2017 Subaru Outback: engine stalls while driving

Filed Mar 24, 2026 · Acceleration · 129,000 miles · WA

The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving at a slow speed, the brake pedal was depressed, but the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The contact lifted her foot off the brake pedal and then firmly depressed the brake pedal another time. The vehicle was able to come to a stop. The contact stated that prior to the failure, the vehicle had stalled while driving. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the dealer, who were unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 129,000.

Filed Mar 16, 2026 · Engine, Fuel system · VA

Total of 3 incidents when my car had approx 1/8 to 1/4 of a tank of gas....as going up incline on interstate....car like stalls and slows down, will not speed up....get it over to the side to avoid being hit and it finally starts going again...close call with vehicles behind us in the passing lane. Below listed the last time it happened... Did not use to do this...first time was same area listed below in November 2025.

Filed Feb 22, 2026 · NY

While driving, the car suddenly shut off while in motion. It came to a stop at the bottom of hill where we were able to put it in neutral, and push it into a parking lot. After that we attempted to start it 4 or 5 times, and the engine would turn over and shut off after a couple of seconds. After leaving it off for about 5 minutes, it was able to start. Additionally, it occasionally feels jerky while driving, usually at lower speeds.

Filed Mar 17, 2023 · Engine · CT

2017 subaru outback. Consumer writes in regard to engine stalling while driving.

Filed Mar 8, 2023 · Fuel system · CA

While car was in motion car just stalled. Upon reading recalls the maker of the fuel pump which produce these pumps has recalled other models. Denso and Subaru should check these other models and replace the known issue. Vehicle had to be towed for safety of myself and my son.

Filed Feb 22, 2023 · Engine · 25,000 miles · CT

The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled without warning. After restarting the vehicle, the vehicle operated as designed. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer would was unable to retrieve a diagnostic code. No failure was found. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and advised that the vehicle be taken to a different dealer. The failure mileage was 25,000.

Filed Apr 21, 2021 · Electrical · 40,000 miles · ID

Since the time of purchase in aug 2020, the battery has drained, and thus stalled the car, three times. The battery has been checked, functions normally, and is at full capacity. The only obvious connection between each occurrence seems to be raising the back tailgate. The first time happened while camping. The tailgate was open for about an hour while removing camping gear. The second time happened while in town (boise, id) and the back was open for roughly twenty minutes. The third time happened again in the mountains and the tailgate was open for less than ten minutes. The battery is quick to jump and, again, has been checked.

Filed Mar 2, 2021 · Transmission · 66,200 miles · NC

Numerous times over past two months, when at slow speeds, the automatic transmission stalls causing the car to stop. At least once, when entering traffic, a car behind had to do an emergency slowdown to avoid a rear end collision. Two subaru dealers have checked the vehicle being unable to find a problem. Yet, on searching the web, this common conditionis is clearly described in the federal safety agency files.

Filed Aug 21, 2019 · Acceleration · 18,000 miles · IN

Car stalled (4x's at least) when making turns; stalled after passing a car when I returned to my lane with high speed traffic behind me. Have had this problem since we purchased car. Have taken to dealer several times, each time the result was "they couldn't duplicate problem", once they said they adjusted the software to correct problem, result didn't seem to improve.

Filed May 18, 2019 · Engine, Transmission · 48,000 miles · MD

In two separate events the car lost power while accellorating at highway speeds to merge into traffic from a stand still. The gas pedal became unresponsive and the tranmission stopped shifting. In the first incident the engine stalled, and in the second it sputtered and almost died during a heavy merge on an on ramp. No diagnostic codes were thrown, so the manufacturer claims there is nothing wrong with the car. In the first incident the car was leaving the toll plaze on the dulles greenway head toward leesburg, va. Under full acelleration leaving the toll plaza and effectively driving straight, the car started shufting erratically, and eventually lost power and stalled. In the second incident, about two months later, the car was on a decline on-ramp merging into heavy traffic on rt-270n heading toward frederick, md. The car again started to shift erratically, then began to stall, but I was abke to use the paddle shifters to shift the 'gear' of the CVT and prevent stalling. Afger about 30 seconds the car was operating as normal. Again, the dealer has not found any diagnostic codes, and indicates there is nithing wrong with the vehicle.

Filed Apr 15, 2019 · Fuel system · 46,900 miles · OH

Fuel gauge is inaccurate and does not show near empty when no usable fuel is left in the tank. We were driving to an event with slightly less than 1/4 of a tank of gas remaining when the vehicle ran out of fuel. Complete engine stall (no sputtering/etc. Before) at 70mph on the highway, requiring an emergency stop across several lanes of traffic. This is clearly a dangerous problem, and it seems several other 2017 outback owners have reported similar issues. It appears to be similar to the 2018 fuel gauge recall (wtw-82) but for 2017 vehicles. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of the fuel gauge, but was actually paying close attention as I had received the notification for subaru's wud-89 "distance-to-empty software update," so I knew the distance-to-empty indicator was wrong, but given the notice said nothing about the fuel gauge itself and only mentioned the dte software was incorrect, I made the natural assumption that the gauge itself was still at least remotely accurate.

Filed Oct 11, 2018 · Transmission · 10,112 miles · CA

We live in la. We bought our car new on 5/31/17 from subaru of santa monica. At around 6,000 miles we had its oil changed privately in durango, co, where we spend summers. Back in la on 12/17/17 we went to subaru of sm for any required additional service. They decided to perform the 12,000 service with 10,107 miles on the car. When service was completed, I drove the car off. It stalled for maybe 5-10 seconds (but didn't shut down) about 100 yards from the service area. Initially, it just wouldn't go when I depressed the accelerator. I then repeatedly depressed it and finally the transmission seemed to 'catch' and the car moved forward normally. Later, at my request, my wife met with the service writer (a lady) telling her about the stalling. Her response: this happens on all subarus'they occasionally stall for about 5 seconds. Subsequently our car has stalled on several occasions with my wife driving. And it also happened to me again, this time after its 24,000 service by the durango subaru dealer on 10/10/18 (see service write-up). As I was driving away, I stopped on a driveway before turning onto a city street. That's when the car stalled. [I had previously told the service writer about the stalling, but the dealer's mechanic couldn't get it to stall.] the two described stallings occurred when the car was stopped and I was about to turn onto a city street. We just received a CVT transmission warranty extension letter (see enclosed) applicable only to 2016 and 2017 subarus (most models) which tells me subaru knows all about this problem and has fixed it on its 2018 and 2019 models. I respectfully request that there be a recall of all 2016 and 2017 subaru vehicles described in the enclosed warranty extension letter so that this very frightening problem can fixed. Thank god our outback didn't stall at a time when oncoming traffic would have plowed into it.