2011 Subaru Outback: hesitation when accelerating

Filed Oct 26, 2020 · Transmission · IA

I purchased this as a used vehicle as is with 130,000 miles. It was within a couples weeks that I noticed the vehicle would die every time I would brake at an intersection or stop sign/light. Thankfully, I live in a small town, but do occasionally travel to larger cities. As you could imagine, this is quite dangerous at busy intersections!!! I just recently hit 135,000 miles and now have another issue! At highway speed, it will intermittently hesitate, the RPM gauge jumps up and it makes a screeching noise. After researching on line, it appears that several consumers have complained about both issues. They are both caused by a problem with the CVT and that subaru has made no attempt to correct the issue? I am a middle-class consumer and can not afford a brand new vehicle, so when I do purchase a used vehicle, I try to find something that has a history of being reliable and long-lasting. This vehicle is neither!!!

Filed Aug 19, 2019 · Transmission · 146,000 miles · VT

This is a new complaint after subaru agreed to replace the transmission at no cost to us, the original owners. The car was dropped for diagnosis on 7/29-told that it needed a new transmissions, parts ordered, and service scheduled. Subaru had the car for just over two weeks. Picked up on 8/13 and experienced the same issues that we had prior to dropping it off. Hesitation and stalling, etc. See previous complaint. Now they want us to drop it off for service again.

Filed Jul 31, 2019 · Transmission · 140,000 miles · VT

Car hesitated while driving, rpms soared. Lights came on dashboard-check engine light, brake lights, traction control system lights as well as other lights. Took to local mechanic who advised the code related to transmission issues, he reset code and asked us to drive for a few days to see if it would come on again. It did. Same code. Contacted subaru of america who advised it would need to go to a "authorized subaru dealer" for diagnosis before they could help us. Research indicates that subaru extended the warranty on these vehicles for this exact problem to 10 years, 100,000 miles. The person I spoke to at subaru, martina brown indicated that once it was diagnosed that they would be able to review the claim and help us out, so we drove the car to our local subaru dealer. Car was driving fine when it was dropped there. After diagnosis, it was confirmed that the transmission needed to be replaced, but they refused to do it at no cost. In fact, they offered us 1k toward the purchase of a new subaru. What a joke, I can't even believe they would have the audacity to make an offer like that. We'd already been offered way more than that as a trade for a new vehicle elsewhere, but didn't take the offer because we were under the impression that subaru would do the right thing and fix it. The car is under the 10 years, but over the 100,000 miles. I feel that subaru should fix it at no cost since they knew this was an issue. There should have been a recall on this issue as it is a safety issue. They should be made to pay for these repairs. Please advise what options I can pursue to get this fixed at no cost to me, the original owner of the vehicle.

Filed Mar 21, 2019 · Transmission · 133,808 miles · MA

The vehicle begins moving from a stop on city streets and then it quickly hesitates one or more times before staying in gear. This reduces consistent forward motion, increasing the risk of rear end or other crashes. The 2nd day warning lights flashed continuously on the instrument panel. This increases the risk of distracted driving crashes. Subaru found a failed valve body in the transmission. This is the type of defect that should have a safety recall to reduce risks of crashes. Subaru issued an extended warranty in july 2017 for these transmission defects and covered vehicles with over 100,000 miles through july 31, 2018. The extended warranty and later date appear to be to avoid a safety recall. Vehicles that had not failed were not to be brought for repair. Had there been a recall, this safety issue would have been corrected before july 31, 2018.

Filed Dec 28, 2018 · Transmission · 40,000 miles · FL

At about 40k miles, my dealer maintained 2011 outback began to have an engine shudder immediately after making a full stop in gear, e.g. At a red light. It happens very infrequently and cannot be replicated on command. The near-stall is similar to not depressing a clutch with a manual transmission. The shudder is very brief. Sometimes dash lights flash, but the engine has never completely stalled. The only consistency is that it only occurs at a full stop in gear. It is very unsafe when the near-stall occurs at the same time I'm trying to pull out into traffic. The hesitation is long enough to make my action dangerous. Subaru has had my vehicle multiple times, sometimes for weeks, but has been unable to diagnose and repair. The transmission tested good. Torque converter was replaced, and is a common issue for many owners, but it did nothing for me. The engine shudder has been occurring for 45k miles. Though the issue started while under full power train warranty, subaru will not perform any services at their cost. This is a common issue with 2010-12 outback owners. A quick search online supports that, including a related technical service bulletin issued by subaru. I do not know what is occurring, nor does subaru. It is frustrating to have a common issue with no resolution.

Filed Feb 8, 2016 · Engine · 35,000 miles · ND

My vehicle has had 4 of 6 ignition could fail due to excessive corrosion within a span of months. Failure has resulted in sudden engine failure and hesitations causing the vehicle to lose power unpredictably and forced us to pull over. Subaru of america has refused to repair these components because they are beyond the 3 year warranty period. It is unlikely that four components would all fail similarly without a serious defect in the parts or a design flaw in the automobile. There were two occurrences of this failure- one coil failed in september 2014 and three more failed in december 2015

Filed Apr 20, 2014 · Acceleration, Transmission · 32,000 miles · SC

Safety concerns with hesitation issue with transmission at slow speeds when applying /giving more gas.

Filed Jul 24, 2013 · Engine, Transmission · 18,192 miles · NC

This vehicle is hesitating from a start, posing a high risk of causing a serious accident when entering traffic. The hesitation occurs, on average, once every 300 miles under differing conditions. I have taken the vehicle to subaru service four times because of this problem. They state they can?t solve the issue because they can?t ?duplicate? It. I have informed them over and over again that it is an intermittent problem but they refused to keep the car long enough to duplicate the problem. I have asked subaru for a replacement but all they will offer is yet another appointment ?to attempt to duplicate the concerns?. In the meantime, I am forced to drive a vehicle with a serious safety problem, which occurs randomly without warning. This hesitation defect appears to be a common issue with this power train, placing numerous drivers at risk. Please see the following associated complaints: 10290805 10297490 10307668 10343600 10346037 10346648 10347133 10351374 10354541 10355908 10355908 10356951 10358243 10411748 10413779 10448621 10505368 10515376 thank you for your time.

Filed Jun 12, 2013 · Steering · 1,000 miles · IA

High winds caused a loss of steering and the entire car was moved and I almost blew into a semi.this always happens in high winds (25- 30mph and above ). Internet bloggers call this " lane wandering" subaru refuses to address this problem. I filed a claim with subaru of america and their response was "it has been determined that the vehicle is operating as designed". I am past the date of being able to use the lemon law. The only option subaru has given me is to trade-in the car with a $1500 discount toward a new one. I hesitate to do business with them again as there is a trust issue and I cannot, in good conscience,sell the car to someone else. It is very dangerous and I am afraid to drive it.I did speak to a gentleman with the same problem and he said subaru bought back the car from him, however they refused to do that for me. I have been trying to resolve this problem with subaru for a couple of years with no satisfaction. Here is a link that may be helpful. Http:/www.subaruoutback.org/forums/104-gen-4-2010-present/31638-ob-lanewandering.html.

Filed Aug 23, 2010 · Transmission · 9 miles · CA

When coming to a rolling stop and then stepping on the accelerator as our 2011 outback was turning, the new vehicle, with 9 miles on the odometer, experienced a brief hesitation followed by a hard transmission clunk and the vehicle lurched forward a few feet before driving normally. This occurred several times during rolling stops both when going forward and when turning a corner. We feel this is extremely unsafe and could lead to loss of control of the vehicle. We returned the vehicle to the dealership's service department within 17 hours of purchase and, after they had the car for 10 days, we were informed that, while they acknowledge the problem, there is no current fix for the issue and have no estimate as to when there might be one. In researching online, we discovered that a very similar, if not identical, problem was reported by owners of the 2010 outback model and a subaru service bulletin (11-94-09r) dated 01/05/10 was issued announcing that 'ECM' reprogramming files' were available to rectify the problem.