Had the car for about a year now. Driven it thru some snow and have experienced what is know as the "ghost walking issue". the rear end tends to wander back and forth while driving on slushy snow and on ice. Also does this when one rear wheel goes in a pot hole especially when driving on an off ramp. Car has been aligned at the dealer and has new tires as well. These things were done to fix the issue but it did not. Car is all stock. Car is dangerous to drive in the above conditions. This car was bought for our daughter to drive back and forth to college and now we don't dare let her drive it. There have been many complaints about this issue on Subaru sites like Subaru.org that I am surprised nothing has been done. We are getting rid of car as soon as we can because of this main reason.

- Sout Beloit, IL, USA

I have an 2005 Outback xt. This car is dangerous on packed snow. I am a very experienced winter driver and have never had a vehicle handle this "loosely" on snow. Above approx 40mph the back end wants to snap around even on flat, straight roads without the being on the accelerator or brake. After the first incident in 06, I was told by the mechanic it was due to uneven tire wear and an alignment issue. So after only 15K miles, I replaced the tires and had the car aligned. Years later, I am now convinced that the "ghostwalking" issue caused these other issues and was not the result of them. I have since replaced the shocks/struts and use studded snow tires in the winter. This has helped, but the problem seems to come back erratically. It always occurs at highway speeds and now is sometimes even felt on wet freeways. I personally know of three other 05 Outback owners in my neighborhood that have all experienced the "ghostwalking" problem at some point. I have previously owned a 92 legacy wagon and a 96 impreza and both were outstanding on snow, even without snow tires. The 05 Outback has a serious safety issue that needs to be further examined before someone is seriously injured or killed.

- Salt Lake City, UT, USA

This was one of the first snows of the winter and I was driving my 2005 Subaru Outback down detroit freeways to metro airport to pickup my son. I had my wife in the front seat and my youngest son in the rear seat. As the snow began to fall I felt the car lurch back and forth as if I were driving through icy or snowy ruts. I am an experienced driver (50 years old) and had never experienced anything like this except during an ice storm, etc. I thought the road must have had "black ice" under the snow as my car was almost uncontrollable. I slowed down to about 30mph and, to my surprise, saw two wheel drive pickup trucks, etc. Passing me at 10 - 20mph faster than I was going... everyone was passing our car as I when I tried to match their speed it seemed that I was going to lose control with the rear end having a mind of its own shifting back and forth. In the months that followed, I searched the internet and found the threads calling this phenomenon "ghostwalking". I hope that NHTSA does something about this as I do not want anyone to get hurt or killed thinking that this car is a great snow car (from a ground clearance and AWD standpoint) and finding out the hard way that it is not. It would appear that it is worse when the suspension is loaded down with more passengers, as it was in this instance, than when it is just the driver and no cargo in the hatch area.

- Ortonville, MI, USA

Right and left front control arm bushings split and replaced along with both front control arms.

- Marietta, GA, USA

Purchased 2005 Outback in April 2012 with approximately 190000 miles. Car felt very unstable when going over any uneven road surface. Replaced rear struts with no improvement. Tried different tires with no noticeable change. Decided it must be an odd but normal condition for the vehicle. Today, 9/18/12, drove car in light rain along a 2-lane road at approximately 50-55 mph and car was very unstable in the rear. The rear "steered" left/right and felt very unstable. There was a sense the vehicle was going to abruptly cross into the other lane. I have over 40 years of driving experience and realize this is not normal vehicle performance. I live in a central NY and purchased this vehicle for the safety of all wheel drive after owning a 1995 Subaru impreza and a 1997 Subaru Outback. Given the situation I had today, I am afraid of what will happen in ice/snow conditions common in NY. I began to research the issue online in an attempt to correct my situation before winter arrives. I found many online concerns regarding this issue. While I have not yet approached Subaru directly, I get an overwhelming sense from online comments that Subaru will not be very helpful. I am making this safety complaint in hopes that multiple complaints combined will expose what I feel is a very serious/dangerous handling issue with a 2005 Subaru Outback.

- Marathon, NY, USA

I have experienced what is referred to as "ghostwalking" in my 2005 Subaru Outback. While driving in winter conditions such as slush, snow and ice mix, and black ice the car fishtails in the rear wheels making it impossible to safely drive this car. However driving on hardpack snow and hardpack powder the car handles fine. The car fishtails much worse when even a little weight is loaded in the rear. I do have dedicated snow tires, with studs. I am a very experienced driver in winter conditions, I do not drive too fast in poor road conditions. This is a serious problem that apparently many people have experienced. I have multiple friends who drive older Subaru's who have never experienced such an encounter with their cars. Bottom line this car is not safe to drive on winter roads, I have literally feared for my life on several occasions. Please do something about this.

- Springfield, OR, USA

I reside in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California and experience snowy/icy driving conditions regularly throughout the winter. The Outback was purchased for its performance in these conditions and is equipped with blizzak studless snow tires. On several occasions, in both ca and co, while driving on packed snow at approximately 40 mph, the rear end began to fishtale out of control. This situation continued to worsen until the speed was reduced to below 30 mph. I have spoken to the dealer and of course, "they have never heard of such an event" and did not have any idea as to what may have caused this condition nor how to correct. There are too many reports of this identical out of control condition for it to be coincidental, Subaru needs to address this issue before someone is seriously injured or killed.

- Truckee, CA, USA

I have owned and driven this Subaru since July 06 and have driven it through 5 northern Illinois winters. Today was our first snowfall this season and for the first time I have noticed that the car exhibits very "un-nerving" handling qualities in very light snow road conditions. Something has changed to make me feel like I will loose control of the vehicle. The car feels like it wants to fishtail out of control at any speed over 30 mph. Strange "wandering" best describes it.it feels like I'm driving in deep ruts of heavy road snow that wants to pull the car into the ruts but the road is barely covered. On two lane roads it feels like the car could easily cross the center line because of this odd steering feedback I feel on slick snow covered road conditions. I don't feel it in rain conditions. It has "never" felt like this before. The rear struts were replace last summer with oem struts. The car has never had an alignment but has always tracked down the road very straight. Tire wear is even and tires have been rotated multiple times. Tires are Bridgestone turanza serenity with 66K and been through 3 winters before with no handling issue. Once I noticed on this site that many Outback owners are experiencing the same symptom, I knew I needed to get this posted in case of an accident. I'm now at least on record with my "handling concern complaint" and Subaru of America can't say my concern was never addressed with the NHTSA. A car should never display the kind of handling issues that makes it feel unsafe to drive in light winter conditions. P.S. I took my son's Honda CRV with 198 K for a test drive in the same conditions today, on the same roads and found its handling very predictable. What is going on with these Outbacks ?

- Caledonia, IL, USA

I am a very experienced driver in snowy and icy conditions. My Outback 2005 2.5I started wiggling out of control (especially felt the back end wiggle left to right) on a straight road with approx 1/2 inch ice and packed snow causing me to slow down from approximately 40 mph to 20 mph. Other 2 wd vehicles passed us at much higher speeds with no apparent problem to keep straight. Our car had 2 adults and 2 small children in it with skiing gear. Changed our winter tires immediately after. The problem occurred again on a few other similar occasions, for which I went to the dealer to get aligned, tire changed again. Went to dealer in 2010 after this occurred again on the highway with only slush and water. I had to slow from 55 mph to 30 mph to keep car in control. Remember this is on the highway!! went to dealer again to re-align the car which according to them was not aligned. The problem re-occurred again this winter. I am now fed up, this is a dangerous car and I am turning it in to buy a new car. I can't understand why Subaru is not recalling to fix the rear suspension.

- Lasalle, VT, USA

Failure of 2 rear wheel bearings and right front wheel bearing.

- Chanhassen, MN, USA

Car is not safe on packed snow or icy roads. All road feel is gone and it feels as if the car could spin out of control at any moment. Most other cars seem to pass without issue. For a AWD car this is unacceptable. You must slow down to 40 and below to have any hopes of keeping the car in a straight line. I have put nokia snow tires on the and car drives perfect in fresh snow but still cannot drive in slippery conditions. I have not noticed this on wet pavement. Subaru feels like an alignment will correct the problem. Going in for one in a week. If it does not fix the issue I will sell the car. I found many owners with the same issue on subaruoutback.org.

- Traverse City, MI, USA

2005 Subaru Outback will not track straight in slippery conditions at all. The term 'ghost walking' is being used for this and is very accurate. I do not feel secure driving in any snowy conditions in this vehicle. I had a 1995 Subaru before this that was rock steady in snow, this car is very unpredictable. Tire changes do not solve problem nor does alignment to oem specs. Has been on going since I bought the car new.

- East Kingston, NH, USA

2005 ob sw mt. Car is very unstable in slush or snow. Car weaves from side to side resulting in driving very slowly to minimize instability.

- Ketchum, ID, USA

2005 Subaru Outback sedan driven on icy/snowy road conditions experiences extreme slippage in the rear of the car. Have experienced this on at least two other occasions with this vehicle in similar conditions. AWD does not appear to be keeping the rear of the car on the road or in line. Vehicle fishtails or ghostwalks on the road surface in these conditions. Each time this was experienced was while driving on highway at speeds between 30 and 70 mph in icy/snowy conditions. I have a 1996 Subaru legacy sedan as well that does not exhibit this type of unnerving wandering on the road when driven in exact same conditions. This wandering makes vehicle feel extremely unstable and the back of the car feels as though it wants to spin around or off the road.

- Laramie, WY, USA

Car is very unstable on snowy road surfaces and fishtails from side to side. Other vehicles on the road do not experience this problem. This incident has occurred many times during winter driving conditions. We have new snow tires and four wheel alignment yet the problem persists. Car instability is very dangerous and we are concerned for our safety. We have contacted the Subaru dealer and Subaru directly yet no one seems to know what the problem is.

- Reno, NV, USA

Excessive rear tire wear, Bridgestone potenza RE92, 225/55/17 installed on 2005 Subaru Outback. Normal tire wear through 19K miles. Rear tires completly worn out after 2K road trip with moderate vehicle loading. No signs of mis-alignment or over/under inflation. Front tires remain serviceable.

- Richland, WA, USA