2020 Subaru Outback

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V955000 (Power Train) 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 manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V955000 (Power Train) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted and confirmed that the part was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V955000 (Power Train) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

On 3 separate occasions, my transmission has switched from automatic mode to manual “Auto-stick” mode on its own with no input from me. There were no warning lamps or error messages, and the gearshift was still firmly in Drive. This has resulted in 3 near-miss accidents because the car landed in 1st gear even though I was going about 30 mph each time. From my experience driving manual transmission vehicles, I know what happens when a moving vehicle is suddenly jammed into 1st gear—it comes to an immediate, violent stop. On all 3 occasions, I was lucky not to have other cars behind me. But I know I won’t be so lucky forever. Sooner or later, I will be rear-ended when this happens. I have taken the car to the dealership twice for inspection. They told me that they had never heard of nor seen any vehicle doing what I described. Technicians drove it 7 miles and reported no incidents. I knew it was unlikely to happen on command since it has occurred 3 times in 32,000 miles. They told me that Subaru requires dealerships to reproduce issues before undertaking any repairs. Therefore, they returned the vehicle and told me that it absolutely could NOT change modes unless I had bumped or moved the gearshift. Less than 2 weeks later, the defect happened for the third time. I returned to the dealership and insisted they look further into the problem. I involved the Service Dept manager so that my complaint might be taken more seriously. There is an open recall on the transmission for slipping but they said the 2 issues were unrelated. This time they kept the car for a week and drove it 46 miles. They connected a diagnostic computer to the transmission while driving it. But again, I was told since they witnessed no problems, they could do nothing more. I showed them a blog on Edmunds.com from Subaru owners reporting this exact issue beginning in 2011. Owners have taken this to Subaru many times but new cars still do this. Please help. I’m at my wit’s end. Thank you.

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V955000 (Power Train) 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 manufacturer was made aware of the issue and referred the contact to the NHTSA. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

Date: March 25, 2022 - While driving to work, the car shut off. The RAB and eye technology features were disabled. The car indicted the battery was drained. The same day I got the car towed to the dealer. I stayed with the vehicle to find out what was wrong. After a two hour inspection, the Bay Ridge Dealer/Mechanics in Brooklyn, New York indicated that I left something on that drained the battery. I said sir "I did not." He said well the battery is ok and there is no indication that anything is wrong. The next day (March 26,2022) when I was about to start the car - the car couldn't start. I had to get it towed to the dealer and am left without a car.

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that he received a recall letter from the manufacturer. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing a software update. The contact reported that the recall letter advised that the vehicle has no remedy for it yet for the CVT chain. The contact said that the vehicle will be unsafe to operate and the dealer nor the manufacturer have offered any remedy. The vehicle was not repaired but was pending repairs. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 23,000.

We received the recall notice and do not feel safe driving the vehicle. This problem has the potential to seriously injure or kill someone if the vehicle failed on the highways. They quote May as the earliest time frame that they will begin repairs. This is not an acceptable time frame. Assuming the dealers are prepared in May, there could still be an overwhelmingly long wait list for the needed repairs. This could possibly lead on well into summer before my vehicle is in the shop. What are we to do for transportation in the mean time? Are we to continue driving as usual and risk our lives or those of fellow motorists near us? I would like a mitigating solution as we do not have faith in our safety if we were to operate the vehicle any further.

Since purchase, the transmission occasionally slipped and "clunked". Over the past few months, it has become worse, and now, with increasing frequency, grinds vibrates and shakes. It was taken into the dealership and nothing was done to fix the problem. We feel it represents a clear and present danger that could result in a severe accident.