Subaru Forester transmission problems

THIS SITUATION WAS TAKEN CARE OF BY REPLACING "THE BRAINS" OF THE TRANSMISSION BUT THE IDLE SPEED HAS REMAINED BELOW 300 WITHOUT THE SERVICE LIGHT COMING ON SINCE. ONE OTHER COMMENT IS THAT THE SHIFTER DOES NOT LOCK INTO DRIVE LIKE MOST CARS IT LOCKS INTO 3RD. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE IDLE SPEED IS SUPPOSED TO BE BUT IT CAN'T BE 220. PUT BACK IN SERVICE ON DEC 8TH. *AK

YESTERDAY AFT. MY CAR DROVE ITSELF INTO A STORE WINDOW WITH ME AT THE WHEEL. FORTUNATELY NO ONE WAS HURT BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN A REAL DISASTER. I WAS ALREADY PARKED THERE, PUT THE CAR IN REVERSE AND IT TOOK OFF WITHOUT MY TOUCHING THE ACCELERATOR. IN FACT, MY FOOT WAS ON THE BRAKE THE WHOLE TIME (AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION). MY BRAKING WOULDN'T STOP IT, SO I MANAGED TO GET IT INTO A FORWARD GEAR. HAD I NOT, THE CAR MIGHT WELL HAVE DRIVEN FURTHER INTO THE STORE AND HURT THE SEVERAL SHOPPERS. ONCE IN A FORWARD GEAR, THE CAR THEN IT TOOK OFF FORWARD ON A WILD RIDE; AGAIN, I WAS MERELY THE PASSENGER. I MANAGED TO STEER THE CAR FOR A SHORT DISTANCE BEFORE IT DECELERATED, MY FOOT ON THE BRAKE ALL THIS TIME, WHILE I CLEARED A LIGHT POST AND TWO CARS ON EITHER SIDE, AS WELL AS TRAFFIC IN THE ROAD. *AK

CLUTCH CANNOT HANDLE ENGINE TORQUE. CLUTCH CHATTERS ON ENGAGEMENT WHEN COLD, RESULTING IN VEHICLE NOT STARTING UP AND ACCELERATING AS EXPECTED. THIS COULD CAUSE ACCIDENT IF VEHICLE CANNOT MOVE OUT OF WAY OF OTHER TRAFFIC. CLUTCH VIBRATION ON HARD ACCELERATION FIRST NOTED AT 8653 MILES AND REPORTED TO DEALER. NOTICEABLE CHATTER WHEN COLD (UNDER 40 DEGREES OUTSIDE TEMP) UNTIL USED SEVERAL TIMES. CHATTER CONTINUES TO BECOME WORSE AND OCCUR AT HIGHER TEMPERATURES AS MILEAGE INCREASES. REPORTED TO DELAER AT 30,110 MILES AND DEALER COULD NOT DUPLICATE. REPORTED AGAIN AT 35,913 MILES AND DEALER NOTED BUT SIAD DID NOT REQUIRE REPAIR. REPORTED AGAIN AT 48,000 MILES AND DEALER WANTS TO REPAIR AT CUSTOMER EXPENSE. PROBLEM WOULD HAVE BEEN COVERED UNDER WARRANTY IF REPAIRED AT ORIGINAL REPORT (8653 MILES).*AK

DRIVING ON FAST DOWNHILL SECTION OF MOUNTAIN 2 LANE HIGHWAY, ON ICE / PACKED SNOW, TAPPED BRAKES WHILE ENTERING CURVE ... 2 SECONDS LATER WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARNING THE VEHICLE LOST ADHESION, OVERSTEERING DANGEROUSLY. I RECOVERED WITH CONSIDERABLE OPPPOSITE STEERING LOCK AND SLIGHT APPLICATION OF POWER (CAR IS ALL-WHEEL-DRIVE.) IT HAPPENED SO FAST, I KNEW NOT WHAT HAD CAUSED THE CAR TO SLIDE OUT OF CONTROL. TODAY, I LEARNED THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM. WITH THE GEARSHIFT SELECTOR IN DRIVE, TRAILING THROTTLE AND APPLICATION OF BRAKES, THE COMPUTER WILL OCCASIONALLY (AUTOMATICALLY) DOWN-SHIFT THE CAR INTO 3RD. GEAR. THIS SOFTWARE BUG, COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED AND TOTALLY DANGEROUS IN MARGINAL TRACTION CONDITIONS CAUSEDG A VICIOUS SKID FROM WHICH MOST DRIVERS OF AVERAGE EXPERIENCE WOULD HAVE NOT RECOVERED. WE PUT ABS ON CARS SO THAT BRAKING CAN BE MORE PREDICTABLE WHEN DRIVING UNDER MARGINAL COEFFICIENTS, THAN WE DESIGN SOFTWARE WITH A BUG WHICH HAS THE POTENTIAL TO THROW THE CAR TOTALLY AND UNPREDICTABLY OUT OF CONTROL ON ICE. NICE WORK, SUBARU !*AK

VEHICLE FIRST SHOWED PROBLEM 11/99. VEHICLE BANGS INTO GEAR WITH TREMENDOUS JOLT. DEALER REPLACED TRANSMISSION AND RETURNED VEHICLE 12/9/99 AFTER 25 DAYS OUT OF SERVICE. PROBLEM REOCCURRED IN 1/26/00 IN NEW TRANSMISSION. DEALER NOT WILLING TO CONSIDER ALTERNATE SOLUTION BUT WILL REPLACE TRANSMISSION. SUSPECTS PROBLEM IS NOT TRANSMISSION BUT ANOTHER PROBLEM CAUSING TRANSMISSION TO GO BAD. *AK