Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||||
| 16 | 08/01/2004 | 10013587 | Automatic transmission ring indicator removal. subaru techtips *tt | 04/22/2005 | |
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - CONTROL MODULE (TCM, PCM) | |||||
| 06 | 03/01/2005 | 10015184 | Transmission control module reprogramming. *tt | 07/08/2005 | |
| POWER TRAIN - AXLE ASSEMBLY | |||||
| 08252004 | 08/25/2004 | 10010530 | Axle nut check/replace procedure - warrany claim information. *tt | 11/30/2004 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 01/13/2012 | 48000 | 1 | |
| 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. *tr | |||
| 11/02/2011 | 1 | ||
| 2005 subaru is our family has had to have the front axles as one broke going down the highway he as not hurt, but the car was only stopped after i plowed up sn open field. since vehicle was not under warranty we footed a $1,200 bil. then weeks later the axle on my 2004 broke as i was driving out of my driveway. that repair also not under warranty cost another 1,200 dollars. we have had to have the wheel bearings replaced all the way around on both vehicles and the ecm replaced on both cars this year. these vehicles have also experienced converter problems and converters were replaced by subaru only after i kept up a running battle and insisted that they were under warranty. *tr | |||
| 08/15/2008 | 57000 | 1 | |
| Both rear wheel bearing hubs went bad between 55k and 58k miles. they were fixed with a replacement part. they caused a loud noise while driving. *tr | |||
| 07/20/2005 | 13800 | 2 | 09/24/2004 |
| On two separate occasions, my 2005 subaru outback got stuck after incurring a minor obstruction (several inches of snow in one case and a somewhat sharp incline in another case) while driving in high altitudes (10,000 ft to 11,500 ft). on both occasions, the car suddenly lost most of its power and no wheels would turn. despite pressing the accelerator to the floor, the engine never went above 2000 rpms. fortunately, on both occasions, there were people around to push the car. once the tires were totally free of any obstruction, normal engine power returned and the car could be driven. i took the subaru to my home dealership in olathe ks (jack miller) on june 29, 2005, a couple weeks after the first incident. dealer said he could not replicate the problem , so he could not fix it. the invoice notes: 2000 rpm is appox torque converter stall speed. following the second problem on july 20, i took my car to john elway subaru west in golden co. dealer invoice says: if tires were not spinning, car had traction and was not able to build boost at altitude to produce power. dealer, however, said they could not replicate the inability to build boost, and were thus unable to fix the car. i filed a verbal complaint with subaru of america on july 27 and followed up on july 29. as of then, subaru of america was still trying to contact the dealer. subaru markets its cars as having superior performance in the mountains, snow and in difficult driving conditions. subaru enjoys a large market share in the colorado mountains, where both my not able to build boost problems occurred. my car cannot be safely driven in the co mountains, particularly on mountain passes or dirt roads, because help may not be available to get the car running again. i do not know if my experiences are isolated or part of a larger problem. in either case, i am disappointed that subaru has been unwilling or unable to fix this potentially serious safety issue. *nm | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 01/19/2009 | 1 | ||
| I have a 2005 subaru outback wagon. this weekend, on hard packed ice roads, the back wheels would float, sway out from under my vehicle. this has happened previously in black ice conditions. i was traveling 20 mph slower than the rest of traffic to maintain control of my vehicle, and thus creating an additional hazard to the vehicles that could handle the conditions. the below email thread is a good description of what i have experienced in the past and other subaru outback owners are experiencing as well. the vehicle has new tires and the alignment was recently verified. thanks, cale streeter http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11267&perpage=20&pagenumber=32. *tr | |||
| 11/25/2006 | 12000 | 2 | 10/21/2006 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2005 subaru outback. intermittently, the rear of the vehicle loses control in slick road conditions. the contact stated that there was mechanical failure with the electronics in the all wheel drive. the failure occurs while driving between 20-45 mph. the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. the tires were replaced twice. the vehicle was realigned, but the failure still persists. the current mileage was 25,800 and failure mileage was 12,000. | |||
| 06/21/2006 | 20000 | 50 | 09/02/2004 |
| I have been experiencing a problem while accelerating from a stop or from coasting, such as when a red light has just turned green. i begin to depress the accelerator and the engine just about dies. this has nearly caused me to get t-boned at intersections numerous times. i have brought it to the attention of two different subaru dealers and they say that nothing is wrong with it. i have heard that other subaru owners are having this problem but subaru will not admit that this is a safety issue. *jb | |||
| POWER TRAIN - DRIVELINE | |||
| 01/20/2006 | 10000 | ||
| 2005 subaru outback will not track straight in slippery conditions at all. the term | |||
| 02/11/2010 | 42412 | ||
| We have a 2005 subaru outback that sways in the rear of car under the following conditions 1. over bumps the rear will swing to the right and dip. when roads are slick it will almost spin the vehicle. if you are in a left hand curve, even at low speed, the condition is exaggerated more than you would expect sort of like it was pushed in addition to the normal inertia you would experience. 2. rear end traction becomes unstable under icy conditions where it appears that too much power is being distributed to the rear of the driveline then oscillating to each individual rear wheel. in my opinion 100% of the vehicles power concentrated to the rear differential is alternately distributed between the rear wheels and kind of gets stuck in this mode. | |||
| 03/20/2009 | 83000 | 1 | |
| Premature wheel bearing failure of both front wheel bearings. resulted in loud humming from front end of vehicle but was repaired prior to any safety issue. *tr | |||
| POWER TRAIN - DRIVELINE - CENTER SUPPORT BEARING | |||
| 12/21/2006 | 44000 | 2 | 11/25/2004 |
| I own a 2005 subaru outback 2.5i wagon. at 44000 miles (26 months) the rear wheels were making a lot of noise at both low and high speeds. upon inspection it was found both wheel bearings had to be replaced or they would have soon failed. *nm | |||
| POWER TRAIN - DRIVELINE - DIFFERENTIAL UNIT | |||
| 12/01/2005 | 8000 | 6 | 06/13/2005 |
| 2005 subaru outback legacy station wagon the limited slip differential (rear) malfunctions under wet or snowy conditions. it begins a rhythmic transfer of power back and forth until the rear of the vehicle loses traction and then spins out... this has happened several times and has been taken to the dealership for diagnostics and repairs. they have performed alignments but indicate that they cannot duplicate the complaint... so, they say there is no problem. we have taken the vehicle in to the dealership without any repair made to resolve this dangerous fault. the repair would involve replacing the entire unit (lsd)... because parts are not available separately... we have had it looked at by an independent repair facility and they were able to duplicate the complaint... we have replaced the original potenza tires with an aggressive all weather tire hoping to remedy the problem... subaru will not admit that there is a problem with the limited slip differential on this 2005 outback! we would like to have this taken care of before someone is injured or killed. thanks! *nm | |||