2011 Subaru Outback

Transmission failed on my 2011 Subaru Outback as I was entering the freeway, putting me in a very dangerous situation and at risk for being hit by other drivers. I didn't know it was transmission failure until I took it to a service center and they told me my transmission had failed and would need to be either rebuilt or replaced. Multiple dash warning lights came on as the car was stalling out. The repair cost me $5,600 to rebuild. The dealer said they would only replace it at a cost of $8,900. Neither dealer or Subaru customer service were helpful. I've taken very good care of the car, done routine maintenance and it only had 119,000 miles on it. The transmission shop said they are seeing a number of failures with the CVT transmission.

Vehicle has under 90k miles been regularly maintained and serviced. While driving engine light came on for engine overheating. Stopped driving vehicle. Called local Subaru dealer for diagnostic. Diagnostic revealed several unknown problems including transmission needs to be replaced. Since vehicle has under 100 k miles and is only 11 years old. I could not believe that this problem occurred ( note transmission replacement is over $8000). I took the vehicle in for a second opinion to local AAA shop. They informed me that Subaru issued a technical service bulletin for that year model Outback about the very problem I am having. After an online search of information about this problem I found several owners with the same problem and NO admission or assistance from Subaru. This is an expensive fix for a problem Subaru which Subaru is aware. This is a very dangerous problem because the vehicle will die on the road while in traffic that could cause high risk of an accident with injuries and possibly death. I have written to Subaru North America for assistance. So far no response. I believe this a possible recall because most of the complaints noted the problem occurs around 100K miles. And Subaru has done nothing to mitigate this problem.

While driving the car on or about 12/21/2021 at about 6 or 7 pm at night, I experienced a catastrophic failure of the transmission. The car lost drivetrain power and began to shudder and limp along the road. All the warning lights on the dashboard lit up at once. Fortunately, I was not on a highway, and I was able to safely pull over to the side of the road. But the incident did leave me unsettled and distressed especially as it was happening. There were no warning signs or indications of something was amissed prior to the failure. At a Subaru dealership service, I learned with the valve body and the torque converter need to be replaced at an expensive cost (almost $4,000). This is a problem that Subaru is aware of and has done little to address it before the failure occurs in affected vehicles at large. I feel this is a serious safety issue that needs to be proactively remedied before failure can occur. My car only has 160,000 miles and responsibly driven. Normally, such a car should not have experienced such a catastrophic failure in the transmission as mine did even at that accrued mileage. I also later learned that this is a prevalent problem on this particular car model, so much so that many dealership service departments are performing this type of repair at least once a week. For this problem to be this relatively widespread means there some sort of defect or design flaw in the system itself. There seems to be a high rate of incidence for a critical part on a vehicle that should normally and typically last the lifetime of the vehicle.

I have a 2011 Subaru Outback with ~`40k miles. After buying the vehicle in late 2020 I began to notice the vehicle shuttering and shaking when coming to a complete stop or when I begin to reverse and when the vehicle shutters there is a significant RPM drop. The shuttering issue occurs randomly and is concerning but the bigger issue is that the vehicle has also stalled after coming to a hard stop twice in the last year. When braking hard from 60 mph to avoid vehicle the vehicles engine stalled out. When this occurred I had to place the vehicle in park then restart the engine. As of today I have never seen a warning message or anything that would let me know that there was an issue. When researching the topic I found that this is a known issue by Subaru related to a faulty thrust washer in the CVT and a TSB, 16-90-13r was issued but was not directly communicated to the customer. The warranty was extended to 100k miles but the vehicle was purchased at 128k miles and I was told that the repair would not be covered since it fell outside the extended warranty. Thankfully when the car stalled there was not a vehicle behind me and I was visible on the road but this issue poses great risk to safety since one loses power to the vehicle. Also, the symptoms of the failure would leave the average driver to think it was a more common issue ( pad, caliper, tire balance) which would be misdiagnosed.

The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and then had her brother-in-law continue driving manually to an independent mechanic. The mechanic inspected the vehicle and diagnosed the failure as a faulty transmission and torque converters. The mechanic replaced the transmission with a used transmission with lower miles. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.

I was driving at 65mph on highway in a like new 2011 Subaru Outback with 146,000 miles when the transmission valve body crapped out. This caused a severe shutter and loss of power like a missed gear, but thankfully I was able to coast off the highway without using the gas or without crashing. The drivetrain lost power unexpectedly again pulling into the parking lot off the highway. This action appears to be a major safety issue. I believe there is a manufacturing defect in one of the closed system parts that caused this perfectly maintained & repaired, vehicle in immaculate baby'd condition to fail. Vehicle is in perfect condition, and all maintenance in manual have been done as outlined by Subaru. My concern is the safety. Warning Lights were: Blinking Park Light Blinking AT Oil Temp Blinking Cruise Solid Check Engine Solid Traction Control The codes that were pulled were: P0700, P2764, C0057, C0054 Subaru of America has been notified of the issue.

Torque Converter failure. When trying to stop, the car would stall out (not safe in busy intersections or when cars are behind you). No warning came up except momentarily when the stalling occurred. I have taken my car in to Subaru for all recommended servicing and repairs and directed based on mileage and service team recommendations. My vehicle was taken to my local Subaru service facility (Bruce Titus Subaru of Tacoma) for inspection after the stalling issue. Dealer confirmed the problem prior to repair (torque converter failure necessitating replacement). Torque converter failure is an all too common problem with the year and make of my car (2011 Subaru Outback) and Subaru of America put out an extended warranty coverage to rectify the complaints I presume. This was extended out to 10 yrs past the manufacture date or up to 100,000 miles. By car is ~ 7 months past the 10 year mark but still under 100,000 miles. Subaru of Americal is only willing to repay me $1000 back as a good will gesture (total pre tax was $2,321). This is a problem with so many of the Subaru's out there with CVTs. This was frightening to have happen and is beyond frustrating that people are having to pay out of pocket for issues that Subaru is well aware of but only willing to fix if a car has a failure in there extended warranty time frame. This SHOULD have been a recall for all cars due to safety!!!