Verified government source

NHTSA complaint #11315964

This page summarizes an official U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration owner complaint. Use the verification links below to confirm the record directly with NHTSA.

Vehicle

2019 SUBARU OUTBACK

Manufacturer

Subaru of America, Inc.

Components

VISIBILITY/WIPER

Dates

Incident: 07/03/2019
Filed: 03/04/2020

Owner complaint summary

HAD TO HAVE MY WINDSHIELD REPLACED TWICE WITHIN TWO MONTHS ON A CAR LESS THAN A YEAR OLD. BOTH TIMES SUBARU AND THE GLASS COMPANY CLAIMED THAT THE CRACKS WERE DUE TO CHIPS IN THE WINDSHIELD WHEN THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OR DAMAGE, CHIPS, ETC PRIOR TO THE CRACKS. AFTER THE FIRST TIME MY WINDSHIELD CRACKED JULY 2019, I WAS VERY SKEPTICAL AND CHECKED MY WINDSHIELD EVERY NIGHT AFTER WORK TO ENSURE THERE WAS NO DAMAGE. ONE MORNING I WOKE UP TO FIND A LARGE CRACK IN MY WINDSHIELD WITHOUT ANY PRIOR EVIDENCE OF CHIPS OR DAMAGE. ONCE AGAIN, THE GLASS COMPANY AND SUBARU CLAIMED IT WAS DUE TO A CHIP WHEN THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF SUCH FALSE CLAIMS. I ALSO HAD MY REPLACED WINDSHIELD CHECKED MULTIPLE TIMES AT A SUBARU SERVICE CENTER DURING OIL CHANGES AND SERVICE APPOINTMENTS. EACH TIME THEY FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF ANY DAMAGE TO THE WINDSHIELD. THE GLASS COMPANY THAT REPLACED MY WINDSHIELD BOTH TIMES TRIED TO COVER THEIR [XXX] BY CLAIMING WINDSHIELDS ARE MADE THINNER THAN THEY USED TO BE, WHICH I FOUND QUITE SUSPICIOUS AS IF THEY WERE TRYING TO MAKE EXCUSES FOR HAVING TWO WINDSHIELDS CRACKED WITHIN 2 MONTHS. FIRST TIME WAS IN JULY 2019 AND THE SECOND TIME WAS SEPTEMBER 2019. BOTH TIMES I WAS FORCED TO PAY A $500 DEDUCTIBLE TO HAVE MY WINDSHIELD REPLACED AND MY EYESIGHT CALIBRATED TO THE NEW WINDSHIELD AS A RESULT OF POOR QUALITY GLASS AND REPLACEMENTS. BOTH TIME THE CRACKS WERE DISCOVERED WAS WHEN MY CAR WAS PARKED OVERNIGHT WITHOUT ANY PRIOR EVIDENCE OF ANY WINDSHIELD DAMAGE. THEY WERE DISCOVERED IN THE MORNING WITH A LARGE CRACK WHICH CONTINUED TO GET LARGER THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND ENDED UP TAKING UP A LARGE FIELD OF VIEW. PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT HAVE BEEN REDACTED TO PROTECT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

This is an owner complaint filed with NHTSA (ODI #11315964). It is not automatically an official recall, investigation outcome, or manufacturer admission unless the complaint text itself describes one.

Official record ID (ODI): 11315964. This page is the human-readable source link used across afterwarranty. The raw JSON link proxies NHTSA's public API for machine verification; prefer this page when reading the complaint.