I had just entered the golf course parking lot and had turned right to enter a parking slot. My speed was less than 5 MPH. My car suddenly accelerated out of control, hit the concrete parking block and jumped over a 1 foot high wall which was 3 ft. Away from the block. The car ended up on a downslope and the rear wheel fortunately caught on a retaining wall. I was not injured and the airbags did not deploy. There was one witness to this terrifying event which occurred on february 4th at about 8:10 am in a parking spot that I have used at least 50 times in the past year.
2017 Subaru Outback brakes complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 25 of 25, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Pulling into our garage (as we have done probably thousands of times since owning the car), our 2017 outback accelerated out of control into the back wall of our garage. Car had been stopped at the parking position in the garage and was being shifted into park when the acceleration occurred. Gas pedal was not touched (car always coasts into garage under it's own power, and foot is only on the brake always). Extensive damage to car and garage. Both subaru and our insurance company have been alerted.
Tl* the contact owns a 2017 subaru outback. The contact stated on three occasions while driving 25-35 MPH, the automatic collision braking system engaged when there was no object present. The contact mentioned it happened while approaching a curve. Additionally, the brake pedal was depressed to the floorboard however, after pumping the brake pedal the brakes worked as designed. The automatic collision warning indicator warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to wyatt johnson subaru (2425 wilma rudolph blvd, clarksville, tn 37040, (931) 648-4300) where the contact was informed that the vehicle worked as designed. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 18,000.
Twice, during a time period of 10 minutes, the vehicle accelerated suddenly when the brake was applied. I could hear and feel the accelerator kick in when my foot was on the brake -- the vehicle was propelled forward. First at a stop sign before pulling out onto a busy city street, then 10 minutes later when stopping to allow cross traffic to clear before pulling out of a parking lot. Pavement was dry (no ice, snow, or water). I know that my foot was on the brake and not the accelerator. Called the dealer and brought it in immediately. Over about a 3-week period, the dealer evaluated the vehicle and had a safety engineer from corporate come in to inspect the vehicle, and the conclusion was that nothing was wrong with the car, and nothing showed up on the vehicle logs/data to indicate a problem. I said I refused to drive the car anymore. We decided to trade it in, and they didn't give us any trade in assistance because they said nothing wrong with the vehicle. However, they did give us $2,500 coupon towards a brand new, 2020, vehicle, which we used.
Outback accelerates by itself randomly. I notice most when approaching stop sign and switch foot from gas pedal to brake.
Key gets stuck in the ignition. The car drives, turns off, and turns on like normal however, when the car is put into park, turned off, and the the key is attempted to be removed the key does not come out. It only comes out after sometimes an hour or more of putting the car into drive and then into park again. This happens every time I attempt to remove the key.
I had two significant braking problems within two days. Both days were clear and sunny, with no snow, ice or rain. The first occurred when my wife and I were on a local street. I stepped on the brake to stop at an intersection. Instead of stopping, the car accelerated into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, the driver coming to my right was able to stop before plowing into my car. My wife and I avoided a serious accident. The following day we were coming up to a red light behind another car in the turn lane. I stepped on the brake - carefully so I didn't accelerate - and the brake pedal went all the way down to the floor. Eyesight assisted braking stopped the car before I rear-ended the car in front. Since it was a turn lane, the car in front moved up and I slowly moved forward. Once again the brake pedal went down to the floor and assisted braking stopped the car. I pulled over onto a side street and the brakes worked, but were spongy. For the rest of the way home, about 3 miles, the brakes worked ok. After the second incident my wife and I discussed what happened. We came to the conclusion that we both had similar experiences, to a lesser extent, with the car accelerating when braking. We both thought that we did something wrong, but after the dramatic acceleration into oncoming traffic realized that it was the car. I had the car towed to the dealership. Over a few days time they couldn't find a problem and referred it to subaru customer care. It's four weeks since the first incident and they're no closer to identifying the problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2017 subaru outback. While the vehicle was completely stopped, it accelerated independently. The contact mentioned that the brake pedal was depressed, but the vehicle continued to accelerate and crashed into a tree. A police report was filed. The air bags deployed. The driver sustained chest and stomach injuries and the contact sustained wrist injuries, which required medical attention. The vehicle was towed to yark subaru (6141 central ave, toledo, oh 43615). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 20,500.
Tl* the contact owns a 2017 subaru outback. The contact stated that intermittently while the brake pedal was depressed, the vehicle failed to come to a complete stop. The contact then stated that the vehicle was taken to heuberger subaru (1080 motor city dr., colorado springs, co 80905 (719) 475-1920) where the brakes needed to be flushed. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred. The contact then stated that the vehicle was taken back to the dealer where no diagnostic failure codes were found and the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacturer was notified of the issue where the field engineer along with technician inspected the vehicle and determined that no failure had occurred, and informed the contact that the engine needed to be warmed. The approximate failure mileage was not available.
The first of 4 incidents occurred on state highway 509 when traveling with my 12 year old granddaughter in the passenger seat. At the speed limit of 60 MPH in the right lane, the parking brake applied itself without being touched. The car shuttered violently as it turned to the right heading for the shoulder and slowed the car to 35-40mph before I saw the brake light on the dash and was able to turn off the parking brake switch located on the center console. 2nd time going 35mph on a local street when the same thing happened without warning. 3rd time on the same highway as 1st incident but at 55mph and by myself. 4th time this happened was right after I picked up the car from the shop where they tried to repair the problem and were unable to fix it. I was on the freeway onramp to highway 509 starting to merge on a bridge when for no reason the brake applied itself. Again the dealer shop was unable to repair the car and I picked it up and took it to another subaru dealer. The paperwork states that the car is not to be driven home or long distances. This subaru outback is a very severe safety risk if I keep on driving it.
While braking at an intersection the car would suddenly accelerate into the intersection. This happens often. I need to concentrate on my foot position every time I hit the brakes to make sure that my foot does not accidentally hit the gas also. For your information, I am 6 feet tall and wear a size 11 1/2 shoe.
Tl* the contact owns a 2017 subaru outback. The contact stated that the reverse automatic braking system independently applied itself. The contact stated that this was due to the asphalt being at an angle where it was close to the sensors of the vehicle. Autonation subaru scottsdale (15678 n northsight blvd, scottsdale, az) informed the contact that they would need to temporarily disable the feature to prevent future failures when reversing the vehicle. The manufacturer was contacted and stated that the braking system was operating as designed. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000.... .updated 11/16/17 *bf vehicle purchase date should be or before incident date updated 9/7/18
First braking issue (also power train): the brake pedal is only slightly higher than the height of the gas pedal. Consequently, several times while driving, my right foot has hit both the brake pedal and the gas pedal simultaneously, especially in an emergency situation. In such instance, the result is a power surge while braking, potentially extending the stopping distance of the car. Other cars (non-subaru) have the brake pedal higher, so this simultaneous application of brakes and power is less likely to happen. The dealer's service manager says the height of the brake pedal is not adjustable, and refers owners to subaru's customer retail services. Subaru's customer retail services claims there is no way to adjust the height of the brake pedal to avoid this problem. Second braking issue: unlike other cars, there is no emergency hand brake or foot brake on the subaru, so the risk of an accident is high if the regular brakes fail. The brakes have not yet failed, but there should be redundancy for this critical braking function.
As exit my level garage the driveway is on at 9% down slope when I put my car in reverse and back up out of the garage and then place the car to drive to move back up the driveway to load my wife and grandchild the car slips backwards between one and 3 feet or three seconds of his full slippage. My granddaughter at two years of age does not know that the car will slip back without control. This is a safety concern and can cause critical harm to her and/or my wife. Other car manufactures CVT transmissions has almost zero slippage from reverse to drive. This characteristic on the 2017 subaru outback creates a very unsafe condition and if safety is your biggest concern I find this a big safety characteristic and if I knew this before I would not have leased this vehicle.
I was driving 75 miles per hour on a busy highway in holiday ski traffic and the panel just above the brake and gas petal fell down and blocked my access to the break petal and limited my ability to move my foot off the gas petal. I was able to gain control of the car, while driving at a high speed in the left lane by yanking the panel off my feet and slowing down to exit the highway. I stopped the car, put the panel back in it's place and secured it with duck tape. I purchased this band new car on 12/30/16 and this happened on 2/17/17.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2017 Subaru Outback?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history