Verified government source

NHTSA complaint #11510159

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

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,VISIBILITY/WIPER

Dates

Incident: 12/23/2022
Filed: 03/04/2023

Owner complaint summary

I own a 2019 Subaru Outback Touring. This is the second Subaru Outback I have owned. In Aug of 2022, my windshield cracked out of nowhere. The crack came up from the center and spread out across the windshield. I had it replaced at the Subaru dealership in which I bought the car. Everything seemed fine until 12/23/22, when we got some heavy rain and I get in my car only to see water steadily dripping inside via the vehicle the left A-pillar on the front drivers side. I return to the dealer where it turns out that there was a problem with the brand new factory-brand windshield that was replaced in August, and it had been slowly leaking water into my car over those 4 months, resulting in massive damage to the airbag system, electrical system, among other things. These damages came to over $10,500. The water had gathered under my carpets and padding and started growing mold. All of this needed to be replaced. This was the third time I had to replace a windshield on the two Subarus that I have owned. Due to this, I have been without a vehicle for over 60 days now. It has caused me incredible stress, time out of work, and money. I am a caretaker for my paraplegic father who has also suffered due to my being without a vehicle to care for him, run errands, and food shop for him. Throughout my research, I have come to learn that this is a known problem in the Subaru brand vehicles yet they choose to ignore it and do nothing about it. I am not comfortable driving my car any longer, which still has electrical issues and unfortunately, I am losing trust in Subaru as a brand. It is unfortunate that they will not address this and fix this issue because I believe it is damaging their reputation. I have not been left in a good position here, with a junked car that is only 3 years old, 40k miles, and that I owe $15,000 on still, and I now need to find a new vehicle.

This is an owner complaint filed with NHTSA (ODI #11510159). It is not automatically an official recall, investigation outcome, or manufacturer admission unless the complaint text itself describes one.

Official record ID (ODI): 11510159. 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.