2013 Subaru Outback: CVT failure

Filed Sep 18, 2026 · Transmission · WA

The CVT transmission in my 2013 Subaru Outback failed at approximately 93,000 miles. Approximately three weeks prior to the failure, I noticed an unusual sound while driving, but no other symptoms were apparent at that time, so I continued monitoring it. On the day of the failure, the rear tires began hopping and I lost acceleration while driving. Fortunately, this occurred while I was on my driveway, so I did not need to continue driving further. I parked the vehicle there and had it towed to my mechanic, and later to Rairdon Subaru of Auburn (WA), where the failure was diagnosed by their service department. The vehicle is available for inspection there. This loss of power and erratic rear-end behavior created a safety risk, as the same failure occurring while driving on a road could have affected the vehicle's ability to accelerate and respond predictably in traffic. This is a known issue: Subaru's own Technical Service Bulletin 16-107-17R acknowledges CVT transmission problems in 2010–2015 model year Outbacks and other models, and extended the powertrain warranty coverage for this issue to 10 years or 100,000 miles. My vehicle has only about 93,000 miles, but Subaru is denying full warranty coverage because the vehicle is outside the 10-year time limit, despite being well under the mileage limit. The vehicle has not been inspected by police or insurance representatives — this was a mechanical failure, not a collision.

Filed Jan 8, 2024 · Brakes, Transmission · FL

I was driving on a highway when my car started to suddenly stutter, hesitate, and jerk after about an hour on the road. I pulled over on the shoulder immediately and tried to better position the car further off the highway with the same vehicle behavior. Initially I thought a tire had blown so sudden was the impact but after exterior inspection I realized the tires were fine and the problem was probably under the hood. The CVT transmission and TCM malfunctioned, and electric parking brake engaged creating a noise. My ability to steer the vehicle in a predictable direction was gone creating a safety hazard on the highway or any road. The car had to be long-distance towed back to where I live; it could not be safely driven. The problem has been reproduced and confirmed by two independent service centers, one a general service center and the other a foreign car expert service center. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone else. There were dashboard warning lights that came on at the time the vehicle started to shake. The lights were the vehicle dynamics control warning light and the check engine warning light. A " boat load" of transmission codes that lead to the vehicle being assessed at the foreign car service center. I am asking for Subaru’s assistance in resolving this matter. I purchased a Subaru based on recommendations from other family members and their experience of having multiple Subaru vehicles some of which lasted 300,00 miles. If this is a manufacturing problem I believe that Subaru has a responsibility to notify their owners of the potential problem (which didn’t happen in my case) and a responsibility to resolve the problem when it occurs. I took my vehicle into my nearest Subaru dealership for a warranty repair that I was notified of approx. three years ago. No one notified me of the potential CVT transmission problem at that time. My vehicle cannot be driven in its current state and it is dangerous to drive because of this problem.

Filed Sep 12, 2021 · Acceleration, Fuel system · WA

Thank you the federal safety agency for being my voice. We need and appreciate the life saving work you collectively do to keep my family, myself, and others safe on our roads. I need your action. My 2013 Subaru Continuously Variable Transmission valve body is failing. This is a major safety issue because my Subaru risks stalling out and potentially being harmed in a crash causing bodily injury or death to the driver, passengers, and other motorists. This is a known issue with Subaru and the federal safety agency. Instead of a recall, Subaru of America opted to extend the warranty to 100,000 miles or 10 years for this safety issue. My car is 8 years old and over 100,000 miles. (I have taken amazing care of my beloved car and have already replaced the short block assembly that was a Service Bulletin under warranty for excessive oil consumption.) My goal, with your assistance, is to hold Subaru accountable to fix this known CVT failure at their cost (Approximately $1,829.94) by honoring my 8 year old car that is within the 10 year portion of the warranty extension. Although it is a known problem for cars over 100,000 miles, Subaru is denying my claim. The verbiage of this Continuously Variable Transmission issue being covered under an extended warranty of “100,000 miles OR 10 years, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST’ is a protection of the manufacturer only. I am compelled to ask you for your help and appreciate your time and advocacy. I can help in any capacity on my end. I am at your service!

Filed Oct 13, 2020 · Transmission · 106,600 miles · OR

2013 subaru outback. Entire set of warning lights came on five minutes after started driving vehicle. Mechanic said to have it towed. Diagnosis: CVT transmission totally fried at a mere 106,600. Should be able to get a lot more miles from this transmission. Lemon law but should be a recall. $8000 repair bill.

Filed May 16, 2020 · Engine, Transmission · 159,000 miles · TN

This car guzzles oil, like a quart every thousand miles making it a [xxx] car for road trips. I bought this for road trips so thanks subaru. It has CVT issues that subaru won't acknowledge or repair, dangerous ones too such as loss of power while idling, and feeling the engine is going to die when in stop and go traffic. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Nov 26, 2019 · Transmission · 95,426 miles · UT

Cvt transmission many issues including the transmission overheating and causing the car to completely shut off. Problems perseist and dealership can find nothing wrong initially , but the transmission has been becoming worse and worse sicnce these issues started and the transmission stalls the car.

Filed Mar 14, 2019 · Driver assistance, Transmission · 118,000 miles · MO

Loud noise when making a sharp turn down hill to the right. Also traction control/CVT fails on wet surface or snow.

Filed Nov 30, 2018 · Transmission · 105,000 miles · WI

Noise coming from underneath vehicle when accelerating that I noticed in feb 2017. Took the car in to subaru dealer and all they did was replace the differential fluid and said "noise will go away with time." like any car issue, it did not go away on its own. Oct 2018 took the car in to local mechanic and they said it needed a new CVT transmission. Also said that my car could stall at any time so I did not drive it. Took it to subaru for a second opinion and they agreed, new CVT transmission. They also informed me that there was an extended warranty on the transmission that ended july 2018, but I was never informed of the extended warranty. Subaru offered to pay 50% of a $10,000 repair so we paid $5,000. Still a very unacceptable amount of money for a car only worth $10,000. This part should be recalled as it can cause stalling at any time. Very disappointed in subaru at this time.

Filed Nov 29, 2018 · Transmission · TX

For several months, subaru of america was made aware of our vehicle's dangerous performance. Stalling while coming to a stop, turning as well as a noticeable whining noise from the CVT. The vehicle was taken into gillman subaru sw due to these issues in july, 2018, before the end of the "extended warranty". The vehicle was misdiagnosed as having bad wheel bearings and possibly bad spark plugs. Both ended up turning out to be wrong. Wheel bearings were changed, spark plugs as well. In effect, the dealership stalled and soa effectively took advantage of this to deny the claim. Should the federal safety agency care to have audio recordings of various calls that demonstrate this, please feel free to contact us. We are now forced to seek legal recourse as soa has decided to act in bad faith with a very dangerous symptom. A recall, that forces the manufacturer to act in good faith is needed. We're fortunate to have recorded conversations, texts, e-mails that hopefully will serve us well. However, the idea that legal recourse is required in an effort to motivate or force a manufacturer to perform in good faith is unreasonable and entirely unsafe. How many others do not have the pertinent conversations on tape? A recall is warranted. An automatic transmission that dies while turning need not be the standard of what's appropriate on the road.

Filed Aug 17, 2018 · Transmission · 102,000 miles · VT

We have owned the vehicle for about a year. A few weeks ago the transmission started making a horrendous noise and the car is now a very expensive lawn ornament. I have heard from a mechanic friend that the subaru CVT transmissions are known to have issues. My husband had just picked up our kids from daycare and when he went to leave the car didn't want to go in gear and made a grinding noise that it continued to make. We parked it to prevent further damage.

Filed Jan 25, 2017 · Transmission · 94,000 miles · NY

On 11/24/16 while traveling at highway speeds, (60- 65 MPH), on the pa.turnpike my 2013 subaru outback 2.5i, with the CVT transmission and 94,000 miles on the car, suffered a catastrophic transmission failure. With no warning, other than somewhat higher than normal engine rpms, the transmission, with very loud noises and shaking the car, all 4 wheels locked up. This resulted in the car skidding somewhere between 200 and 300 feet. Just before the car stopped skidding, there was one last loud bang/clanging/ shaking of the car. We were extremely fortunate in that there was little traffic at the time, and we avoided any collision damage or personal injuries. The car had to be towed off the highway. While being loaded onto the flatbed truck, the front wheels were locked up, while the rear wheels were turning. This was with the engine running, and the transmission in neutral. I had to have my car towed 300 miles back home to a local subaru dealership. ( not where I had purchased the car new) the initial diagnosis from the dealer was that the transmission fluid had been contaminated by gear lube. They based this on a visual examination of the CVT fluid from my car. This was disproved by my having the CVT fluid analyzed by an independent lab. Their conclusions were that the fluid had been severely overheated, and the viscosity changed to where it no longer provided proper lubrication as of 1/24/17, subaru of america,(corporate offices) has denied my claim of a defective transmission, and will not assist me with any repair costs, or replacement. The local dealer and service department are still amazed with what happened, and the results of the CVT fluid report. They have not heard of this type of failure very often.

Filed Oct 4, 2013 · Steering · 1,000 miles · CO

I have owned over 20+ cars ranging from 4runners, s2000, to lancer evo. My 2013 outback is by far the hardest car to steer on the highway. It wanders to both directions at highway speeds and its difficult to correct it back to center. Some owners have been accused of driving drunk in a outback, subaru needs to fix this before loosing your most loyal owners! Many 2012 2013 outback owners have been calling this issue stiff, heavy, hard, not return to center steering. Here are my observations after some research: -2013+ new fb25 engine 2nd gen CVT returned suspension -I also own a 2014 forester with electric steering (drives normal), outback has hydraulic steering -I test drove couple other 2013 outback 2.5i same firm steering -I test drove a 2013 outback 3.6r (steering feels normal much softer) -check steering effort should not have more than 6.6 lb (measured with scale) -some owners had success readjusting their gearbox backlash to less than 3 lbs go to: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/104-gen-4-2010-present/31638-ob-lane-wandering-122.html -on page 114 there are 3 picture attachments posted by j delman -steering column recall for 2013 legacy/outbacks manufactured from 2012 feb15-jun15 (I don't think this will fix the wandering issue)