The hood flew open while I was driving 65 mph. This car had not recently had its oil changed or its hood opened. The hood needs to be replaced, as well as the rear view mirror.

- Okemos, MI, USA

At 1 P.M. on 23 Apr '06, my husband was driving our 1999 Subaru legacy Outback at about 50 mph. We had just entered a curve when the car's hood latch failed and allowed the hood to fly up and slam into the windshield and roof. That completely blocked our forward view and we entered the oncoming lane. Fortunately, no one was coming in the opposite direction. We were able to slow down and make our way on to the shoulder. We were covered with glass particles but thank god neither one of us was injured. I am now very nervous when I drive the car. The hood was last opened about two weeks before the accident but the car had been driven for over 200 miles and some of that was on the interstate. There was no warning. We had to pay over $2300 to repair windshield, hood and miscellaneous damage in the motor compartment.

- Bloomingdale, NY, USA

The hood latch of my 1999 Outback is faulty. Took it back 2 X to be repaired. They looked at my like I was crazy. They "cleaned" the latch on 1/6/04, then the problem happened 1 week later while I was on the highway. I called the service dept. And insisted on a replacement hood latch. Took it to the dealership on 1/21, the "tightened the cable", less than 24 hrs. Later the hood latch opened again. When the service manager was called, he told my husband "well, we didn't charge her anything!". today, 1/23 the hood opened again. When talking about this to a coworker she stated this also happened to her Outback last year. This is definitely a safety issue.

- Southington, CT, USA