2020 Subaru Outback

As my husband & I were traveling to Augusta, GA on Memorial Day weekend with our niece, we approached the [XXX] outside Chattanooga, Tennessee in heavy traffic and heavy rain on Saturday [XXX] 2024 at approximately [XXX] When we stopped for a small accident ahead of us, the “auto stop-start engine” feature stopped the car engine as normal. However, almost instantly, all of the electronics in the car appeared to fail and the car would not restart. The dashboard indicated that Eyesight and RAB were disabled and to "check the owner's manual." Normal traffic quickly resumed around us, but we were stranded in the #2 lane with several close calls of a rear-end collision--not to mention the cars at risk swerving to avoid us. My husband is a retired firefighter & our niece is a nurse in Los Angeles. Frankly, we were terrified! We were stranded on the interstate in the #2 lane for about 20 minutes before being pushed into the "gore zone" between [XXX] & [XXX] by a TDOT truck. We spent about 40 minutes in the gore zone where we were nearly hit twice by cars driving across the zone. We were finally towed to Crown Subaru in Chattanooga, TN and arrived there about 11:40 a.m. The general manager of the dealership, Keith Aviles, told us there was a sudden, massive failure of a battery cell controlling the electronics of the car, and the battery was replaced. We never had any indication or evidence prior to this incident that there were issues with the battery. Also, we have never received a notice from Subaru about battery problems. However, we are now aware that Subaru settled a class action lawsuit to avoid a recall of these batteries. I have notified six friends who own Subarus. Three have had issues with their batteries, but were also unaware of the class action lawsuit. This is absolutely shocking for a vehicle manufacturer that touts safety to sell vehicles. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The NEW car battery was replaced by seller early in the first year. The car would not start after stopping. Now the same again dead battery symptom reappears. Upon trying to start, the electrical system will not shut off at this time and will drain the battery down yet further. After stopping the car it will not start without fully recharging. Early on, once the car stopped running while I was in gear driving down the road. Though it did restart this time. I have been unable to disable the engine from stopping at stop signs which is a BIG concern. The last few recharges have only lasted days. I'd say the battery is now gone. And now also, when the battery is charged, the rear hatch will not open. This is a big concern. Dependent upon who you talk to at the Subaru Dealers, you will get numerous answers for this concerns. Buy another car? As to the rear hatch, the Manual shows I can just pull a cord on the inside. None can be found.

The automatic lifting of the rear trunk opens as it should, but then will start to close on you out of no where without pushing the close button. It is terrifying because it doesn’t sense a body there. The screen in the center console also will become inaccessible and black out making it impossible to use the touch screen. The usb ports/ connecting to iPhone will disconnect making Bluetooth unavailable. Extremely difficult when needing gps or on the freeway

Starting in September of 2023, my 2020 Subaru Outback began having issues with the battery. After replacing the battery, having the vehicle died, being left stranded in unsafe scenarios, paying for , and associated repairs, I was told the DCM panel was found to be faulty and causing repetitive battery drainage and failures. The DCM is trying to connect to an old network without success causing the battery failure. This occurred twice in September, once in December, and three times in January of 2024.

- Infotainment center freezes making controls inaccessible. I live in the desert where temps reach 120+ in the car and not being able to turn on the AC is dangerous. - Windows will not roll up once they are rolled down, especially after it has rained or after washing the car. - Driver side Door Sensor Switch broke. This would keep the interior lights and infotainment center from turning off.

Automatic Braking system has almost caused a rear-end collision 5 times, because it thinks a shadow is an object. We’ve brought the car to the dealership but they told us twice that they can’t replicate the problem. That doesn’t change the issue. I don’t want to wait until we have a collision and have to go through physical therapy and repairs to address this. Front headlights are blinding other drivers causing them to flash their brights at us regularly on the freeway and local roads which then blinds us and causing us to slow down and break. The dealership say that the lights can be adjusted but this is a serious risk to us and something that happens every night. It’s stressful to drive the car anticipating this all the time. We’ve replace the starter last year and having issues again. The car struggles to start. Last year they said this was a known issue and also replaced the battery. But it’s happening again. This indicates a more complicated issue in the electrical. I don’t want to have to replace the starter every year.

Per Subaru there is something wrong with the Cockpit Control Module (CCM) that is causing a constant / parasitic draw on the battery. This results in the battery being dead within 4 hours, leaving us constantly stranded. Because the CCM also controls the electrical system, many of the safety features (auto breaking, lane departure, etc) turn off randomly. This is the diagnosis from our local Subaru dealership: COCKPIT CONTROL MODULE IS DRAWING 2 AMPS. WITH COCKPIT UNPLUGGED THERE IS STILL A 1 AMP DRAW. WILL NEED TO REPLACED CCU THEN FIGURE OUT WHERE THE OTHER 1 AMP DRAW IS. UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE WITH MULTIPLE SYSTEMS DRAWING I have opened a case with Subaru of America, but with no resolution.