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2017 Subaru Outback transmission complaints

Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 47, newest first, as owners wrote them.

See the summary of 2017 Subaru Outback transmission problems: which part fails, at what mileage and related recalls.

Filed Jun 13, 2022 · Brakes, Transmission · 41,806 miles · TN · crash

The contact owned a 2017 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while reversing, the vehicle accelerated backward. The contact pumped the brake pedal and was depressed aggressively several times however the brakes failed to respond. The vehicle collided with a pillar of bricks causing the vehicle to stop. No airbag deployed and no one was injured. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a collision center where the insurance deemed the vehicle a total loss. The manufacturer was contacted and a complaint was filed. The failure mileage was 41,806.

Filed Jun 11, 2022 · Transmission · KY

Rear bearing/hub assembly failure. Appears to be a known problem per information readily available online. Failure occurred at 40,746 miles. Replaced at dealership at my personal cost, out of warranty period. Hubs and bearings should not be failing at such low mileage. Could have caused other driveline or suspension problems and poses a safety issue as wheels would be unable to spin freely.

Filed Feb 26, 2022 · Steering, Transmission · WA

System does not recognize the car is in park mode correctly. The side effect of this is ignition key gets locked in the key hole and cannot be pulled out. Repeated problem in all weather situation once the failure started to show symptom. This issue is common enough across multiple product line of Subaru vehicles with a service bulletin reference 16-112-18R with google search. Plenty of website postings and you tube videos showed different work around to resolve the issue. Dealer charges parts and labor cost to repair each vehicle request for service that could possible is a design or sensor defect issue from production quality issue. The trigger point of my vehicle having this problem could be due to recent cold weather, but this issue does not go away even after the temperature gets warmer. Trying to fix the car key situation with a young child in the back seat wanting to get out daily makes this a repeated challenge. Reference link below to share and please consider this is a case for possible safety and manufactuer defects problem that impacts a good group of Subaru fans. https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/key-stuck-in-ignition.495265/

Filed Dec 6, 2021 · Transmission · ME

while driving Transmission begins making a squeaking noise.. Rpms climb and car does not increase speed RPM climb with no movement. Until RPMs climb higher than normal. the car then launches forward. The hesitation caused by the transmission will lead to an accident very quickly, especially if turning into a business with on coming traffic.. Merging on the highway is severely dangerous. This car has 86,000 miles. There are no warning lights associated with this issue.

Filed Oct 21, 2021 · Transmission · NY

When I put the car into park, it does not recognize that the car is in park and will not release the key.

Filed Aug 8, 2021 · Transmission · IN

As I am slowing down by pushing the brake pedal, the vehicle will attempt to accelerate. It will increase speed by about 2 miles per hour and the RPM increases when this happens.

Filed May 10, 2021 · Brakes, Transmission · 50,000 miles · NE

My new battery was drained to a point the vehicle would not start. I messaged some bible study friends and one was going to come over and jump my vehicle. While waiting I put the car in neutral and pushed it out of my garage into the driveway. The driveway is on a steep slope. Once in the driveway I tried putting the car into park, it would not go into park. In fact it would only go into drive which did not stop the vehicle from rolling backwards. I tried the emergency brake but it is electrically operated and did not work. The brakes were very hard to hold since the hydraulics were not kicking in, same with the power steering. I am a big strong guy so I wrestled the car to turn it diagonally in the driveway as it rolled backwards, trying to prevent it from going into the street and flying into someone's house or vehicle. Once diagonal in the driveway I threw a padlock under the front tire from the drivers seat with my foot on the brake to prevent it from rolling back. At this point it was barely held but stationary so I got out, chalked the wheels with 2x4's until by bible study friends came over and jumped my car. I did not have my cell phone and no one else was around to help me. I litterally thought I was going to have to just let my car roll down into the street and let it go because I had no other options. I called subaru of america and they directed me to a youtube video that shows once the battery completely dies, there is a special tool you need in order to get the car in and out of park. But it doesn't tell you that if the car won't start and there is enough power to get it into reverse, don't do it without the tool. What if this happened in the mountains or san francisco or any hilly or mountainous location? I believe this is a high potential for life threating injury or loss of property. E-brakes should not be electric in my opinion.

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 Dec 31, 2020 · Steering, Transmission · 37,000 miles · IL

While traveling through michigan's upper peninsula and northern wisconsin during snow fall with a fully packed car on the highway I experienced the rear end "ghost walking" or "steering" or "pulling" to the left and to the right. I had to drive 40mph while two-wheeled drive camrys, civics, vans, etc. Passed us by. Growing up in northern michigan, I'm no stranger to winter conditions and all wheel drive vehicles. I don't think all-wheeled drive vehicles make me invincible, but they do make driving in wintery conditions better. After our trip, I took the car into the subaru dealer and they said at 37k miles, the suspension looked great, alignment looked great, and that they would recommend new tires (tires are at 4/32 and have even wear and tear). I asked to speak directly to the tech working on my car and he said that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and that although they were recommending new tires, the current tire condition would not cause what I was describing. My wife and I then researched and came across several online forums with other driver's experiencing the similar issues, but with prior year models. I called subaru's main customer service line to see if they could help and they said that they would make note of my complaint, but that if the subaru dealer tech said the vehicle was fine other than suggesting new tires, I should get new tires and the vehicle would be fine. Subaru also said there were no "campaigns" open with respect to this problem and that they were sorry I "felt like I had this experience" and there was nothing they could do. Here's a link to a forum, where the people seem to know what is going on: https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/2005-2009-ghostwalking-abnormal-winter-handling-fixes.30747/page-2. We plan to buy new tires, but are willing to offer our car up for test driving to see what is going on.

Filed Oct 2, 2020 · Transmission · 90,000 miles · IN

When turning the vehicle off, the key is intermittently not able to be removed from the ignition. Rear hatch will also not open when this occurs, as the shift select solenoid doesn't recognize that the transmission is shifted into park.

Filed Aug 14, 2020 · Electrical, Transmission · 93,700 miles · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 2017 subaru outback. The contact stated that the gear box failed to recognize when the vehicle was in park which caused the key to not be able to be removed from the ignition. There was no warning. The vehicle was taken to the subaru of kennesaw dealer located at 905 ernest w. Barrett pkwy nw, kennesaw, ga 30144, where it was stated that the failure was a known issue and scheduled an appointment for the contact. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that there were multiple complaints about the failure and that the dealer would be contacted. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 93,700.*dt*dt consumer was reimbursed for the repair.

Filed Jun 30, 2020 · Transmission · 45,892 miles · WA

With no warning and driving 70 MPH on the interstate pressing the gas pedal resulted in nothing. Dashboard lights started indicating 'brake' and other distracting messages. I was in the far left lane in heavy traffic, but was somehow able to cross over two lanes without a collision and make it part way up a ramp. Car was towed into a subaru dealer who found a 'broken variation chain'. A new transmission was installed four days later. I no longer feel safe in this vehicle or any with this transmission now that I have read about all it's issues. Why did I not have a warning since it is a known problem? Importantly, why in the midst of a potentially life ending emergency did I not get a meaningful dashboard warning, e.g., 'pull off road', 'power lost', 'transmission fail'?

Filed May 28, 2020 · Transmission · 3,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2017 subaru outback. The contact stated that while attempting to accelerate the vehicle forward after or during a maneuvering the vehicle in a sense where the contact would have to decelerate the vehicle first. The contact took the vehicle to the dealership a total of 2 times subaru of jacksonville (10800 atlantic blvd, jacksonville, fl 32225, (904) 641-6455) who informed the contact that the transmission was a dino flow transmission and needed to be operated in a certain manner that the contact may not have done. The contact made the necessary adjustments operating the vehicle however, the failure persisted. The contact returned the vehicle to the dealer who provided the contact a loaner vehicle. The dealer was not able to identify the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 3,000.

Filed May 16, 2020 · Brakes, Engine · 36,000 miles · MT

Outback accelerates by itself randomly. I notice most when approaching stop sign and switch foot from gas pedal to brake.

Filed Apr 16, 2020 · Transmission · 30,000 miles · CA

When the vehicle is placed in park it is not possible to remove the key. This leaves me stranded as I can not leave the vehicle. I was left stranded in mexico.

Filed Mar 16, 2020 · Transmission · 35,326 miles · RI

Cvt transmission at 35326 miles started distributing power indiscriminately to any of the 4 wheel causing instability and shaking when driving. Very difficult to control when driving. Transmission requires replacement.

Filed Dec 6, 2019 · Transmission · 32,000 miles · TX

Transmission periodically puts extra power to wheels during braking resulting in many near misses.

Filed Oct 6, 2019 · Electrical, Transmission · 42,000 miles · NC

The keys could not be removed from the ignition after shifting the car into park and turning the car off. The problem first appeared around september 2019 (approximately 42,000 miles). Over the next few weeks the problem progressively got worse, and required shifting from neutral to park multiple times until the keys could be removed. The select lever assembly (part 35111al00b) was replaced with the newer version (part 35111al00c) which fixed the issue. The original select lever assembly (35111al00b) was tested and it had a problem with the "p" range switch. Resistance across select lever assembly pins 1 and 2 showed a resistance of 2-3 ohms when the select lever was in the park position. The service manual states that the "p" range switch resistance should be less than 1 ohm when in the park position. This high resistance likely caused the ignition to fail to recognize that the car was in park and prevented the keys from being removed.

Filed Jul 31, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 50,000 miles · CO

Cannot remove key from ignition when in park. Many others have reported this online, and the dealership is charging me to check what the issue is. When in park, steering wheel is straight, not on a slope, the key is stuck in the ignition. Can turn it off, but can't remove the key. Sometimes jiggling, sometimes starting and turning back off, and sometimes starting, putting in drive, and slamming the shifter into park again solves the issue, but sometimes not. Spent over 20 minutes today trying to get it out, drove to the dealer, and it came out without an issue. No consistency to the issue.

Filed Jun 26, 2019 · Transmission · 65,000 miles · WA · crash

The gear shift does not engage fully in park when the car is stopped. This is an intermittent problem. If it is not engaged fully when the engine is off, the key cannot be removed and the gear shift can slide from park to reverse and neutral without pressing the gear shift button. It is necessary to restart the car sometimes two or three times in order for park to fully engage. Twice when the car was idling in park it did not engage fully and slid into reverse. The second time caused an accident but no injuries. The car has been serviced regularly and there have been no warning indicators to date.

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 Dec 18, 2018 · Electrical, Transmission · 9,000 miles · NJ

Having problem to remove key from the ignition when the can was only driven for year and half and has less than 10000 miles on.

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.

Filed Mar 17, 2018 · Transmission · MD

New type transmission -happens all the time, more so when car is cool. Back out on a downhill slope hold brake, put in drive. It takes 1 to 3 seconds for drive to engage but nothing shows when it is engaged. You can however hear the ping of the engagement with window down. If you remove foot from brake and press gas the car will roll backwards 6-10 feet towards oncoming traffic. This occurs with or without the hill assist on. Subaru says this is normal nature for the car.

Filed Jan 26, 2018 · Driver assistance, Steering · 250 miles · WA

Since purchase on 2/19/17 from parker subaru cda, complaint of shaking front end, wandering on highway and freeway from side to side in a dangerous manner, from complete loss of steering in snow, slush and gravel as of 2/28/17. I have been very specific about the incidence. Going in my driveway at least 8 inccidents; in snow or slush conditions, in depts on only a couple inches or less in the winter of 2017. In the summer of 2017 three incidents of complete failure was reported on grave road at speeds of 15-MPH, I have had the very same complaint every visit: 2/28/17, 3/23/17, 4/6/17. 9/13/17, 10/22/17, 1/22/17- @ parker subaru cda.

Filed Jan 15, 2018 · Transmission · 17,800 miles · VA

I turned the car on while it was stationary, and switched to reverse but it would not accelerate. I switched it to drive and pressed the acceleration pedal but the engine would only rev; the tires would not move. I switched the car to neutral and called bob wade's subaru dealership to tow the car to their dealership.

Filed Jan 15, 2018 · Transmission · 15,541 miles · VA

I turned the car on while it was stationary, and switched to reverse but it would not accelerate. I switched it to drive and pressed the acceleration pedal but the engine would only rev; the tires would not move. I switched the car to neutral and called brown's manassas to tow the car to their dealership.

Filed Sep 20, 2017 · Transmission · 8,200 miles · MI

2017 subaru outback has 8200 miles on the car. I was at 85 miles an hour 1st time on this car. All of the sudden transmission disengaged and engine RPM went to 4000. Gas pedel was unresponsive for 2 seconds. After 2 seconds car slow down and gas pedal was responsive and car was performing normal. Subaru dealership going to check what is wrong.

Filed Sep 2, 2017 · Transmission · ID

When shifting from reverse to forward there is a considerable hesitation and then the vehicle lurches forward. I have taken it into team subaru in nampa idaho and they cannot determine any problem. I was told that the hesitation is normal. I do not agree. Because not only does it hesitate, but the lurch when the transmission finally engages is considerable. I did not notice this until the vehicle had approximately 1000 miles on it. I have just over 7100 miles on it now.

Filed Aug 11, 2017 · Transmission · 5,000 miles · PA

Subaru 2017 push button start allows the driver to turn off the engine with car gear selector still in drive. When I did this, the car began to roll as I exited. Fortunately, I had one foot still in the car and was able to press the brake pedal.

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