7.5
pretty bad- Typical Repair Cost:
- $150
- Average Mileage:
- 33,300 miles
- Total Complaints:
- 55 complaints
Most common solutions:
- not sure (27 reports)
- vehicle jumped (9 reports)
- replaced battery (6 reports)
- new battery (5 reports)
- remove dcm fuse to stop parasitic drain (3 reports)
- put in park (2 reports)
This problem may be covered under warranty. Ask your Subaru dealer.
Replaced 2 batteries now in 4 years with the last year taking a toll on the battery. Read many others posted experiences and suggestions. It appears to be a parasitic drain, but the dealership has been no help in discerning the issue. Will try a few options: pull the #9 fuse - DCM fuse - and check the battery often to see if this helps. Look into a battery disconnect and/or a battery tender. Currently, driving more often and farther to charge up the battery, but not a convenient solution.
- Christy K., Lutz, US
Dealership refused to help correct the problem even though it was under warranty. I continue to experience dead batteries over and over
- Dan B., Knoxville, TN, US
Battery died after car sat for a few days unused. Assumed it needed to be replaced as it was OEM and several years old. Replaced battery and all was well until this morning. Same issue with brand new battery - completely dead. Car is driven at least 5 days a week, and often all 7. Definitely some sort of ongoing battery drain happening and not fully charging when the car is driven.
Update from Apr 9, 2024: I called Subaru of America and they agreed to replace the DCM module on their dime. Battery has been holding a charge every since.
- Jeremy W., Oceanport, NJ, US
Intermittent dead battery. Always have jumper cables and many drivers are sympathetic and helpful.
I never plug any additional electronics including chargers into the car's system. I have no evidence of any lights having been left on.
I wonder if it might be the radio. If so, would it be cured by always turning the radio off before turning off the ignition?
- gatesajar@gmavt.ne, Not Hispanic Or Latino, US
I park the Outback on my driveway for 5 days, when I try to drive it in the morning, I found I cannot open the door. Use the key to enter the car, find no power at all. Cannot open other door, the driver side door cannot lock by Key.
Googled online and find battery dead is a general issue for Subaru all type of cars from 2015 to 2019.Follow others suggestion to buy a battery charger, the battery is fully charged after a day charging. Installed on and drive for a day to work about 50 miles, the battery dead again over night.
Called the dealer for an inspection for the battery issues. Have to recharging the battery again in order to drive to the dealer. The dealer diagnostic show battery is passed test. All system passed testing. It is radically the battery dead after a day parking on my driver way.
The Outback 2019 limited has so many electrical device, but the battery is only cold crank 490Amp group 24.
There was a class action in US but the claim deadline has passed. Subaru Canada only agree to replace Battery if it failed to pass their test based on their standard. Does Subaru standard means a car cannot sustain on it fully charged battery for only one day!
I have a co-worker who has a leased a Outback 2021, who changed battery for twice. I am on my way to buy a new battery with cold crank 700AMP group 25.
- Qinghao Y.,
With only 28k miles, car has had 4 battery replacements. Battery failures not just inconvenient, some have put us at significant risk. Subaru dealer can not find the problem and Subaru America is no help. Dealer quite astutely delayed us until outside of State lemon law. Subaru America delayed us until outside of battery replacement settlement. We have owned 6 Subaru cars over the years. This is the last. We will never again purchase a car from Subaru!
- grandrus, Vashon, US
Second time this has happened while out of state. Car towed to nearest dealership. First time repaired cost over $500.00. Now dead after ten days at airport. First time parts were on national back order.
- Leo L., Muskegon, MI, US
I wake up every morning never knowing if my battery will be working. We replace it almost every month. We just got to the point that we have to disconnect the battery every night!
- Jeanette J., Richland, WA, US
Purposely let car sit in driveway without cranking for 5 days. Day one - 12.5V on battery. Day 5 - 11.75 on battery, cranked it but didn't drive it. Struggled on cold crank. Day 6 - today - not enough amps to crank. Disgusted. Meanwhile, been driving my trusty 2009 Nissan Frontier 4x4 that has had ZERO electrical issues. Looks like lots of opinions on what the parasitic drain is but none to actually fix it.
- Susan M., Rock Hill, SC, US
Battery dead after not driving for 7 days. Jumped and drove to bring to full charge. Alternator working. Pulled fuse linked to Starlink ( a suggestion from other subaru owners)
- Susan M., Rock Hill, SC, US
This time, my battery died while I had doors alternately open to vaccuum and detail the car interior. The battery was dead in less than an hour. Despicable. Had my battery checked. Battery is fine. Alternator is charging the battery. Something electrical is sucking the life from my battery. Found out there are class action suits (that I am too late to enter) against Subaru - they claim no fault though this is apparently an ongoing issue.
- Susan M., Rock Hill, SC, US
Dead battery from car sitting, not being driven, for 5 days. No lights were left on etc. Parasitic draw? I can leave either of my trucks for a month without driving it, and they both crank like a charm.
- Susan M., Rock Hill, SC, US
The battery died from opening doors/interior lights while setting up camp. This has NEVER happened in either of my trucks, with multiple car door openings and several days of not driving. It's sad that the battery is so undersized that it can't support the lights being on for a while.
- Susan M., Rock Hill, SC, US
This was the 3rd or 4th time the battery was dead. Car wouldn't start. On a Friday, my wife drove the Ouback to a customer's house and when she went to leave, the car wouldn't start. I left work to go jump the car. I swapped cars with her. That night I charged the battery up. I was going to take it Sunday for an out of town trip, and when we checked to see if it would start Saturday night, it was dead again.
We made an appt with New Motors Subaru in Erie Pa. I bought a USB charger to fit in the car's cigarette lighter plug and it has a voltage readout. I monitored that and say the alternator would go as low as 12.16 volts for awhile.
We took it to the dealer. The did a deep cycle recharge on the battery. Then ran an computer update which kept the alternator charging amount in the 13.6-14.plus range. They kept it for a 3 day weekend and there was no parasitic draw found. We crossed our fingers and hope it was fixed.
Today, the battery is dead again. Car will have to be sold, too unreliable.
- sadsuburaru, Lake City, US
The car wouldn't start and the battery was dead. this was in the spring and I had replaced the battery in January. I didn't believe it was a battery problem so I googled the issue and found a ton of posts and info about this ongoing problem with Outback's. I charged up the battery then looked for any parasitic draws. I didn't find any and at this point I just crossed my fingers hoping it wouldn't happen again.
- sadsuburaru, Lake City, US
Car wouldn't start. No click. I replaced the battery with a new Subaru battery I bought from the Subaru dealer parts dept. I wasn't aware at the time Outback's had a recall level problem.
- sadsuburaru, Lake City, US
2019 Subaru 3.6r... My fix for the parasitic drain was found with the DMC fuse. The fix is the pull the fuse out and leave it out. Or every time you park the car for a period of time is to pull the DMC fuse and reinstall the fuse, as pulling the fuse will turn the module off. The module should turn off on its own but will not... A pain...nice car but I will not be a returning buyer.... jim
- Jim S., Ventura, CA, US
Defective controller area network (CAN). Vehicle is unreliable as battery goes dead every 3 days. There is a lawsuit filed but not resolved.
- waldripj, Joshua, US
My wife and I purchased a used 2019 Outback in January 2023. Battery first died in the middle March and we thought it was our fault because the Subaru dealer said nothing was wrong with the battery. It died again in the middle of April and I finally did some search to find that this is a huge pain in the butt for a lot of Outback owners. Dealer finally told us the same thing about a faulty DCM and quoted $1100 for the fix (DC area) with an unknown parts arrival date because of the back order.
Of course the battery is still being drained and we are just anticipating the next time it won't start. Meanwhile, we've had to purchase a battery jump kit so we can have some peace of mind with this ridiculously un-reliable car. The other frustrating piece is how the 3 dealerships we talked to never brought it up to us and acted as if we are the only people with a bad DCM unit. In the same conversation, they told me they were unaware of this issue and also said its back ordered so much they have no idea how long it will take to get the part.
- Michael K., Lorton, virginia, US
Battery would go dead after 2 days without car being used. Subaru dealer repeatedly found nothing wrong, suggesting an operator error, intermittent flaw, or 'try using a trickle charger'. My multimeter indicated a 0.2 volt loss across the battery terminals per day initially. After removing fuse 9 the voltage loss dropped to approximately 0.02 volts per day. This modification has apparently removed power to 2 speakers and ,as I understand, maybe power to my blue tooth too. I am considering connecting fuse 9 to fuse 19 per the 'justagaragehack' video.
vin 4S4BSANC9K3332849
- LH D., Nokomis, FL, US