Subaru of America Reviews 112

Very disappointed with Subaru of America. Was on vacation from PA to Palm Beach. Car broke down rusted out sub-frame. So, if you have a 2011 Subaru with around 90k miles you may want to get it checked out for your own safety. Anyway, Midas ordered a sub-frame through a Subaru parts department. Was promised three to five days business day delivery. Actually took 10 business days. After the fifth business day the parts department at Subaru was promising the part just about every day and blamed the issue on Subaru of America. When I called Subaru of America their only concern was why I didn’t have the car at a Subaru dealership for repair. No apology for anything. Cost me thousands in extra expenses, vacation time, and had to leave without my car anyway. I would stay clear Subaru. If they were honest earlier, I would have headed home much sooner. Now I still have the expense of getting my car home. Last three car purchases were Subaru. Not anymore.

I am a first time subaru owner and had a couple sensors go bad in the cold weather. I took it into the subaru dealership and the computer was showing bad sensors and a bad catalytic converter with an estimated repair of over $4000. They recommended calling subaru of America as they sometimes help cover these repairs so I contacted them. The sensors were replaced and the cat turned out to be OK and the new bill was $1309.53 for the 2 sensors. Subaru covered the repair cost! That's love for sure! Thank you subaru for showing love and not just talking about love, I have never experienced this from any other automaker in my life!

The service made a mistake. Filled my engine with extra oil and let me drive my car with zero brake pads. Instead of helping me, Subaru of America took the side with the service, which had cost me time and money and put my life in danger. They call themselves consumer advocates, but it should be advocacy against consumers.

I have always owned Toyotas and Hondas. Generally, they are super reliable. And, when you have a problem, they will resolve it. Not so with Subaru. My lovely wife insisted on buying a Subaru Outback. She loves the car's performance, as do I. But honesty about issues that should have been a recall are sorely lacking. I went in several years ago and was told my battery was dead (MUCH too soon for a car that age). I did some research prior to my visit on some online Subaru owner forums and saw that many people had reported a 'parasitic voltage drain' that killed batteries prematurely. The dealership was unswayed. I recently purchased my SECOND replacement battery, same story. Shortly afterward I saw that there is a class action lawsuit stipulating payments to Subaru owners affected by this. BUT - a recall to fix the issue? NO. I will NEVER buy another Subaru. I just want my money back for one of the batteries at this point, without having to fill out the lawyers' paperwork. If Subaru would have just admitted this issue and launched a recall (which I assume is very expensive, and why they chose not to do it), they may have kept some 'lifetime' owners. I won't be among them.

My 2021 Outback had the battery replaced 3/22, now its 11/04, and I have needed roadside assistance 8 times since Oct 6. They want me to drive 160 miles to Vegas dealer to diagnose and replace battery.
Many calls and emails, getting nowhere.
My passenger side seatbelt alarm chimes non stop, have been waiting on the new sensor since August.
Last Suburu for me!

I bought a 2022 Subaru Legacy a few months ago from McCurley Integrity Subaru in Pasco WA. I have taken the car in to the Subaru dealership for service twice for the same issue: the head (the screen and brain for your safety features, music, maps, phone calls, etc.) experiences multiple glitches. For example, it often freezes, which means safety features are not available, phone calls are disrupted, and the map is not accessible. When the head is not freezing, it often completely blacks out. All of this happens randomly, on a daily occurrence, and when my phone data has full service.

Both the McCurley dealership and the Subaru manufacturer have said, in order to assess the problem, the glitches need to be duplicated. In my dealings with the McCurley dealership, they have not been able to reproduce the same problems that I’ve been experiencing, which means the issues have not been resolved.

I have sent videos and pictures of some of these glitches, freezes, and shutdowns to the Subaru manufacturer to help them understand the electronic failures. I offered these same videos and pictures to McCurley but they are not interested because they claim they need to see the problems themselves. The service department has not taken the time it needs to determine the cause of the glitches.

I have spoken with employees in the McCurley service and sales department who have told me the troubles I’m experiencing with this head failure have been a recognized problem with Subaru vehicles. Apparently, the electronic failures I’ve identified are not an isolated matter.

I have taken time off work to bring my vehicle to the dealership service department during their regular hours, Monday through Friday, when the service department handles these kinds of issues. If I were offered a loaner vehicle, I could leave my vehicle to be assessed in the time needed without missing work.

I feel as if I’m getting the run around from both McCurley and the Subaru manufacturer. Both parties have different ideas of how to determine the cause of my car’s problems. When I call the Subaru manufacturer, they say they are waiting on McCurley. When I call McCurley, they say they are waiting on the Subaru manufacturer. I have not received follow-up calls or emails about next steps.

I bought a brand new car, with a warranty. I would like my car to be fixed. The process to get it repaired seems like a broken one. Nobody has a solution or has taken ownership of getting it fixed.

One of the absolute WORST corporations ever! My experience doesn’t come from a dealership, it comes from working at one of their distribution centers. Apparently, anything goes for Subaru. Blatant acts of insubordination from other employees and management does nothing. They tell you you’ll get a sign-on bonus at your 90 days, you’ll get nothing. They basically lie right through their teeth and could care less about doing so. Screw this company!

We bought a 2020 Subaru Outback in Sept of 2022 from Subaru Santa Monica. Everyone was friendly and the sale went down without a hard sell. We were told we could make an appointment to come in and have the many features of the car explained to us. When we met with their young rep he was likely stoned, but in any case couldn't answer most of our questions and other things he told us were simply wrong. He obviously didn't know the car. The saleswoman told us she'd have the company clear the old owner's info from the records so that we could use StarLink, their version of Lojack. It never happened. We called repeatedly and were politely told it was all forthcoming. It was not. The car does not appear to have been serviced for 10,000 miles according to the computer in the car. I called service to inquire. Again, polite people take the call and then NO ONE CALLS YOU BACK. NO ONE CALLS YOU BACK FROM THIS COMPANY ONCE THEY'VE SOLD YOU THE CAR. Ah, wait. One person called back from the service dept—a service "Advisor" who couldn't answer my questions but made an appointment for me to come in on a Monday. When I called later to speak to someone about that appointment it was not even on their records! Someone was going to call me back about it, but guess what?! Right, no one called me back. The problem seems to be systemic. I've written to Subaru. No answer. I've left my phone number and email. No response. I've talked to two managers at Subaru Santa Monica. No calls back. The service manager doesn't call back. It's astounding the consistency with this issue. No one calls you back. Love? Forget about it.

Everyone told me how Subaru was such a dependable company but I have to say this is not the case. I have had numerous problems with my car, it has been in the shop more times than my last five cars combined. I have had issues with the whole Soundsystem, the leather seats, and even the transmission that they’ve had to replace twice. They do not stand behind their vehicles, every time I’ve had an issue they’ve tried to brush it off and even offered me $700 towards a new Subaru, knowing very well I would not buy another Subaru, and frankly $700 was a spit in the face to me considering how I had paid over $35,000 cash for my car, less than four years ago. $700 would pay for almost nothing for that car, not even the taxes. I have a 2018 Subaru outback that is worthless! Do yourself a favor and don’t buy a Subaru. I’ve had Honda’s, Toyota’s, Volvo’s, and Audi’s that I’ve never had even 5% of the issues that this Subaru has had.

This is my second Subaru and I'm extremely happy with this company. There was a small issue the last time I had an oil change in Fox Subaru of Grand rapids. Michigan they went over the top to correct it this time. The new facility is amazing extremely happy with the service there I will be buying my third Subaru in the future from these establishment Deny F

OK, so I've read a few of the reviews on here and most of them have seemed to be more about "I didn't know how to use this feature and I nearly died" histrionics rather than about the vehicles themselves.

First - I'm on my 2nd Subaru. My first Subaru was purchased used at an auto auction in the late 90s for 700 bucks with 250-something thousand miles and drive it for more about 2 years to over 320,000 miles before it blew a head gasket. The repair would have been about 1200 bucks. More than I could afford (at the time) and more than I'd paid for the car....

Enter the need for a new car in 2008. I wanted something not too small, not too big and was really interested in the Impreza. But sadly, it had just been redesigned and most local dealers only had the WRX model which - while fun - would have been a cop magnet for me. I passed on Subaru and bought a Mazda.

Fast forward to 2013 and the Mazda was giving me major fits - a major electrical fault that nobody could seem to find and fix. I wanted a moderately sized SUV and shopped Honda, Toyota, Jeep, Mazda, Hyundai, VW and others. Well, plus Subaru.

Subaru had (and still does) the best combination of safety features, economical operation and features and gadgets as well as a competitive price point... Oh, and let's not forget STANDARD ALL WHEEL DRIVE - something nobody else offers.

I've had my Forester for almost 9 years now and - as I work from home - just a little over 56,000 miles.

Have those been completely trouble free years and miles? Nope. But then again, I have not EVER had a car that was totally without issue. I've had a few minor and a few major repairs and all have been covered under warranty. I've never been left stranded by my Forester and I use my Forester primarily for 'pleasure' trips and running errands.

Some of the reviews I saw mentioned tires wearing out and recommended brake jobs....

First off - Subaru does NOT make tires. Instead, the tires are made by a supplier (Yokohama) and to a price and spec from Subaru.

Driving an AWD vehicle is NOT like driving your typical front wheel drive or rear wheel drive vehicle. The dynamics of having power to all 4 wheels causes additional wear and tear on things like tires.

Brakes are also something that it's up to YOU as an owner to keep an eye on and watch. I will say that most Subaru dealers seem to start pushing brakes WAY early in the wear process. They also tend to push both pads AND rotors. But that's them. You can easily go to another repair facility and have your brakes inspected and - if that other facility suggests brakes, then get them done. My local dealer recently suggested brakes and another shop mentioned I still had at least another 15 or 20,000 miles on the brakes.

When it comes to the technical features - like the lane keep assist and such - you have to understand how those features work. The system works with the Eyesight cameras and the lane markings on the road surface to position the car in the middle of the lane. However, that may not be where YOU want the car to be in the lane. For example, I tend to drive towards one side of the lane or the other, depending on which lane I'm in (multi lane road) and also where other traffic is. My 2014 Forester does not have Eyesight or all of those safety features, but I have driven more than a few other Subaru models with Eyesight and those features to understand how they work and to decide to use them or not.

ALL OF THOSE FEATURES have an off-button.

But also know that the lane keep assist and the automatic braking and such are ASSISTANTS and are not driving the car for you - YOU need to drive your car yourself.

I've used my Forester on-road and off-road, long trips and short trips. I've updated my Forester to be more suitable for off-road adventures and I love being able to use my Forester and the systems it does have to explore the areas around me.

Know that a Subaru is not a "normal" car - it will drive and handle and brake differently than your typical Honda or Toyota or Nissan or whatever. You need to change your thinking - and your driving - to fully get out of your Subaru all you can.

I would not hesitate to buy another Subaru. Subaru is one of the safest and most economical cars in their classes - whether mid-sized sedan, compact or midsize SUV or whatever.

I happened upon Lithia Subaru of mobile Alabama in November of 2021. I wish I had never entered that dealership. Subaru is love and Subaru is dog tested dog approved. I found neither to be true with my interaction with the dealership. I bought the assent because I trusted Subaru and I needed a 3rd row seat for my grandchildren to ride in the vehicle as well as my pets.. After driving the vehicle for less than a month I noticed a problem. I would not put my grandkids in that car I was scared to death to drive the car.The lane keeps assist and lane centering features do not work well.. One of the salesman told me himself that the options are known to be a little aggressive at times. Driving down interstate 75 coming back from Tampa Thanksgiving weekend and it was almost as if I was fighting somebody else to steer the car. I specifically bought a touring to get those features.. I have noticed other reviews concerning these 2 features and it has not been good. Subaru knows it has a problem but it's not doing anything about it. Fadi Saabs solution was to put me in a 2020 Subaru touring edition with 20000 miles on it for $5000 more than what I paid for the brand new 2022. Fadi Saw the raw emotion and fear and trembling of my arms and hands just talking about the situation. The car would try to steer into other vehicles in other lanes. I felt like I had to white knuckle it the entire time driving this vehicle. The car was taken into service and they had the car for 2 weeks and put a total of 17 miles on the car and told me that they thoroughly checked out the vehicle time and time again and could not duplicate the problem. Since they could not duplicate the problem there was nothing they could do.I risked my life every time I got into that vehicle.Fadi eventually offered me $48000 to take the car off my hands.. Mind you I had just paid $7000 more than that for the car. Fadi Acted like he cared and was concerned and took a personal interest in my story.. When all was said and done I lost $5000 because I traded my Subaru in for a Volvo which I am thoroughly 100% satisfied with. Unless you have experienced the problem for yourself you cannot imagine the fear one must face when suddenly it's like somebody else is trying to control the car.I talked with the Subaru advocacy department up in New Jersey and they also refuse to help. They said if they could not duplicate the problem they could not help. I had another service manager at another dealership tell me that he had had a similar problem and the solution is to turn off the features. I paid extra for those features not to turn them off but so that I could feel safe in driving my car with my grandkids and my pets.There is a problem as sooner or later somebody is going to be seriously injured or die due to a mishap like this and Subaru just turns a blind eye. I have owned 3 new Subarus in 4 years I will never own a 4th. Ron the salesman did a good job however the price on the brand new 2022 Subaru asset touring edition was MSRP$47000. There was approximately $5000 worth of ad ons that we're not negotiable or refundable.Total price out the door was approximately 55000. This whole experience has given me multiple sleepless nights and multiple nightmares.. But I know now that my grandkids and my pets as well as myself are now safe now that I am out of a Subaru and into a good quality car good quality car with ownership that actually cares about its customers.Definitely anti Subaru and definitely anti Subaru of mobile Alabama as well as Lithia auto group. I will get a generic response to this post and I'm quite sure that I'm not going to be refunded the $5000 that I lost out for giving Subaru and specifically Lithia auto group Subaru of mobile Alabama a chance. Steer clear of this dealership end of the Subaru brand in general. They're advertising sounds all good but there is no backbone to it.

Don't fall in SUBARU's advertising of Caring about Dogs, Environment, etc. They don't even care about their customers or their terrible Products/services. Since November of 2019 - I leased a brand new 2020 Ascent, NOW with only 15k Miles - Took the care of Oil change and Tire rotation; Customer Service recommended new tires and to be aware that brakes are already in less than 55%. I asked the Service Representative how a car that has hardly been used for a period of 28 Months due to COVID-19 needs to change tires and Brakes. The answer provided to me later by a Subaru Technical Customer service person (Asking me not to be disclose) was that ASCENT model - 3 row was introduced to the market at 2019 - With many mechanical and Engineering issues; The Tires that were originally sold with this car were not properly tested resulting TOO SOFT for the weight of this SUV. The Dealer recommended that I contact SUBARU AMERICA to get a refund for new Tires. They explained that this was a well known problem and they will provide a solution. After calling several times to the 800 Number in the US I never got a response. I had no choice but to open a claim thu the BBB+ after a couple of days I have a message on my Phone from Racheal Flurchick asking me to return her call - Which I did seven times during 5 Business days, Left messages on her direct Voice mail and she never responded. Later I found a message from her in the BBB+ closing with the resolution of giving me a $300 Coupon to be used on a SUBARU Dealer.....
Excellent SCAM from SUBARU so you buy a $59K car with Cheap tires and then I have to buy new tires in your Dealer that will incur an additional $730+ for installation and balancing of new four tires (245/60R18).
I wrote back to Rachael Flurchick on the BBB+ Board, she never responded, she never called back after all my messages ....So much for a Customer Advocacy Representative.
There is also a Recall pending on the transmission of this SUV that the Dealer does know when it can take care of the problem as SUBARU is not providing the parts yet.
The ASCENT is actually the Worst SUBARU car ever introduced to the market by this company. I highly recommend considering other brands. SUBARU is just pure nice advertising if you love dogs!

I bought a 2016 Subaru Crosstrek June of 2016 at Johnson Subaru Dubois PA.
I had family member that was ill at the time and I was trying to help him and work at the same time.I wanted the new car because he was going to see a new doctor and the trip to the doctor was about 100 miles one way.
Trying to work and help my brother didn't leave much time for car shoping/buying.
I went to the dealer on a Saturday afternoon.I made the mistake of telling the salesman I was in a hurry.
After sitting a an hour or two for the paperwork to be completed the people with the paperwork appeared and told me I could not put down as much money as I wanted to on the new vehicle because of Subaru of America financing rules but they could sell me an extended warranty for the difference.
I told them I was not interested in an extended warranty.
They persisted and led me to believe they would have to redo the paperwork if I did not take the extended warranty.
Unfortunately I did not have time and I signed the papers.
Since then a problem developed with my vehicle that involved intermittent loss of power steering.
I have made a total of ten visits to this dealer without resolution.
Some of the highlights of these visits were the dealer taking the vehicle over a weekend putting over 100 miles on it and not putting any fuel in the vehicle,promising to keep me informed of progress made/problems found and not doing so.
Following one visit a half full can of Mountain Dew was left in my vehicle.
I complained about that to a service manager at the dealer during a later visit and he asked me if I drank that rest of Mountain Dew.
I have complained about the above problems and others to Subaru of America.
They have yet to make any reasonable resolution to this issue.
The last email I received from SOA contained "Subaru of America has reviewed this matter further with the dealer and the Subaru Field Manager.They have confirmed that there is no manufacturing defect with the steering system in your vehicle.The dealer suggested that you allow a couple of minutes after your vehicle is started for the system to boot up,before driving your vehicle."
I wonder why if there is not a defect why doesn't it work right
This whole interaction has been disgusting and shows a much different picture to how Subaru portrays itself in their advertising.

My first Subaru was a 2004 Outback, and my current Subaru is a 2014 Outback. They have both been extremely reliable needing only oil changes and new tires. And the trade-in / resale values are impressively high. I also applaud Subaru America for their generous and ongoing support of charitable causes: Feeding America, Meals on Wheels, American Red Cross, Make-A-Wish, National Parks Foundation, and the ASPCA

I love my Subaru! I have never had any problems with it. I recommend Subarus to everyone who asks!

I just purchased a new 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness Edition. The navigation system is useless. Subaru got rid of the altitude display - instead it remembers my birthday. A vehicle DESIGNED to be driven offroad can not be navigated with longitude/latitude inputs. The car directs you to the closest PAVED road and then leaves you wondering what to do next. (Fortunately I have a stand-alone navigation system from Garmin, $149 with easy lifetime updates, even navigates on commonly used dirt roads.) The Subaru navigation system will tell me every half mile that I have a turn coming up in 10 miles. The ONLY choice at this point is to mute the system because it will just not shut up. The dealership claims it is unable to update or fix the system on a ONE MONTH OLD vehicle. Subaru "customer service" advisers have been unable to offer any useful help. The directions for updating the map don't work and the USB drive I was required to purchase to do the update is not recognized by the MySubaru map updates, leaving me to wonder how many different USB drives do I need to buy to update the maps?

The car gets two stars because I do like driving it, but the electronics and navigation make me really sorry that I traded in my 2011 Outback. If you intend to drive this car off road, please do yourself a favor and purchase pretty much any after market navigation system as a back up. Even google maps is better at off road navigation than the native navigation mess provided by Subaru. I have to wonder if the team that made the decision to put a cheap, useless nav system in their premier OFF ROAD / WILDERNESS car have ever even been on a dirt road.

I had Subaru build me a 2021 Outback Touring XT with every available option. Just under $45K. Plan to lease it for two to three years. Same as the 2016 one I had built. Usually drive a BMW "M" car, but moved to the northern latitudes. Every aspect of the process was flawless - configuring and ordering, leasing, and most of all, driving the vehicle, which is quite exceptional, even compared with my BMWs. First scheduled maintenance next week, but so far the car is, again, flawless, fun, capable, and in metallic white, a standout beauty. I plan to replace it with a similar one in 2023 or 2024. It's a no brainer.

I was recently discriminated against when I brought my Subaru into a dealership in Colorado. I had an appointment and was turned away and bullied and mocked when I asked why they weren't honoring the appointment as promised. I had made it several weeks in advance, planned for it and drove a long way to get there. The whole reason for the appointment was necessitated because the car was there a few weeks prior and they didn't balance the tires after a rotation. The people at the service desk were overloaded and took their stress out on me--the only female and a minority female at that! I feel targeted and viciously attacked and bullied by these unprofessional service desk people. I reported it in good faith to Subaru Corporate and they have chosen to do nothing but tell me I have to go another dealership now to have the car looked at. No thanks--not when dealerships discriminate and Subaru Corporate allows it. I am not one to cry "wolf" or use the race card but what was done to me was illegal and I am reporting it everywhere I can. Shame on Subaru and I have no choice but to sell the car and find a more reputable car brand to support. I am telling the truth about my experience and can prove I had an appointment and that I dutifully followed up with the GM of the dealership and Subaru Corporate--and both parties are refusing to resolve this which is grossly negligent. That dealership did not perform a service competently and I was forced to go back only to be treated abominably and told they were too busy and that I should leave. They were overbooked and needed to bully someone to leave and that someone was me as a petite minority female.

I own a 2018 Subaru Forrester, a 2021 Subaru cross trek (my wife’s car), and my 2018 Subaru WRX ( my fun Car). I’m proud to say I am a Subaru enthusiast! I wear the clothing, I hang at the meets, I support the Subi culture! One word to describe my WRX - Phenomenal!! Is it perfect in every way? No, the stereo was trash and was the first thing to be changed out. Was the exhaust loud enough? Nope, made the change. But here is what you get for then money you spend - a great mix of performance and safe fun. If you’re not happy with the out-of-the-box performance and experience great news is you can upgrade everything!! I’ve driven a lot of top end cars - BMW M4, Porsche 911, Hellcats, Z06’s. Have I loved every aspect of them? No. Now, is my WRX the fastest thing on the road? absolutely not? however it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it!! I look for reasons to drive it!! 3 inches of snow fell.. Bam gonna go play in the snow in the Subi!! Recently my 2018 Subaru WRX clutch went out at 36,720 miles, I would consider myself to be a spirited driver! It is a wearable part I understand that.. was it mostly my fault.. yep without a doubt, but luckily I made a call into Subaru of America , after the dealership gave me a hard no on replacing it. I would like to share my experience!! The first rep I talked to was absolutely amazing, I told him my story, I told him about may car, I told him how I drive it , next day his manager reached out to me and said Subaru was going to help me with some the cost, my response was Thank you Subaru!! Yep they stepped up to the plate in a big way and I am thankful for their assistance. Thank you Subaru for making a great product and a fair price. And Thank you for loving the driving experience as much as I do!!