10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 6 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 6 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 15,009 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
On 8 June 2017 I had just pulled into a parking spot in front of a medical suite when my leased three month old 2017 Subaru Outback with 1,000 miles suddenly had an unintended acceleration episode jumping the curb and crashing into a brick wall and suite door after displacing a threshold column by two inches. The airbag did not deploy, the "eyesight" function did not stop the vehicle, the seat belt did not restrain me and my chest slammed into the steering wheel, my knees crashed into the dashboard. On 2 June, less than a week earlier, the car had done the same unintended acceleration while backing out of a parking spot, but nothing was hit at that time. After the initial ambulance er visit, plus two more, my physical injuries consisting of aches and pains, bruises, xrays, iv treatment for persistent headache after the accident, are insignificant compared to the mental and emotional damage. Not to mention the economic burden and frustrating situation this leaves me in. I contacted the dealership and sent in pictures of the vehicles and damaged building. They in turn referred my complaint to Subaru of America who was very diligent in performing an investigation and keeping me updated with the procedure. However, almost two months after the accident, Subaru of America claims their results indicate "misapplication of throttle and break" clearly putting the blame on me, without mentioning anything about the first incident, and the lack of response of the safety features of the vehicle during the accident. There are at least 34 reports of similar accidents due to unintended acceleration of Outback vehicles, and at least 70 related to the Subaru forester on carproblemzoo.com since 2000. I now find myself with a beautiful brand new vehicle that I will pay the lease for, but don't feel comfortable driving out of fear that the unintended acceleration will reoccur.
- Gainesville, VA, USA
Car attempted to accelerate without input from driver.while approaching a stop sign I was slowing down with my foot on the brake car engine suddenly raved up to 4000 K, when I shifted to neutral engine revved to 7000K. I put car back in gear and drove car approximately a quarter mile back to my home using the brakes to control speed of car and called the dealer. Had car towed to dealer where it remains.
- Colonia, NJ, USA
I was pulling into a parking space when the vehicle suddenly accelerated forward with the engine revving. I slammed on the brakes preventing a collision with the care parked in the opposite parking space. The car continued to try to accelerate. I took the car out of gear and the engine roared, over revved, slowed, and over revved a second time before finely slowing down. This is the second time this has happened. Definite safety issue. Has something to do with the eyesight system/cruise control.
- Hendersonville, TN, USA
- Wildwood, MO, USA