2022 Subaru Outback

Was just driving when I noticed my car was sounding louder than usual. Then when I stared it after running some errands it sounds like a bad engine nock. So I took it in for an oil change and they told me it was a cracked exhaust manifold. Also told me it fine to drive and shouldn’t cause further problems. Then I started to smell heavy exhaust smells inside the cab of the car. Now I have to drive it with windows down or risk passing out or dying

This is in response to your boilerplate letter of May 25, 2024. That correspondence stated that my 2022 Subaru Outback’s inspection of May 21, 2024, did not reveal any manufacturing defect that caused the unanticipated acceleration of my vehicle on April 26, 2024. That inspection was conducted by a third-party engineering firm. In amplification of this, the following is provided: • My vehicle on 26 April 2024, at approximately at 0845 AM experienced unanticipated acceleration, in my garage where it had been parked overnight. It was a cool morning. This occurred without any direct body movement from me, whatsoever. The fast forward motion I directly experienced in my vehicle was like if one put their gas pedal to the floor. The vehicle crashed about five feet into a garage shelf with me simultaneously providing braking. This directly caused about $3,000 worth of damage to the vehicle, and I will probably incur higher insurance cost because of this. •Environmental factors have been a contributing factor in unanticipated acceleration in the past. •Time to extract the data from the EDR in my vehicle took almost one month for SOA to complete the inspection (accident occurred on April 26 and the vehicle inspection took place on May 21). •Starlink, Subaru’s automatic collision notification system, did not activate on 26 April 2024, the day of the accident. •“As a rule of thumb, if the crash is sufficient to cause the air bags to deploy the EDR data are usually captured.” From the National Highway Transportation Safety Board’s website under, “EDR Q & A). My vehicle’s air bags did not deploy, and another key word is “usually”. •On May 16, 2024, five days before the inspection was completed on my vehicle I wrote the CEO a letter. Part of that letter is quoted, verbatim, for your review: “It is now my understanding, according to SOA, that what happened to me is referred to as unanticipated acceleration. Being a Subaru owner for over ten years, such in inc

Thermal control valve became inoperable at less than 40,000 miles. Engine shut down and began to overheat. Part is known to easily fail by Subaru. Has been examined by dealership. All warning lights came on at once, and cruise control and Eyesight were disabled. NHTSA Recall Number 23V755000 We have been on the list for this recall repair since 12/28/2023, we were told when we scheduled the service appointment for the TCV that the dealership was not doing any more recall repairs any time soon as they could not get parts.

The contact owned a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at 30 MPH, she heard an abnormal sound emanating from the front of the vehicle, and the vehicle suddenly lost all electrical power. She was able to coast to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. A short time later, the contact's wife observed white smoke rising from the engine compartment, and within 15 minutes, the entire vehicle was engulfed in flames. Local emergency services were called and were able to extinguish the fire. A fire and police report were filed, and no injuries were reported. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard, awaiting inspection. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 23,000.

The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the engine started sputtering with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle started losing motive power. The accelerator pedal was depressed, and the engine revved and responded as needed. The contact stated that the power steering and power brakes failed while attempting to pull over to the side of the road. The contact continued to rev the engine which appeared to stabilize the instrument cluster view; however, the power steering and brakes were inoperable. The contact stated that the vehicle was shifted into park(P) but while attempting to shift into drive(D), the gear shifter failed to move. The contact turned off the vehicle and waited for approximately one hour and when the vehicle restarted, all functionality had returned. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 17,000.

The relatively new car (2022) stalls out randomly at intersections and red lights. This is a major safety issue as we have had the car totally shut down in the middle of 2 busy intersections. We had to dial 911 and have the police come to assist. We brought the car to the dealer and they did not find a problem but it continued to happen. There were no warning lights or messages - stalling happened randomly. May be related to the gas saver engine stop feature when at a complete stop.

Lower oil pan leaks due to poor QA/QC at the factory so I’m told. And possibly the upper oil pan leaking to. Researched forums and it’s a requiring problem. So is the problem big enough for a recall? One issue is that the dealership didn’t notice it during last inspection and service. Or is the dealership being told to remain silent ? Never less the end user suffers with worrying about if it’s going to happen again and cause bigger issues. Please check forums on this issue. Thank you

The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated he had taken the vehicle to the dealer for standard maintenance. When parked, the contact noticed that smoke was coming from underneath the vehicle. A loud popping noise occurred then a fire started underneath the hood of the vehicle. The fire quickly spread. The fire department extinguished the fire. There was no damage. There were no injuries and medical attention was not needed. A fire/police report was filed. The vehicle was towed and is with insurance waiting for the condition of the vehicle to be determined. The vehicle had not been officially diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 4,260.

This has happened many times since my vehicle ownership in May. Today for example I am on the highway cruising along (cruise control set) and alarms start going off, the vehicle lurches as it self-disables safety features one by one - Cruise control shuts off automatically - check engine light on, reverse auto breaking disabled, lane assist disabled, Collision avoidance disabled, entire eyesight system disabled. (and I'm sure more I am missing) I have contacted Subaru of America many times about this fault, they have yet to respond appropriately to my inquiries (usually they dont respond at all or simply tell me something about the factory stereo?). The only fix I've found is removing the gas cap tapping it a few times and resetting (to the "one-click") tightness. After multiple start/stops the codes will clear and life will resume with safety features. This incident today was 204.3 miles into my gas tank, not sure how the gas cap is related but something is definitely wrong. If it truly is the gas cap they could simply have a small icon on the 11" display vs disabling every safety feature- While I am DRIVING!

On January 28, 2023 at approximately 1930 hours, vehicle battery was dead after being in a parking garage for a week. Vehicle was jump started and being driven on a highway for about 10 miles at highway speeds. At a location on the NYC Harlem River Drive, traffic came to a stop for a minute or so. The 'Auto Start Stop System' stopped the motor as designed. When traffic started to move again, the motor would not restart and the battery was dead. We were disabled in the left lane of an unlit high speed, high volume highway in the dark with our emergency flashers rapidly going dim. After about 45 minutes and numerous near serious collision misses, a tow truck arrived to tow us off of the highway. The system that failed was the 'Auto Start Stop System' and the vehicle is available for inspection. I have 40 years of investigating and reconstructing fatal and serious motor vehicle collisions and this defect put the safety of the motoring public at a serious risk. It is unknown if the problem has been reproduced and the component has not been inspected by the manufacturer. There was not any warning indicators or other symptoms of the problem. To the contrary, the vehicle operator had the false assumption that all systems were operating properly. This defect presents a high risk of serious injury to highway users.