2024 Subaru Outback

I purchased a 2024 Subaru Outback in July 2024 brand new. With less than 1,500 miles, I noticed an unexplained crack in the windshield one morning. The crack originated from the bottom with no visible impact and quickly spread. I wasn't event driving it and had not been driving it. Within a week, another crack appeared in an entirely different location, again with no sign of impact. When I initially brought this to Subaru’s attention, I was told it was due to a small chip from impact. However, I strongly disagree, as there was no such impact. Since that visit, four additional windshield cracks have formed, all originating from the bottom of the windshield, and none show any signs of external impact. I will be taking it back to Subaru for a fair resolution. There have been over 3,000 comments on just this issue with the NHTSA for Subaru Outback years 2022 through 2024.

String wheel locked and couldn't start engine. Called dealer, who said to jiggle the transmission while attempting to turn the steering wheel. After three or four tries, everything freed up and everything ran normally. The dealer rep in the service dept said that that had happened to her "a few times"and there wasn't any way to fix it. Dealer doesn't want to see or inspect, no warning lights or anything else associated with this failure. First happened on Friday 13 July 2024. Hasn't happened since. What would prevent the steering wheel from locking up while driving? The dealer service rep said if we couldn't fix it by jiggling things, we would have to have it towed in. This doesn't seem to agree with the prior statement that there wasn't any way to fix the problem.

On Sunday [XXX] around 10:00 am I stopped to gas up my car while I was going to church with my [XXX] baby in a car seat in the backseat. I closed the car door leaving my car keys and cell phone in the center console and as I went behind the car to gas up it unexpectedly locked. I panicked and ran into the gas station and had them call 911 because I knew my daughter would die if I could not quickly get her out of the car. An off duty Lee County, Florida Deputy happened to be gasing his car and heard the commotion and attempted to assist with a hammer to break the drivers side window but that did not work. The gas station owner came rushing out with a glass breaking safety tool and Deputy Angell (Badge # 21-182) was able to break the window and I safely got my baby out of the car. I took my car to Subaru of Naples where I had purchased the car several months previously. The Service Manager, Victor Hyer and the Service Consultant, Larry Carsi were very helpful and had the window replaced at no cost to me. They researched the problem and told me that was how the car locking system was supposed to work. This does not make sense to me since if the Deputy had not been able to break the window my baby would have died! I'm hoping you can look into this further as I want to prevent this happening to some other mother, who could have a catastrophic outcome. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

In my first “road trip” with the vehicle I experienced a cracked windshield. Less than 2000 miles from new. I was told by dealer nothing can do and that’s why they stress “extended warranty packages”. Sold a >$1,000 package that replaced windshield and converter several more. It seems that this is a very common occurrence from reviewing online forums. It should not be the customers fault for normal driving and the windshield be so thin / incapable of normal rocks etc not causing damage.

Both front headlights cast a tabbed rectangular shadow into driver's field-of-view creating two potentially dangerous disruptive shadows/dead spots at certain longer distances and in open flat terrain areas. These tabbed rectangular shadow/dead spots often tricks the driver into falsely responding/over-reacting unnecessarily. The dead spots in the driver's field-of-view can be potentially dangerous while driving at night and around turns/corners where the LED headlights automatically track and follow based on the steering inputs by the driver. These projected tabbed rectangular tabs often startle my wife and or I often tricking our eyes into seeing what appears to be an object darting out in front of the vehicle.