2015 Subaru Outback: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Sep 22, 2025 · Acceleration, Brakes · IN · crash

I was within the town limits so I was driving slowly. When I approached the first stop light in town I saw that it was red. There were of three or four vehicles stopped at that light. At that point I was probably only going 5mph. I took my foot off of the gas pedal and put my foot on the brake to make a slow stop. Instead, the car accelerated rather quickly. I continued to brake but the car seemed to speed up. I was able to avoid hitting the truck in front of me by going around it. No vehicles were coming towards me but there were some stopped at the other side of the light. I drove up on the sidewalk to avoid hitting anyone. At that point the front passenger side of the car hit & snapped a pole. The car did not stop immediately upon impact. It stopped acclerating and came to a stop about 10 feet past the pole. I am not sure how fast the car was moving when it hit the pole but I was only going about 5 mph when I put my foot on the break. I would estimate the distance my car traveled from the moment I put my foot on the break until the car stopped was approximately 100-120 feet. It felt like the car went into the cruise resume mode and was trying to accelerate to a predetermined speed. I had not been using the cruise control that day but that is exactly what it felt like. There was one other time this year that the car lunged forward without using the gas pedal. It stopped quickly for me and I just assumed that I had hit the cruise resume button, although I also hadn't been using the cruise that day. The insurance company took the car to an impound lot two hours away. I am sure there has been no inspection and my insurance has not informed me of the status of having my car totaled or repaired. Because of the age of the car, and damage, they think it will be totaled. Yes, my safety and the safety of anyone near me was at risk. The car malfunctioned and the fact no one was hurt was miraculous. There were no warning messages before this accident.

Filed Feb 6, 2025 · Acceleration, Airbags · ID

My HORN only works if car is stopped steering wheel turned to the left. Subaru Dealer says it’s in the steering column mechanism that affects airbag and cruise control also. Says it will cost over $600 to repair. If it preventsthe airbag working, wouldn’t it be a car defect and considered dangerous?

Filed Jun 22, 2023 · Brakes, Engine · 80,700 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2015 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving 67 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle suddenly decelerated to approximately 25-30 MPH while depressing the brake pedal. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled. After pulling over to the side of the roadway, the contact was able to restart the vehicle and drove to the residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the cause of the failure could not be determined. The contact's wife stated that the failure had occurred a year prior while driving approximately 55 MPH. The failure only lasted for several seconds. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,700.

Filed Jul 13, 2021 · Electrical · NY

1. My battery failed, so I replaced it. I didn’t keep the failed one. 2. Problem started while driving w/ a handicapped, elderly passenger in remote rural area at night. Help at least 1/2-hr. away. No open garages. Frightening. 3. AAA confirmed. 4. AAA inspected. 5. My Check Engine light came on, Cruise Control stopped working. Pulled over, ck’d manual, nothing noted about battery, no Battery warning light. Car started up, drove home very slowly, stopping occasionally. Next morning, car wouldn’t start, called AAA to take to mechanic (charge $150 to check system). There was no previous warning that battery was losing power. AAA found battery problem. No engine problem. Replaced. No more lights. Very disappointed that much worry could have been avoided.

Filed Apr 20, 2021 · Airbags, Driver assistance · 109,000 miles · MT · crash

We built and bought a brand new 2015 subaru outback and we have experienced: - a constant sudden loss of eyesight system while cruising or sometimes just driving with no cruise control on. -gas release lever freezes up and we have to forcefully use a flat screwdriver to unlock the gas lid door. -pre collision warning brake system does not respond properly: we got so many close calls. - on march, 2020 ; the stability control system was not working properly on snowy/icy conditions : the car sled off and almost hit a guard rail, soon after that ; the steering wheel got too loose /wobbly and had a big gap while steering( almost no control over our car. We brought it to the dealership right away and the recalibrated, balanced and aligned the car for corrections. -last wednesday, on april,14,2021: my wife was driving one block away from home, at the traffic light intersection, while the traffic light was green and she was trying to make a right turn to go home; her steering wheel got frozen on her when she was turning and by the time she tried to figure out how to react and control the car, her car already crashed into the pick up truck that was waiting on the other side of the intersection waiting for the light to change into green. The whole front of our subaru was crashed but no pre collision brakes, air bags were deployed at all.luckily, nobody got hurt on both sides. The firefighters, the sheriff , the trooper and the tow truck driver who used to be a cop were all flabbergasted of what they saw. We called subaru of america and opened a case, my car is scheduled for inspection at a subaru dealership on may 6th, 2021.will see what happens next.they seem willing to address the problem and take responsibility for the damages. We found out that most of those issues were on recall but we never got a recall notification about them from subaru of america at all.thank you consumer stated dealer found nothing wrong with the car so consumer filed a complaint with federal trade commission and was given a case number [xxx].

Filed Dec 29, 2016 · Brakes · 35,000 miles · VA

Invalid braking incidents with subaru outback's eyesight pre-collision braking system. My car has brake suddenly, without cause on 3 occasions. 1) sunny morning on a crowded residential street going less than 25mph with no cars directly in front of me, car gave warning and immediately braked stopping the car. 2) sunny afternoon on a wide residential street going about 30mph with no cars directly in front of me, car gave warning and immediately braked slowing the car significantly. 3) dark and raining on a major highway going 70mph using adaptive cruise control with no cars around me, car gave warning and immediately applied the brakes hard (no skidding or swerving) slowing the car to about 25mph before releasing control to me. Very fortunate that no cars were behind me. After each incident, I took the car into the dealership. The dealer was unable to recreate the problem and said they could not fix the car if they could not recreate the problem. After realizing the significant safety issue following the third incident, I called subaru corporate customer service. Subaru sent a corporate engineer to look at the car and the data recordings. They were unable to find any issues with the car and again said they are unable to make any repairs without recreating the problem. In the 2+ years and over 30,000 miles I've driven the problem only occurred 3 times, the dealer recreating the problem seems unlikely given their limited time with the car.

Filed Feb 9, 2016 · Acceleration · 3,000 miles · PA

Cruise control (cc) caused what I thought at the time of the incident was unintended acceleration. Operation of cc is different from any cc I used in the past. The cc was already engaged and I was going about 40 MPH on a highway. I decided to increase my speed, so I pressed the 'set +' button. After a couple of seconds when I reached 43 MPH, I released the button. The car continued to accelerate to 70 MPH. Luckily the highway was empty and I was able to disengage the cc. The problem is that the cc 'set +' (and 'set -') has 2 positions - pushing it half way increases your speed like a traditional cc, and pushing it all the way actually increases the set speed of your cc by 5 MPH increments. Hence when I thought I was just accelerating to 43 MPH, I was actually setting the cc speed to 70 MPH. One of the option packages with the car adds this 5 MPH increment 'feature'. The quick reference guide and the regular manual do not mention this 'feature' - it is only mentioned in one of the auxiliary manuals for the option package. I think under different circumstances that this incident could have turned out much worse than it did. The cc does not work like traditional cc, and the controls look like a traditional cc.

Filed Jun 11, 2015 · 4,300 miles · LA

Driving in a heavy thunderstorm, eyesight automatically went off but automatically came back on as the rain diminished. So did the adaptive cruise control. This is expected. However, the srvd (blind spot monitor, etc.) totally shut down. The car no longer has working blind spot monitor or rear back up alert warning. Contacted dealer said that the radar in the rear bumper shut down. Two weeks and the dealer nor subaru has not found the part to repair this feature. Car was purchased in sept. 2014 new.

Filed Mar 25, 2015 · Acceleration · 4,520 miles · MA

Cruise control: when the cruise control (+/-) toggle switch on the steering wheel , which is used to set or change the speed setting of the cruise control, is pressed down to the minus or set side, it intermittently and in variable conditions either does not react at all (I.e. No change to the speed setting), flashes the speed setting on the screen display, but does not change it or more importantly it increases the speed setting and in some cases has caused the vehicle to accelerate while the driver is attempting to decrease the speed setting of the cruise control.