2025 Subaru Outback Problems, complaints & recalls

Sunday morning, [redacted]. [[redacted]] had a frost that morning due to cold temperatures, my family and I woke up to go to church that morning and the windshield on my 2025 Subaru Outback was iced over so I started the car and turned the defroster on. A couple minutes later I got in the car to drive to church and noticed there was a crack in the front windshield starting from the bottom and going halfway up. There was no rock chip and no impact spot on the car. And it was not damaged the night before when I got...

I am writing to complain about the forward crash system breaking being applied in situations that are more dangerous than the potential for no breaking to have been applied. The problem has occurred several times as vehicles are turning from my lane to the right (with approximately 50' between vehicles), it applies the break hard enough to stop me and if there had been a vehicle behind me they would have likely hit me. The system has also applied the break while i was driving on the expressway at 75mph with no vehicles in front of me.

Rear Automatic Braking (RAB) system conducted an emergency , neck snapping stop while backing out of a sloped driveway at 9PM local time, zip 94596, walnut creek, California. There was no vehicle traffic, pedestrian traffic or other movements nearby to trigger the RAB system. There was a local rescue ambulance parked on another intersecting street, well over 300 feet away, with emergency flashing lights. As the driver, I immediately checked for traffic, pedestrians, etc, found nothing; rolled down windows to...

The contact owns a 2025 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving on the freeway in stop-and-go traffic with the automatic braking system activated, the vehicle erroneously reversed and failed to immediately stop while depressing the brake pedal. The contact shifted out of drive(D) and then back to drive(D), and the vehicle stopped. The contact stated that the failure had occurred a second time during a trip before returning to normal operation, and the vehicle was driven to the residence and parked....

July 4, 2025 car had about 4100 miles Severe dangerous phantom braking on highway CA 280 N just prior to foothill expressway exit at about 7:30 pm. Suddenly while traveling 60+ MPH on mid lanes of freeway car auto braking caused car to brake/slow to 1/2 speed with no visible obstacle seen by any of 4 adults in car. Multi[ple Dash lights up with eyesite failure and all red , green and yellow lights. Gas pedal ws unresponsive no power. Eminent crash danger. Driver responded trying to hit gas then brake to steer off...

See attached document for complaint.

The brakes failed and could be inspected upon request. My safety and the safety of two other passengers was put at risk because my vehicle rear ended an another vehicle at a red light. The problem has not yet been confirmed or reproduced by the dealership or inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representative of others. There were no warning messages, or symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.

While traveling along I-94E outside of Macomb County on September 10th at around 8:30AM, forward collision warning triggered twice while facing the direct sun. It triggered for around 6 seconds. Shortly after getting off the Shook Rd exit at around 8:45M and turning right, I had a full AEB activation while again facing the sun, almost causing the vehicle behind me to rear end me.

The large LCD screen infront the shifter just goes blank. Been to the dealer the reload the operating system to no avail.

Lane-keeping/lane-centering: The system repeatedly pulls the vehicle too far to the right. More seriously, while driving on the freeway, it has randomly and suddenly jerked the vehicle to the right with a rapid steering input. This is not simply a matter of the system being imperfect - it creates a serious safety concern because the vehicle can move abruptly toward the edge of the lane or toward an adjacent lane.

Car battery has been failing since June it will not stay charged it started out losing power over weekends now it is every day. It is so bad I purchased a portable battery charger from auto zone to jump my car.

Needed to move quickly out of way of oncoming traffic, but delay/hesitation in CVT made it almost impossible to avoid traffic.

When engine auto-restarts after Auto Start-Stop has started engine, steering wheel jerks violently if it is not completely straight, dislocated my 5th finger.

GPS goes out..dealer has tried to fix numerous times

NHTSA Complaint Narrative - Draft On July 9, 2026, in the evening, my leased 2026 Subaru Outback Touring caught fire while we were driving home. We were stopped in a left-turn lane waiting on a left-turn signal. When the light turned, the vehicle in front of us moved forward - which, in hindsight, was fortunate, because molten metal was sprayed across that exact spot moments later. The engine effectively exploded, throwing molten metal from the melted hood and engine components into the air around the car. We...

The contact owns a 2025 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving during heavy rainfall, the front windshield displayed a distorted view while the windshield wipers were activated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed; however, the cause of the failure was not identified. The front windshield was cleaned. Upon further investigation, the contact associated the failure with the manufacturing of the windshield glass. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000.

The passenger seat airbag light does NOT always come on when my wife, 93 lbs, sits in the passenger seat. It will come on with someone heavier. This also happened in the loaner car I was given, 2026 Forester, by the dealer while they investigated my car. The airbag light did not come on when my wife was in the seat. Dealer says thereshold switch is operating according to factory specification. I say the specification needs adjustment. This was NOT a problem with my 2021 WRX.

The contact owns a 2025 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start while attempting to start it. There were no warning lights illuminated. A tow truck company successfully jump-started the vehicle, and the vehicle was towed to the local dealer. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact returned to retrieve the vehicle, and the key fob failed to operate, and the vehicle failed to start. The dealer provided a loaner vehicle. There was no indication that the battery had...

On May 16, 2026, I was driving approximately 65 mph northbound on the Glenn Highway near Anchorage, Alaska, in my 2025 Subaru Outback Wilderness. Traffic was light, and there were no vehicles within approximately 150 yards of my vehicle. Without warning, my wife and I heard a loud bang followed immediately by the sound of rattling glass. The factory-installed moonroof suddenly shattered while the vehicle was traveling at highway speed. I did not observe any object strike the vehicle, and there were no nearby...

The back passenger seatbelt does not retract. It stays loose after use and there are safety concerns. I don't feel safe having any passengers in my car.

The seat belts in the backseat get un-aligned when you sit in the seat buckled up. when this happens the seat belt will not retract. This happens every time I sit in the backseat and I have to remember to refeed the belt into the guide.

I bought a brand new 2025 subaru outback in April of 2025. At first service (oil change and tire rotation) in Jan 2026, I complained that the vehicle keeps swerving left and right and Subaru of Ann Arbor said they will diagnose the i-Sight vehicle system and correct it. But right after delivery , i realized the steering had to be held at ~5 degrees to the right (off centered) to get the car go straight. I complained and I was made to bring the car in 3 times to Subaru of Ann arbor - only to go without a fix. The...

On 6/22/2026 we were driving on the highway that had no objects in the road and one oncoming car about 200 to 300 yards away when our brakes locked up and a crash indicator popped up on the drivers screen. My wife and I were thrown violently forward into our seat belts it felt like we had been in a crash. I feel that if someone had been following us we would have been hit from behind. We immediately took the car to the dealer to be checked out. The next day they said they found nothing wrong with the car and gave it back. The car did have an update load earlier in the day.

Twice in one week I was backing slowly out of my driveway. No cars were in sight and the Subaru slammed on the breaks. The first time tweaked my back as I was looking over my shoulder when it broke so aggresively. I am fine.

A message from SiriusXM pops up on the screen from which every system of the vehicle is controlled. That screen is then inoperable until that advertisement is closed by hitting a button in an unsafe location on the screen relative to the driver. This has been harshening to me every time I've started the car over the last 2 days.