I experienced what the Subaru discussion board (www.subaruoutback.org/forums/showthread.php?S=A9A8871ba327828F596fe591382D9906&threadid=11267&perpage=20&highlight=instability&pagenumber=1) is calling 'ghost walking'. I was driving home from upstate NY to wellesley, MA during a snow storm last winter. The road was snow and ice (or snow packed) covered. I have been driving Subaru for 30yrs, many times to upstate vt so I know how to drive in snow. But that night I never felt in control of the rear of the car it always seemed to be slipping one way or the other. Other cars were passing me - it didn't matter which lane I drove in, or what speed I was going - slowing down just made things worse as cars would wind up behind me, it was just completely nerve-racking. It didn't matter how I managed my speed, my Subaru is a 2005 Legacy automatic - so I had less control over the gear shifting than a manual - although I tried using the semi-manual mode - but that didn't help. It just seemed that the rear end had this tendency to slide - it seemed to always be on the edge of spinning out - I nursed the car along (with my wife and 2 kids) until we got further into MA and the weather improved. This only happened once, I had the orig tires (car had ~35K miles) which are not considered great snow tires - so I have replaced the tires. But the forum had many posts which imply that the problem is not tires - maybe something to do with sway bars and that Subaru had changed their hardware on the 2005 models. I felt that I should add my concerns so that maybe this problem would be looked into more scientifically. And if there are potential issues that Subaru would have to provide some type of remedy to its customers. Updated 07/10/2012

- Wellesley , MA, USA