The hood latch has failed repeatedly causing the hood to become unlatched while driving, presumably risking the hood flying up and impairing visibility. A different Subaru model was recalled for this failure but not the Outback model (2009 or other). This keeps happening.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

Takata recall - the letter from NHTSA via Subaru re. The recall was misleading. 1. it said the repair would take approx. 1 hour 48 minutes. It took all day. I unexpectedly had to leave the car overnight at great inconvenience to me. 2. the directive not to let anyone ride in the front passenger seat was impossible because we have four people and only one car! also, this obviously means I have been driving a dangerous car for 8 years! 3. when I complained to Subaru of America they said the wording of the recall letter was entirely NHTSA's. assuming Subaru's assertion is true, your communication about this matter was horrible, misleading and frightening.

- Washington, DC, USA

When it rained dash lights come on would not go out when turned car on for a few days next rain went to check car when started lights came on then all went out and a loud noise and fire under hood

- Olive Branch, MS, USA

Car turns over but will not start.

- Cicero, NY, USA

Road conditions: Poor, icy. Vehicle: 2009 Subaru Outback wagon loaded with 4 passengers (2 adult, 2 teen, plus "light" luggage). When the vehicle passed over an icy patch, the car swayed from side to side violently. On Subaru forum websites, this type of loss of control is termed "ghost walking" which is an odd but accurate term for the feel of the situation. I have seen multiple entries on the owners' forum websites describing this phenomena, and it apparently affects several model years. My dealer offers to re-align the back tires which may fix the instability problem (which is attributed to "load") but which will cause another problem: Excessive tire wear. This is a dangerous situation. As Subaru markets the car for the winter driving market, it needs to fix this dangerous design flaw before someone is killed over compensating for the system-driven fishtailing. Please note: Although Subaru attributes this to "loading" of the vehicle, the car was not loaded beyond strictly normal use for a station wagon. This is as dangerous as "sudden acceleration" in Toyota.

- Saint Paul, MN, USA

I recently purchased a 2009 Subaru Outback 2.5 special edition. While driving on I-35 near cloquet, mn, the car exhibited dangerously unstable handling that has been described by other Subaru Outback owners. The road conditions were icy and even with greatly reduced speed the car would slide/drift sideways on straightaways. This was very unnerving as I could do nothing save reducing my speed to a crawl to avoid this drifting effect. At this point I was being passed by all other traffic on the highway (semis, fwd and rwd cars, etc.), which did not seem to have the handling issues I was having. The car is new (3700 miles) and I had just taken to a shop that morning for an oil change and everything checked out ok. I believe the Outback has a dangerous handling issue that appears to manifest primarily when fully loaded (I had 2 passengers and gear) and on smooth and slippery roads. I am scared to drive this car in snowy conditions, which is unfortunate given I live in mn and bought this car for winter driving and its AWD properties. I have never had a car handle so poorly in my 16 years of winter driving.

- Rochester, MN, USA