2024 Subaru Outback: What to check before buying

Windshields crack, often with no visible impact. Many cracks appear while the car is parked, frequently starting at the lower passenger-side edge near the defroster, sometimes in cold weather with the defroster running. Others chip or crack from small rocks that owners say never damaged their other cars. Most reports come in the first months, around 3,000 to 8,000 miles. Cracks spread into the driver's view and can disable EyeSight, which uses windshield-mounted cameras. A few sunroofs shatter. Dealers often refuse warranty coverage, though one replaced a windshield for a factory seal defect that leaked a gooey residue inside.

SiriusXM ads take over the screen while driving, even on cars that never had the service and after owners opt out, and closing them pulls attention off the road. CarPlay calls mute the driver without warning. The accessory wireless charger overheats phones until they shut down. One car drained its battery repeatedly and needed jump starts at nearly every stop. Single reports cover doors locking with the keys and a child inside, a backup camera too dark to use at night, and a high idle near 1800 rpm. Dealers often call these normal.

Pre-collision braking engages with nothing ahead. Triggers owners describe include construction cones, heavy fog, sound walls on curves, and steep driveways, and adaptive cruise slows sharply for no reason. Some report the brakes locking at a stop and refusing to release, leaving them exposed to rear-end crashes. The opposite failure also appears: no warning or braking when closing fast on a car ahead. One owner sees a film over the camera's view at night. Dealers report the systems as functional or say they cannot work on the camera.

Reports are few and varied. In one, a cluster of warning lights, including ABS, all-wheel drive, and traction control, comes on at about 2,800 miles while the steering turns stiff and hard to control. Another describes a locked steering wheel that blocks starting until the shifter and wheel are jiggled. One car darts and sways at highway speed from out-of-spec rear camber, which the dealer confirmed but did not fix. Other complaints cover CVT clunking, lane centering hugging the left, and headlight shadows.

Failure to deploy in a head-on collision is the most serious report. Two people are injured, one with a concussion, the car is totaled, and the warning light comes on afterward. The other reports involve the passenger occupant sensor not switching on the passenger bag for light adults around 100 pounds. Subaru tells these owners the sensor works as designed and cannot be corrected, and the problem recurs.

Sudden unintended acceleration at about 15 mph continues even with the brake pressed in one report, ending in a crash into a building that injures a pedestrian. The dealer blamed driver error without diagnosing the car. Other complaints describe the car braking hard on its own at 65 to 70 mph on the freeway with no traffic nearby, and an "EyeSight Disabled" message that knocks out cruise control, lane assist, and forward collision protection at once.

Reverse automatic braking slams on with nothing behind the car. Backing out of a driveway, it brings the car to a full stop in the street, blocking both lanes until it lets go. Holding steady brake pressure while reversing avoids it. In one crash report, reverse braking engages while parking between two cars, then the car accelerates forward into a cement wall 10 to 15 feet ahead.

Transmissions fail early in both reports. One fails at 1,300 miles and is replaced, and later the engine stops responding to the gas pedal after a dead battery and jump start. In the other, automatic emergency braking stops the car at 72 mph with no vehicles nearby, followed by jerking and hesitation. The dealer finds a failed transmission and repairs it, but the problem returns. Both involve loss of power in traffic.