2020 Subaru Outback

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V227000 (AIR BAGS); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while reversing, the rearview camera displayed a distorted image, compromising the back-over prevention system. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, no cause for the failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA: 20V766000 (BACK OVER PREVENTION) however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was 61,000. Parts distribution disconnect.

Thermo Control Valve assembly has failed resulting in loss of use for the following: Rear Automatic Brake, Eye Sight lane keeping, loss of heat in cabin and failure of coolant to circulate within engine possibly leading to engine failure, loss of cruise control and check engine light coming on. Reference TSB [XXX] . Without cabin heat vehicle is not useable in current cold temperatures (Currently 22 degrees Fahrenheit in Ohio on December 14, 2023). Dealer has confirmed part failure. Issue must be addressed to continue operating vehicle so I paid $1185.87 out of pocket to repair. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

A well-known failure of the Thermal Control Valve (TCV) occurred, which disabled many or most of the safety features on the car in addition to crippling the heat output in the cabin. Additionally, depending on which way the valve sticks, it could overheat the car and ruin the engine, or worse. Car is under 4 years old and repair estimate is nearly $1900. There is a technical safety bulletin [XXX] that outlines a redesigned TCV. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving in reverse the vehicle crashed into a metal dumpster causing severe damage to the rear end of the vehicle. During the incident, the audible backover prevention alert indicating that the vehicle was nearing an object did not activate causing the vehicle to be driven into the dumpster. During the incident, the front passenger sustained neck and back injuries that later required medical treatment. No police report was taken and the vehicle was driven from the scene. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 13,000.

That main concern I have is the windshield. My windshield has been replaced once already and it seems no matter what speed or road we are traveling if anything hits the windshield it cracks. I am not talking a chip or little crack either I am talking tiny rock 45 mph crack halfway through the entire windshield. It can’t be that safe of safety glass if a pea gravel smashes it at 45mph. First time it happened we were traveling through a blizzard at 30 mph rock crack the entire windshield….. the Subaru windshield is super expensive and can only be put in at specific places.

While driving the car the car's computer/radio/navigation system will randomly shut down. This has been occurring since approx 6500 miles. When this occurs all of the safety systems/HVAC/Rear Camera/Radio/Navigation systems all will fail with the associated warning lights. The car now has approx 9000 miles, this appears to be random occurrences about every 200-250 miles. Dealer states that they are aware of the problem and was told to contact back late June/early July that SOA was going to release a software fix. Well time has passed and nothing has occurred. When driving this car and the failure occurs all of the safety systems are totally inoperable thus the computerized safety systems are not functional. So, far I have been able to maintain full control of the car. The time for the systems to comeback online is highly variable and sometimes I have to stop, and turn the car off for approximately 10 minutes to have the systems return to being functional. For example, the automated cruise control if in operation will fail to operate, the backup camera will be inoperable, the side space warning will fail, lane assist will fail, and so on for all of the safety systems that this particular car has will all fail. Fortunately, I have been able to safely find a safe place to stop, but what happens when this failure occurs and there is not a place to stop/pull over to rest the car/computer. I can't be the only owner/driver that is having this problem(s) they are all interrelated when the master computer shuts down all of the other systems then follow. It is only a matter of time that a potential crash with associated injury and or loss of life can potentially occur. Dealer is unable to replicate and therefore unable to repair/replace parts. Once this failure can be rectified/corrected this is a wonderful car. At this point, I am unable to determine the cause nor am I able to prevent these failures.

In the last month, twice within 30 seconds of starting the car, the head unit has done a complete reboot, which meant that I had no rear-view camera as I was backing out of a parking space. Since the car was already in motion, it was very distracting as it took about a minute for the unit to reboot. This seems to indicate that there is an electrical problem with the car as many others have noted. Many of the car's controls (such as climate control) are soft buttons displayed on the head unit and cannot be adjusted otherwise. Therefore, it is essential that this unit operate properly and dependably.

I'M CURIOUS TO KNOW IF ANYONE ELSE HAS HAD THE PROBLEM THAT I'VE BEEN HAVING WITH MY CAR. THE CAR'S CCM WOULD OCCASIONALLY FREEZE; SAY APPLE CARPLAY IS UNAVAILABLE AND RESTART; THE CCM WOULD GO BLANK, BUT STILL BACKLIT; OR JUST FREEZE ATTEMPT TO RESTART, BUT NOT TURN BACK ON RENDERING ITEMS IN THE CAR USELESS, LIKE VOICE CONTROL AND JUST EVERYTHING!! SUBARU CLAIMS THAT THERE'S NOTHING WRONG AND I JUST HAVE A GRIEVANCE. I'M NOT SURE HOW THAT'S THE CASE, WHEN THERE'S VIDEO EVIDENCE. I HAVE A LOANER CAR FROM THE DEALERSHIP, AND TURNED OFF THE DISPLAY (I DIDN'T KNOW THAT COULD BE DONE), BUT THE VOICE CONTROL WORKED IN THE LOANER THAT WAS NOT HAVING A PROBLEM AS OPPOSED TO MINE. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF ANYONE ELSE HAS WRITTEN IN WITH THAT COMPLAINT. OF NOTE, I'VE BEEN GOING INTO THE DEALERSHIP FOR THIS PROBLEM SINCE OCTOBER 2020, AND I'VE ONLY OWNED THE CAR SINCE JUL 2020. I HAD IT CHECKED IN VIRGINIA AND OKLAHOMA CITY. I RECEIVED A LOANER CAR ON THURSDAY, 8 APR 2020, FOR THE PROBLEM ONLY AFTER I NOTIFIED THE DEALERSHIP THAT I CONTACTED SUBARU ABOUT THE PROBLEM. I RECEIVED A TEXT STATING THAT THE CAR WAS READY, BUT NO RESPONSE AS TO WHAT WAS DONE. AGAIN, I RECEIVED THE 'SOFTWARE IS UP TO DATE'. BE AWARE THAT WHEN THE SCREEN GOES BLANK, YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER ANYTHING, NOT EVEN VOICE CONTROL. I DID TEST THAT WHILE MY CAR WAS MALFUNCTIONING A D ALSO DISPLAYING THAT EYESIGHT AND REAR ASSIST BRAKING WERE ALSO NOT FUNCTIONAL. THIS IS A SAFETY HAZARD, BECAUSE I WAS UTILIZING NAVIGATION SINCE I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE I WAS GOING AT THE TIME. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME DURING NAVIGATION THAT THIS HAS OCCURRED. ALTHOUGH I RECEIVED AN ERROR MESSAGE FROM THE CAR VIA TEXT ON EASTER SUNDAY, THE MY SUBARU APP SENT AN 'ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL' FOR 30 DAYS, BUT I JUST HAD ERRORS A FEW DAYS PRIOR. IT'S LIKE THE HEALTH REPORT IS ONLY FOR THAT MOMENT IN TIME AND NOT REALLY FOR 30 DAYS.