2024 Subaru Outback

My battery prematurely drained and it caused my car to not start at all. It's a new car and was checked at the dealership and was confirmed to be in perfect working order when I bought it. Not even six months of owning it and then battery died, I had to pay out of pocket for a replacement battery. I can't imagine what could've happened, had I been actively driving it. It has not been taking to a dealership to officially confirm the issue but I've seen the recent lawsuits and know my vehicle falls within the affected vehicles. There was absolutely NO warnings. My car just would not turn on. All the dash lights would just quickly flash at me and then go dark, I'd get an "Ignition on" message but couldn't do anything at all. Car would even try turning on.

Before I begin my commute, I’m greeted by a persistent message within the center infotainment display from the satellite radio service provider SirusXM. The message will not go away until manually closed out, as the exit button is farther away from the drivers reach (more accessible from the passenger side). This can lead to distracted driving, especially if you’ve already expressed no interest in the service, prior to its other attempts. It also doesn’t help that the center console is frustratingly non responsive for the first few minutes during every vehicle startup. There’s also a number displayed on the screen to call SirusXM to opt out of the messages but the attempt is useless as they will corner you into purchasing subscription. I shouldn’t have to do this for a vehicle I own and the monopoly that service presents as the only satellite provider is anti competition.

Many controls are integrated within the main infotainment screen on the 2024 Outback. Every month or so, a SiriusXM advertisement will randomly pop-up on the screen, taking up the entire screen, rendering all screen controls/buttons useless. This is a safety concern, as not only screen controls are blocked when this ad appears, but air and comfort controls are blocked until the ad pop-up is closed.

My 2024 Subaru Outback has twice become inoperable while stopped at a traffic signal. In both incidents, the engine was off while stopped, but the vehicle remained powered on and would not restart. The vehicle also would not properly power down. The car could not be safely driven or moved and required towing both times. This created a serious safety hazard because the vehicle became disabled in active traffic and could not be restarted or properly shut down. After the first incident (on [XXX]), the Subaru dealership replaced the battery. Approximately 4 weeks ([XXX]) later, the exact same failure occurred again. The dealership has now had the vehicle for approximately three weeks and states they cannot replicate the issue. No cause has been identified and no repair has been made. During one of these incidents, my [XXX] child was in the vehicle while we were stranded in traffic. This appears to be a repeat electrical / ignition / operability failure affecting the vehicle’s ability to restart or properly shut down after stopping in traffic. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Was doing 55-60 mph in left lane of highway. Suddenly and without warning the car is decelerating, cannot accelerate any more, all warning lights suddenly flashing on dashboard. I was able to get over to the far right emergency lane, turn car off and put on hazards and started calling Subaru roadside assistance. While doing so I suddenly saw smoke coming out from under the hood. I got out of the car and continued my talk when the smoke suddenly turned to flames from under the hood and I called 911. Within 3 minutes of dialing for assistance, my car was completely engulfed in flames and it was burned to a crisp by the time the fire trucks put it out. My insurance company retrieved the car from wherever it was towed and has assigned it to someone to investigate.

Sirus XM advertisements, whilst driving, taking over display, despite opting out of all possible options, disablement and NEVER purchasing the satellite radio service or wanting it in vehicle. I paid for the car, now I have to be subject to distracting advertising that requires user input even though I already have carplay open with driving directions. Advertising should be optional and there MUST be a way to opt out and it should not be forced or require interaction while car is operational (assuming it is opt in, which it most certainly was not in my case). Everywhere else in the world you can buy a car free of in-vehicle advertising, without being pushed to get satellite radio from a monopoly.. why is USA different?

The malfunction I am concerned with is the battery and the battery charging system (alternator, engine control module). I purchased this car new in July of 2024. However, last month the battery drained to a point where I had to jump it to start it. I drove with the hope that the alternator would charge the battery. Yet, it did not. Within the last four weeks, I proceeded to have to jump the car almost every time I started the car, including every stop when running errands around town. This is a safety concern for me because if I didn't have a jump box for the car I would have been stuck or stranded. This could have been in 110 degree weather with my niece in the back seat. Or if the auto start/stop system was engaged, I could have been stuck with a dead car on the freeway in stop/start traffic in Los Angeles. I have seen multiple Outbacks on the freeway with dead batteries. When I took it to the dealer last week they confirmed the battery had gone bad, but were unable to find a parasitic drain or another reason why a year old battery would go bad. They acknowledged that older model Outbacks have the same battery drain issue and there is a current class action lawsuit for older model Outbacks (2015-2020) with this issue. They did not acknowledge that newer Outbacks had the same issue. No warnings appeared before this issue. There has been electronic issues with the vehicle since I took possession of it last year. After the battery issue presented itself, I did receive warning through my car there were issues with the backup breaking system and the collision control system. The dealer found an update for the Media Center, which they say may have been the cause of the battery drain. The two notifications have been cleared after the update. A simple search online revealed hundreds of complaints about the battery on the Outback, including people stating the manufacturer set the alternator to not charge the battery so they could market better gas mileage for the vehicle.