a result, the contact mentioned that the vehicle failed to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the accelerator pedal failed and needed to be replaced. In addition, the accelerator position sensor and the epm were also replaced. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures. The approximate failure mileage was 77,000.
While driving at highway and city street speeds the check engine light comes on/the cruise control flashes and gas pedal stops working. A code that has shown up is p2138 "throttle/pedal position sensor/switch voltage correlation". Very dangerous as I no longer can control the speed of the car. Has happened multiple times.
Driving in busy traffic on freeway, highways, and streets, cruise and engine lights came on, no response when applying gas pedal, car coasted into slow cruise, eventually down to about 15 MPH. Again, no response to applying gas pedal. That happened sporadically. Had near fatal accidents a couple times then it stopped and two or three weeks later throttle turned on revving up to 500 in idle, over 300 when driving. Trying to stop at intersections, brake malfunctioned, nearly hit several people trying to get home. Engine racing out of control. This stopped briefly, drove errand, and withno foot on gas pedal, car was speeding up on highway uphill and still accelerating at 78 MPH. Brakes did not work consistently, jumped a curb, when trying to pull over and turn off engine. Had to have car towed. Repair of throttle senior $365 at local dealership in portland, or. I asked them to review all the documentation I found here and elsewhere showing this was a known problem and they ignored me entirely. This was very dangerous and scary. I feel subaru should pay this repair. It easily could have killed me and others here, and others in the future. Park your subaru if this happens and you cannot afford repair. File a complaint with subaru. Don't do what I did out of desperation and drive it, because it could really could kill you. Find another way to get to work. Trucks on roadways cannot avoid you if no engine power with no notice and nowhere safe to pull off, which happened to me.
While driving at highway and city street speeds the check engine light comes on/the cruise control flashes and car goes limp, gas pedal stops working. A code that has shown up is p2138.very dangerous. When I put the car in neutral the engine revs to a constant 3,000 RPM. It has happened to me on 3 occasions.
While traveling on the freeway the check engine light came on, as well as a blinking cruise control light. The car would not respond topressure on the gas pedal and I was unable to accelerate. I coasted to the shoulder of the road and turned the engine off. After starting the engine again, I was able to drive off the freeway and went straight to my mechanic. The diagnosis was trouble code p2138 faulty throttle position sensor in the gas pedal leading to no acceleration. The gas pedal assembly was replaced.
On three occasions within a two week period I was driving on city streets and the car would not accelerate when the gas pedal was depressed. On these occasions I was starting from a red light or just after I had braked for something, depressed the gas pedal and the speed did not change. The check engine light came on, the cruise control light flashed and the car went into limp mode. I limped to the side of the road and turned the engine off. On the first try to restart the car it would not turn over. After waiting and trying again the car turned over and the gas pedal would work. The check engine light and the flashing cruise control light remained on and went off after starting the car a couple/few times. I went to my mechanic to check the car and he found p2138 three times in the history. This happened once when entering a traffic circle and twice while crossing intersections, very dangerous! Info on this site and a subaru outback forum shows this to be a problem many have experienced. I called the manufacturer.
Was driving to work and stopped at a light. Light turned green and I released the brake pedal, car started faster than normal with no pressure on the gas pedal. I pressed the gas pedal repeatedly but it did not respond. I pulled over and put the car in neutral and the engine started reving high light the pedal was stuck. I tried pressing the cancel button on the cruise control, thinking that it might have gotten stuck but that didn't work so I put it in park and turned it off. Tried turning it back on once and it didn't turn over. Tried it again and it turned on, but this time the check engine light was on, and the cruise control indicator was blinking. Could have been much worse if this was on the highway and it got stuck at a high speed, or if I was trying to turn onto a busy road and couldn't accelerate.
Throttle failure. While driving throttle completely fails. No acceleration, car will only move at automatic idle speed. Cruise control light flashes, check engine light on. Extremely dangerous -- very lucky it didn't happen in an intersection or while passing another car. Turns out to be common for this model -- and mine has only 93,000 miles. I am attaching a sample from an online complaint site. This requires a recall.
Accelerator randomly stops working. Once you stop the vehicle and wait about 10-15 seconds then restart I seems to work fine. Also check engine and cruise lights flash when this occurs. So far this has only happened right after starting the vehicle while leaving a driveway or parking lot so at slow speeds. If this happens on a 6 lane freeway system, it could be very dangerous!!!!!!!
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 subaru outback. While driving at various speeds, the accelerator pedal was depressed and the vehicle failed to accelerate. The check engine warning indicator illuminated. The driver had to coast the vehicle to the shoulder and turn the ignition to the off potion and back on in order for the vehicle to operate normally. The failure recurred three times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 155,000.
Loss of power, no acceleration while driving at highway speeds. Trouble code p2138 faulty throttle position sensor in the gas pedal leading to no acceleration. This happened while driving on the freeway at highway speeds (70 MPH or so). Suddenly there was no power when pushing the gas pedal and we had to make it to the shoulder on a busy freeway with no acceleration what so ever. This should be a recall! People can die with loss of power and acceleration on the freeway, or being stuck on a blind curve on a mountain road. Very dangerous situation with this system!
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2006 Subaru Outback?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history