Subaru Outback electrical problems

The vehicle does not start at unforeseen times. Battery has been replaced. Safety is a risk if car would not start in unsafe location. Dealership has been unable to fix problem or find drain on battery or electrical problems. Car has had to be towed to dealership and jump started by a professional many times in order to drive to dealership.

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. The key fobs were inoperable. The battery warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that there was a low charge and the battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was contacted but no additional assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 3,000.

I am on my 3rd battery since May 2015 when the Outback was purchased in El Cajon, California. There have been multiple instances when I prepare to venture out and am unable to as the result of a dead battery. In every instance there was not an obvious instigating factor such as a light inadvertently left on. This situation is extremely disruptive resulting in my belief that I have an unreliable vehicle that has caused me to miss appointments and meetings. There is also a significant monetary loss in that this is a known and well- publicized issue that will render me unable to recoup market value upon sale of the vehicle. '

Summary of Electrical system issues: 1.pertaining to battery draining and 2. eyesight randomly goes out and other dash board lights flash and later goes away. As well as, 3. Windows that can not completely close at times. Details: I purchased 2016 Subaru outback - 4 cylinder in 2019 with 64,000 miles. By 2020, the car experienced random dashboard lights indicator flashing that would resolve itself (*the flashing light) in a few days. One issue was the eye sight would randomly inactivate while driving and resolve after turning off car for a half day or a day. However it happens often. Dealer Car repair shop said it could not duplicate. Besides the dash board lights issues; the passenger front window and moonroof would not go up to completely close at random times. Rendering the windows useless to use. These issues continued on and off from purchase thru to-date. The biggest issue came in 2021 & 2022, when the battery would drain. A jump of the battery seem to resolve the problem. Auto store would jump battery and show CCA and CA and Alternator output proficient for the battery. On random times the battery would have the same draining issue. I am not convinced it is a battery issue for these incidents. I believe it is related to an electrical issue for all of these issues. Risk: The components installed and advertised by the Subaru brand influenced me to purchase the vehicle over other vehicles because of its safety records and longevity of the vehicle. This is clearly a false and fraudulent marketing. The Subaru has failed to provide my confidence as a consumer of its safety record. I am extremely uncomfortable driving the vehicle more than 30 miles locally because of fear it will breakdown or I will be stranded. Even locally, I have had to purchase a AAA membership at an extra expense to ensure some means of assistance. Recently, within 2 days I have had ti use my membership for a drained battery. I am now seeing many Subaru owners make similar complaints.

I have had to replace the battery multiple times since purchasing the vehicle in 2017. Each time the battery was determined to be unusable by qualified service staff. Battery replacements occurred on (1) 2019-10-18 at 34,877 miles and on (2) 2022-02-24 at 67,339 miles. The first occurrence left me stranded at a hotel on a sub-freezing day. The second occurrence left me stranded in a parking lot. Both required me to obtain commercial service to get on the road. Both occurrences were subsequently diagnosed by a reputable service shop (Les Schwab) as a battery failure and replacement was recommended. The battery failures occurred without warning from the vehicle (no lamps).

Navigation screen is delaminating and bubbling under the touch screen. It would cause navigation touch screen to detect phantom inputs and cause radio/telephone to do random actions (ie. calling random people, cycle radio stations, map zoom in) that is very distracting to driver. Screen would be completely unresponsive to touch input or button input.

The audio unit is malfunctioning, it constantly makes distracting intermittent tone sounds, continuously flashes and changes between AM, FM, Sirius and Bluetooth modes, makes random autonomous phone calls, touchscreen doesn't respond to touch, sound will randomly spike at high volumes. All of this makes it extremely distracting to safely drive the car. This has been happening since last June 2022. We leased this vehicle new then purchased it when the lease was expired. Diablo Subaru in Walnut Creek, CA advises the part is on back order and none are in stock. They admitted that a different customer dropped off their 2019 Subaru Outback now over 45 days and they don't have the replacement audio unit for it and they know of several other customers with the same problem of year,make & model. Subaru of America offered to pay $1,700 towards the $2,700 repair. Our car has 34k miles on it.