Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:SOFTWARE

Date Published
JAN 10, 2013
NHTSA TSB #
10080091
TSB Document
Summary
SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC. HAS DETERMINED THAT VEHICLES AFFECTED BY THIS SERVICE PROGRAM REQUIRE FRONT CATALYTIC CONVERTER REPLACEMENT AND ECM REPROGRAMMING. FOR VEHICLES AFFECTED BY THIS SERVICE PROGRAM, EFFICIENCY OF THE FRONT CATALYTIC CONVERTER MAY DEGRADE OVER TIME. IF THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER EFFICIENCY DEGRADES BEYOND AN ACCEPTABLE LEVEL, THE VEHICLE MAY BE RELEASING AIR POLLUTANTS THAT EXCEED CALIFORNIA STANDARDS. TO CORRECT THIS CONDITION, IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO REPLACE THE FRONT CATALYTIC CONVERTER AND REPROGRAM THE ENGINE CONTROL MODULE SOFTWARE LOGIC WHICH IMPROVES MANAGEMENT OF THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER. THIS SOFTWARE CHANGE WILL NOT ADVERSELY AFFECT FUEL ECONOMY OR PERFORMANCE OF THE VEHICLE. REPLACEMENT PARTS AND ECM REPROGRAMMING PAK FILES WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR ALL MODELS AT THE TIME THIS SERVICE PROGRAM IS INITIALLY RELEASED. PAK FILES WILL BE AVAILABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SCHEDULE FOUND ON PAGE 4 OF THE WQD-40 BULLETIN. ADDITIONALLY, BECAUSE THIS PROGRAM AFFECTS A HIGH VOLUME OF VEHICLES WITHIN THE AFFECTED STATES, MAILING OF OWNER NOTIFICATION LETTERS WILL BE PHASED ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULE. THIS SCHEDULE COINCIDES WITH REPLACEMENT PART AND PAK FILE AVAILABILITY.