2025 Subaru Outback: What to check before buying

The head unit goes dark while driving, with no warning, and takes a variable amount of time to come back. In the worst reports the whole dashboard shuts down on the expressway while the engine keeps running, and the air conditioning and turn signals stop working. The problem comes back after a dealer fix. Other complaints describe SiriusXM promotional pop-ups covering the full screen at highway speed, including at night, with no way to turn them off permanently.

The front passenger airbag stays off, or switches off mid-drive, when a light adult sits in the seat. Reports involve passengers under 100 pounds, and dealers have quoted weight thresholds of both 85 and 100 pounds. Moving the seat sometimes turns the airbag on for a while. Dealer inspections found nothing to repair, but the automaker's customer line said it expects the system to work for these passengers. A disabled airbag leaves that passenger unprotected in a crash.

EyeSight driver assistance cuts out at random in any weather, and the lane departure warning sounds even when the car is centered in its lane. Lane keeping struggles with construction zones and shifted lane markings and steers toward work areas. Phantom braking at both low and highway speeds is reported here too. One crash report describes the car speeding up on its own in a parking lot while easing to a stop and scraping a van, with extensive damage to the passenger side.

The low beams throw a dark band or shadow across the road that drivers mistake for something crossing ahead. On hills the low beams fail to light the road at all, and rural owners say they cannot see at night without high beams. One dealer called it a known problem and told the owner to drive with high beams on, which blinds oncoming drivers. One report puts the failure at about 71 miles, so it shows up on essentially new cars.

Windshields crack with a loud bang and no sign of a rock strike. The result is a straight hairline crack that a glass shop identified as a stress crack, not debris damage. Other owners say the glass chips and cracks easily, and one is on a second windshield repair. Owners link this to an earlier class-action settlement over Subaru glass. A sudden crack can distract the driver and block part of the view ahead.

Automatic emergency braking fails to stop the car for a vehicle ahead unless the driver brakes. A dealer reset fixes it only until the next restart, when the settings go back to default, and repeated dealer visits have not solved it. The EyeSight and rear camera alignment can be off by more than 6 inches, which could mislead the driver-assist systems. The infotainment system still crashes and freezes after two software updates. One owner also reports 22 to 27 MPG against a 32 MPG highway estimate, and the dealer offered no fix.

Unintended acceleration at low speed appears in one crash report. The car surged while backing out of a parking space and hit two other vehicles, and no warning light came on. The same car also stopped suddenly and then surged during a right turn. Separately, cruise control, the backup camera, rear collision braking, and EyeSight work only some of the time. A March 2025 software recall did not fix this, and neither did a full software reinstall at the dealer.

The car oversteers at a range of speeds and has nearly crashed several times. A dealer found the alignment out of spec and corrected it, but the problem continued. That report puts the failure at about 44 miles. The other complaint in this category only refers to an attached document and describes nothing, so the pattern rests on one detailed report.