The contact owns a 2013 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while parking the vehicle, the parking brake was applied, and the parking brake warning light was illuminated. The parking brake would not disengage when the contact attempted to drive the vehicle. The contact stated that the electric motor for the parking brake had failed. The contact crawled underneath the vehicle and rotated the electric motor 250 times as per the owner’s manual instructions. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and the contact was informed that the VIN was not included in a recall and referred the contact to file a complaint with the federal safety agency. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.
2013 Subaru Outback brakes complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 31 of 31, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The contact owns a 2013 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while entering the vehicle, her knee hit the button next to the center console labeled push on/push off parking brake which activated the parking brake. The contact was unable to turn off the button. The vehicle was taken to her son who works as an independent mechanic to release the activated parking brakes. The failure persisted. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage is 116,067.
Brake master cylinder is failing, according to subaru service mechanic. Prior 4 years of same model were under recall for master cylinder defect, replacement. This is technically the same problem. Subaru has provided free replacements for some 2013 owners who had this problem with master cylinder. Seal in mc is broken.
Brake light flashes and parking brake does not function
The warning lights- brakes, tire pressure, cruise control, engine lights and traction control all come on and won't go off. Had them reset by the mechanics but a day later they came back on while I was driving down the highway for no reason. Cruise no longer works as the lights are on. A lot of people on line seem to have this problem and I think you should make subaru issue some kind of recall to fix this problem. Thank you.
Use more than a quart of oil a week and just change brakes and they shimmy and jolt
My 2013 subaru outback has three open recalls, numbered 19v009000 (airbag), 18v626000 (parking brake), and 16v694000 (windshield wiper motor). Subaru of america has told me, within the past week, that the car is unsafe to drive because of the airbag. I live 138 miles from the nearest subaru dealer. I have given subaru two quotes, requested by them, including contact information at two companies, for transporting the car to the nearest dealer, rimrock subaru in billings, mt. Subaru of america refuses to contact or make arrangements with the two companies and refuses to schedule the repairs unless I pay in advance, approximately $1,700.00, for round trip transportation and car rental, to get the car to the dealer and back. Subaru told me, in an email today, february 12, 2020, from [xxx] of subaru customer service, "my ability to assist is on a reimbursement basis. There is no workaround for this." his email is [email protected] this is an extreme hardship for me as I am retired with limited discretionary funds. I hope you can convince subaru to fulfill its legal responsibility to complete these recalls without my financial involvement. Thank you. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Took it home from dealer and the electronic parking brake would not turn on. The brake light was also blinking. A couple days later, on the way to dealer, I stopped at a gas station and turned on the electric parking brake. It worked this time, but when I got in the car to drive, the electric parking brake wouldn't turn off. I was stuck. There was no way to move it. I was blocking the gas pump for about an hour waiting for a two truck. Tow truck driver had difficulty loading vehicle and taking off vehicle because the parking brake was on and it was an awd meaning none of the wheels can move.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 subaru outback. While the vehicle was parked at a fuel station, the emergency brake failed to release and the eyesight collision warning failed to activate. The consumer stated parking accelerator brake failed and dealer repaired at no charge. The failure mileage was 66,600. *tt
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 subaru outback. While driving various speeds, the brake, windshield wiper fluid, cruise control, and check engine warning indicators illuminated. The contact stated that the emergency brake engaged independently and the vehicle failed to drive. The contact stated that the failure also occurred on other occasions. The vehicle was taken to subaru of orange park (located at 7023 blanding blvd, jacksonville, fl 32244, (855) 851-7200) where it was diagnosed and an unknown failure code was located. The vehicle was repaired, but the contact did not know the specifics. The contact believed there was an unknown sensor failure. The contact stated that the failure recurred. The contact planned to tow the vehicle to subaru of orange park. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 subaru outback. While driving 60 MPH, the brakes seized without warning. Last week, the transmission seized while in traffic on the golden gate bridge. On both occasions, the contact had to pull the vehicle over to prevent a crash. The transmission warning indicator was illuminated. The vehicle was towed three times to marin subaru (595 francisco blvd e, san rafael, ca 94901, (415) 454-9240) where it was diagnosed that a new transmission was needed. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was repaired five additional times, but the failure continued. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures and did not assist. The failure mileage was 250,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 subaru outback. The contact stated that the manufacturer failed to provide the part within a reasonable time frame for the federal safety agency campaign number: 18v626000 (parking brake). The contact had been waiting over three months for the part. The recall letter stated that the part was not available. Groove subaru (5300 s broadway, englewood, co 80113, (720) 279-9409) and the manufacturer did not know when the part would be available. The contact was waiting on the manufacturer to determine a solution and provide the part. The contact had not experienced a failure. Vin tool confirms parts not available.
Was driving south on I-5 near orland, ca on 12/26/18 when my outback began shaking and attempting to "brake" (I was doing between 65 - 70 MPH). I looked down and the parking brake signal was illuminated. (I had not engaged the brake.) I was able to pull to the side of the road. I disengaged the brake and resumed. It happened again. I pulled off the road and called my subaru dealership, carlsen subaru, redwood city, ca. I disengaged the brake -- but the brake kept trying to re-engage. I could drive but only have consistently and constantly making sure the brake was not engaged. The brake light would flash on and off periodically. I immediately took the car into the dealership on 12/27/18. As suspected, the dealership diagnosed the problem as the parking brake module. The charge was $185 for diagnosis and another estimated $1,250 for the repair. (see attached diagnostic/estimate) one of the service technicians gave me the national subaru customer service number -- I called and alerted them. They are investigating. However, later that evening I discovered subaru has recalled 27,000 2010-2014 outbacks & legacys with failing parking brakes. The subaru recall is offering replacement or extended warranty provisions depending on whether the car is manual or automatic transmission (with affected VIN numbers). (recall began in oct 2018. I have received no notification.) the national subaru representative made no mention of the current recall to me. I went to the dealership again this morning (12/28/18)--got a copy of the diagnosis/estimate. The service technicians do not see the recall in their system with my VIN number. This appears to be a similar issue to others reported in the recall -- subaru should look carefully at other vehicles within those same year/model ranges. I feel the car may be dangerous to drive.
Subaru outback self-accelerated (unintended acceleration) on march 22, 2018 as I was attempted to park the car in a parking lot. Due to the self-acceleration the car hopped over the curb in the parking lot and ran over a bush. My foot was no where near the accelerator and even when applying the brake, I had to press extremely hard on the brake to stop the vehicle. While it self-accelerated the engine made a loud revving sound. On march 23, 2018 the car self-accelerated again with my husband driving on the open road. After this incident we had the car towed to our car dealership. Subaru has had the car since march 23 and denies any problem with the accelerator or car.
I took my car in for airbag recall, the brake light indicator flashes on/off on dash, intermittent. Service dept could not replicate at first, discovered electronic parking brake component faulty. Parking brake could engage while car is in drive or fail on hill. Charging me 1100 for repair, says its not under warranty or recall. This is same defect/recall on 2015 model outback. Dealer says no recall for 2013 model outbcak. I dispute this.
I have a legal notice for airbags. The brakes didn't work properly recently in an emergency situation.
This vehicle has several issues. I had an oil change and within 1 week they had to add 1.3 quarts. Car had 23,767 miles. In just over a month I have had to add almost 4 quarts of synthetic oil and spent close to $100 for the oil. The car is an automatic with a manual option and I am also haveing problems where the gears won't change in auto nor manual operation. It revs the engine and I have to stop, turn it off then restart. It happens all the time but the dealer said there is nothing wrong with it..there is also an issue with vibration of the steering wheel all the time and the brakes don't want to catch all the time. Should not have to pump the brakes 2 or 3 times to get them to engage.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 subaru outback. While driving approximately 30 MPH in inclement weather, the vehicle began to slide while driving downhill. The contact attempted to control the steering, but it would not move. The vehicle did not respond and struck a delineator post, slid in the opposite direction towards a concrete wall, and suddenly stopped. A police report was filed. There were no injuries. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 37,000.
I have 2013 subaru outback. Couple of month after buying it I discovered the issue where my foot would be stuck on the brake pedal. There is some kind of a flap above the pedal. The flap normally just touches the top of a shoe. But in some situations/positions of the pedal it presses on the foot. When you try to move the foot out of the pedal, it bends and braces it, practically locking the foot. It does not happen consistently, but rather infrequently. What makes it worse is wearing bulky shoes like sneakers, shoes with buckles, or with a mesh top. The mesh also gets caught on the flap. A couple of times I was in situations where it took 10-15 seconds to get the foot out of the brake pedal. At least once I have been nearly rear-ended because I couldn?t accelerate immediately after breaking. I complained on this issue 4 times at subaru service. They tweaked it somewhat, but never completely fixed, and it got worse again after every maintenance service. While trying to understand how it is remedied, I found that the dealership didn?t record these complaints in my car history. So I wrote an email to subaru. Subaru customer service person told me to make another appointment, as he?ll instruct the dealership how to fix the issue. I brought my car in, waited for an hour, but then was told no instructions were received from subaru. On the next contact with the subaru customer service I received the following reply: ?there are no repairs required and no repairs were performed. We have no recommendations as there were no problems found.? However, it appeared that subaru has fixed the problem during that appointment, while telling me nothing was done. The flap was replaced with the longer version, so that the foot never gets under it, but rather pushes the flap inside. This is a serious safety issue. It is obvious subaru is aware of it, but doesn?t admit it exists. ...updated 07-16-15 *bf ma 07/30/15 updated 10/26/2017
Eye sight system. When using cruise control the adaptive system senses the auto in front of your car and maintains a set distance. The auto that was in front of me moved into a left turn lane and slowed to turn. My cars eye sight system detected the car was still in front of mine and even though it was not, initialed a hard stop automatically. Lucky for me the car behind me was alert and was also able to stop before rear ending my car. This has happened several times after with cars moving either into left or right turn lanes or merging off interstates on the exit ramp. Subaru has no idea how to fix this issue. The dealership has been able to duplicate the situation. This is a very dangerous occurrence of the eye sight system that could cause an accident. There is no mention of this possibility in the eye sight manual. I disable the system now to prevent it from happening to me, but often my wife forgets. Subaru needs to find a solution. I am hoping you can help.
Made a turn and was halfway down the block going approximately 15 MPH when the engine suddenly shut off. The instrument gauge lit up with all sorts of annunciators. I was able to pull over to a safe location and park. The following annunciators were flashing; at oil temp, cruise control indicator, and the brake light. The following annunciators were lit solid; check engine warning light /malfunction indicator light and the vehicle dynamics control warning light. Turned off vehicle. Waited. Turned engine on and the annunciators were still present and the instrument gauge remained unchanged.
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