All Things Subaru

[Michael V]

Big Subaru fan myself. Subaru hasn't let me down under any winter conditions so far... During a nor'easter we counted 28 cars off the road, as we drove from NJ to VT. (4.5 hour trip took 12 hours, my knuckles where white, but my Subaru plodded along with no issues)

My wife's Forester & my last 3 Subaru's (SCUBARU)
2007 Outback XT
2010 Tribeca
2015 Outback (current)

 

[crgildart]

Same color as my Forester..

 

[crgildart]

So, perusing the Subaru forums seems to indicate that there are quite a few vehicles affected by the Takeda airbag recall that haven't been given notice yet. Foresters AND some Outbacks are affected. Folks with 08s got the recall letters last year, folks with 07s got the recall letters two years ago. My 09 recall came last week. So, it could very well be that 2010s will get the recall next year.. I guess they are deemed safe for 8 years then must be replaced after that.

I went in to the dealer today to get the info from the horse's mouth. They said they are ordering the parts faster for people who come in and ask for more immediate resolutions beyond banning humans from the front passenger seat. The letter pretty much makes the owner liable should they allow someone to ride in that seat and they are injured or killed by the air bag.. so it's more than just the risk of injury, it's the risk of being sued by the family of the friend, co worker, school mate, etc who I would give a ride to if something goes wrong with the air bag in their face..

Anyway, the dealer said since I have showed up to request a replacement ASAP the customer service will arrange a rental car for me until the part comes in. I'm waiting on them to call me back now.. been waiting for 2.5 hours as of now.

So, head's up to folks with 2009, 2010, etc Outbacks and Foresters.. You should probably go ahead and ask if yours is likely to get recalled next year or the year after past the new 8 year shelf life of these Takada air bag pipe bombs in our cars.

This source lists most Subarus through 2011 already on the list to be getting recall notices soon if not already. Also has info that Mercedes is recalling models through 2017. So, again, I recommend you go ahead and get on the replacement list, even before they send you the letter.

Subaru is recalling 383,101 cars as part of the expanded Takata passenger-side airbag recalls. Newly added models include the 2006 Baja, 2006–2011 Impreza and Tribeca, and 2009–2011 Legacy, Outback, and Forester. The 2006 Saab 9-2X, built by Subaru, also is included in this total.


,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

All of this is legal under NHTSA’s consent order, although all non-desiccated inflators will need to be recalled and replaced by 2019. Eventually, all of Takata’s ammonium-nitrate inflators may need to be recalled.


http://blog.caranddriver.com/massiv...now-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/

 

[Philpug]

Big Subaru fan myself. Subaru hasn't let me down under any winter conditions so far... During a nor'easter we counted 28 cars off the road, as we drove from NJ to VT. (4.5 hour trip took 12 hours, my knuckles where white, but my Subaru plodded along with no issues)

My wife's Forester & my last 3 Subaru's (SCUBARU)
2007 Outback XT
2010 Tribeca
2015 Outback (current)
View attachment 21437 View attachment 21438 View attachment 21439 View attachment 21440

Love the plates. When I was in PA I had SKIBARU

Also, Looks like you need some Pugski stickers.

 

[Michael V]

Love the plates. When I was in PA I had SKIBARU

View attachment 21761

Also, Looks like you need some Pugski stickers.[/QU

Love the plates. When I was in PA I had SKIBARU

View attachment 21761

Also, Looks like you need some Pugski stickers.

Was going to put skibaru on my wife's car.

Yes, in need of some Pugski stickers.

 

[eok]

All Scott said is true, but I will add that most cars are set up to have some, to a lot of understeer, where the front end 'pushes'. My WRX, while being more neutral than the outbacks and foresters, was still not to my personal liking and a rear bar increase helped to get it where I wanted it to be. Another thing said above is that winter conditions generate far lower cornering forces and that a very stiff roll setting will tend to give you a 'now you see it, now you don't', lightswitch release in the snow and frozen road conditions. So don't go too big on your bar choices if you value a predictable winter handling car.

We have two Subarus: a 2002 WRX Wagon & a 2015 Forester.

Our WRX Wagon is at about 290K now. It became my wife's 2nd child the moment it rolled into our garage the 1st time. She nicknamed it "The Girl", now we call it "The Old Girl". It still is a blast to drive.

I did a few upgrades right after we got it.

Stock, the 2002 WRX Wagons had way more understeer and sloppy rear-end feel than the 2002 WRX sedans. That was under normal driving. But our 2002 wagon had an "interesting" quirk: when doing "spirited" driving, we/I could sometimes get too much oversteer on throttle-lift into corners. Fun for me - but not for the wife. Not fun in the snow either. To me it seemed as the wagon's rear suspension had a bit too much compliance and a little more flexy rear body area.

So my fix for this was two parts. First, to swap the pathetic stock wagon rear sway bar (something like 14mm) for a stock WRX sedan sway bar (around 22mm). Easy to order as a replacement kit with the proper bushings. Install was easy - virtually a drop-in replacement. Despite this, the wagon still had a little too much deflection/flex in the rear - so I added a top rear strut tower brace (yes, this impacts utility of the cargo area a bit). The result was great. Handling was neutral. Excessive throttle-lift oversteer was tamed as far as I was concerned. [And before you get on my case: yes, yes, I know you generally don't want to lift the throttle when entering and going through a turn. But sometimes you 'gotta do it and: the WRX wagon is normally great for "steering with the throttle".]

The 2002's shifter had a pretty long throw, which my wife hated. The longer throw didn't bother me - but I grew up driving tractors & big trucks. So, the final upgrade was to swap the stock shifter for Subrau's short throw. Wife loved it.

We've driven the thing with this setup in all sorts of conditions over the years, including plenty of miles in challenging snow/ice. No issues with the rear end being too easy to break loose. The handling has always been quite neutral.

After all these years, my only complaint on the 2002 WRX wagon is the ABS. Sometimes unpredictable. Suffered with it for several years. Discovered a service advisory for the ABS, took it in & got it fixed (for free). Much better.

 

[crgildart]

09 Foresters added to Takeda recall.. No parts or fix until March 2018.. and they expect people to drive them without using the front passenger seat?

P.S. If someone gets hurt or killed in your front seat you can't sue us because we warned you... That is the main purpose of this letter.

Well, today Performance Subaru set me (and some other disgruntled recall victim) up with a rental car. I got an AWD Ford Escape. Should be sufficient for summer and scouting escapades. Should it take longer than 3 weeks I'll need to work something out with my full coverage insurance.. only covers rentals for 21 consecutive days according to my policy. If it goes past October we will need to swap it out for something with better tires and crossbars for my ski box, which is still on the Forester at Performance Subaru. I strongly suspect that since they are paying for a rental I'll have my car back with the airbag replaced before the end of the month.

 

[crgildart]

Props to Subaru for doing the right thing even though it cost them a few bucks. You do have to show up and ask for this but if you do they will take care of you..

I got a call yesterday that my Forester was ready, air bag replaced. I returned the full size AWD Ford Escape rental car, Enterprise drove me to the dealership, and I checked out with zero charges on my end. Did have to put a deposit on the rental which was refunded in full and no charge at all for the rental or repairs. If you get the recall notice, go get your rental cars!

 

[jzmtl]

Sold my TJ Wrangler last year and went with a Forester. Almost signed an Outback, but eventually decided against it because it's too soft and the length makes parking in the city too much pain.

Happy so far, although I wish the back seat is 40/20/40 split like Golf alltrack. Gas mileage isn't really good in winter though, highway ski trips gets 22 MPG with 91. Oh the heater sucks too, the engine warms up way too slow, I think I read somewhere the thermostat location doesn't isolate the coolant inside block with radiator, so even when it's closed engine still loses heat from radiator.

 

[TahoeCharlie]

Sold my TJ Wrangler last year and went with a Forester. Almost signed an Outback, but eventually decided against it because it's too soft and the length makes parking in the city too much pain.

Happy so far, although I wish the back seat is 40/20/40 split like Golf alltrack. Gas mileage isn't really good in winter though, highway ski trips gets 22 MPG with 91. Oh the heater sucks too, the engine warms up way too slow, I think I read somewhere the thermostat location doesn't isolate the coolant inside block with radiator, so even when it's closed engine still loses heat from radiator.

Wow, that's poor mpg for a Forester. Can't tell if that's a standard 2.5L or turbo 2.0L. My '16 XT (Turbo) Premium Edition gets 25 mpg as daily driver around Tahoe. 6,500 ft and always under 45 mph, and 28 mpg freeway cruz'n. Yes, heater is slow , but I just turn on the seat heaters and have a warm butt in 15 seconds.

 

[jzmtl]

Wow, that's poor mpg for a Forester. Can't tell if that's a standard 2.5L or turbo 2.0L. My '16 XT (Turbo) Premium Edition gets 25 mpg as daily driver around Tahoe. 6,500 ft and always under 45 mph, and 28 mpg freeway cruz'n. Yes, heater is slow , but I just turn on the seat heaters and have a warm butt in 15 seconds.

Mine's 16 XT as well. True, seat heater helps. I think the poor mileage has to do with combination of cold temperature, winter tires, winter gas, and driving at 75 mph with lots of up and down hills. It becomes much better now it's warmed up though.

 

[Carl Kuck]

Three of my last four cars have been Subies, it would have been 4 for 4 but in '91 when I was shopping for a replacement for my GL wagon I was also looking to get a boat* and the Subies of that generation clearly said in the owner's manual: Thou shall not tow with this vehicle. I got an Explorer instead.

1987 GL wagon - sold with ~160K miles on the clock (in 5 years)
2000 Outback - sold with ~165K miles on the clock (in 8 years), traded in for ...
2008 Outback 3.0R wagon - still have, ~177K miles so far in 9.5 years. Replaced motor (massive head gasket failure), tranny rebuilt, the starter motor probably needs replacement and there's a rattle in the exhaust (loose heat shield) as well. Otherwise comfy for us driving to Park City and back twice a year loaded with ski gear plus trips to New Mexico to visit Cheryl's relatives, and trips to Mammoth and/or Tahoe.

Which brings me to the one thing about Subies that I just don't understand. WTF is wrong with the engineers that design their head gaskets and cylinder heads? All three of mine have had issues with the head gaskets. Although, one thing I wondered about is on the northbound leg of the PC trips I overnight in Cedar City. Get up the next morning when it's nice and cold, then hit the freeway with an 80MPH speed limit. Thermal stress maybe? I had read somewhere that the best thing to do (for a 4-banger,anyway) is find whatever brand of aftermarket race-oriented head gaskets and replace them...

Cheryl is currently driving a Forester rental car in Boston and really likes the visibility from inside. I had a Forester loaner a couple of years ago for the motor replacement adventure and found out that, yes, I can haul all the junk I usually take in the Outback on these trips in a Forester with no problems...

* Yes, I have experienced both happy days in a boat owner's life. It was an '88 Boston Whaler Montauk 17. If we ever wind up on the east coast I'd consider getting another one of those - rock solid, reliable, and excellent for fishing.

 

[jzmtl]

Head gasket hasn't been a problem for a few years now, although there's occasional oil burning problem with FB25 engines.

 

[crgildart]

So, perusing the Subaru forums seems to indicate that there are quite a few vehicles affected by the Takeda airbag recall that haven't been given notice yet. Foresters AND some Outbacks are affected. Folks with 08s got the recall letters last year, folks with 07s got the recall letters two years ago. My 09 recall came last week. So, it could very well be that 2010s will get the recall next year.. I guess they are deemed safe for 8 years then must be replaced after that.

I went in to the dealer today to get the info from the horse's mouth. They said they are ordering the parts faster for people who come in and ask for more immediate resolutions beyond banning humans from the front passenger seat. The letter pretty much makes the owner liable should they allow someone to ride in that seat and they are injured or killed by the air bag.. so it's more than just the risk of injury, it's the risk of being sued by the family of the friend, co worker, school mate, etc who I would give a ride to if something goes wrong with the air bag in their face..

Anyway, the dealer said since I have showed up to request a replacement ASAP the customer service will arrange a rental car for me until the part comes in. I'm waiting on them to call me back now.. been waiting for 2.5 hours as of now.

So, head's up to folks with 2009, 2010, etc Outbacks and Foresters.. You should probably go ahead and ask if yours is likely to get recalled next year or the year after past the new 8 year shelf life of these Takada air bag pipe bombs in our cars.

This source lists most Subarus through 2011 already on the list to be getting recall notices soon if not already. Also has info that Mercedes is recalling models through 2017. So, again, I recommend you go ahead and get on the replacement list, even before they send you the letter.

Well, today Performance Subaru set me (and some other disgruntled recall victim) up with a rental car. I got an AWD Ford Escape. Should be sufficient for summer and scouting escapades. Should it take longer than 3 weeks I'll need to work something out with my full coverage insurance.. only covers rentals for 21 consecutive days according to my policy. If it goes past October we will need to swap it out for something with better tires and crossbars for my ski box, which is still on the Forester at Performance Subaru. I strongly suspect that since they are paying for a rental I'll have my car back with the airbag replaced before the end of the month.

Props to Subaru for doing the right thing even though it cost them a few bucks. You do have to show up and ask for this but if you do they will take care of you..

I got a call yesterday that my Forester was ready, air bag replaced. I returned the full size AWD Ford Escape rental car, Enterprise drove me to the dealership, and I checked out with zero charges on my end. Did have to put a deposit on the rental which was refunded in full and no charge at all for the rental or repairs. If you get the recall notice, go get your rental cars!

Got an epilogue to this saga which sounds like it will include a sequel

I was sitting on a plane next to a gentleman who works for a major robotics and hydraulics vendor. One of their biggest accounts is the firm who just bought Takada Air Bags and is now making all the new air bags for new vehicles and defective replacements. He told me what Subaru and other vendors are actually doing is replacing older questionable Takada air bags under recall with newer, slightly less questionable air bags. There aren't nearly enough parts available to give anyone, or pretty much anyone not buying a brand new vehicle a brand new, "differently made" air bag replacement. They are gambling that all the newer Takada ones are actually OK for 3-4 years depending on how humid the climate is where the vehicles primarily drive.. Then, they plan to RECALL THEM ALL AGAIN when more "new differently made" parts become available.

So, even if you already got your air bag replaced, odds are that you will have to replace it again in 3 years. And, of course this isn't limited to Subaru... it applies to all used vehicles with Takada air bags everywhere.

 

[scott43]

Moral of the story, drive carefully!!

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my jk wrangler BUT if i ever got another vehicle it would be a bright ass Orange Subaru Crosstrek. I would need new license plates though as my current plates read TOPLYS and that would take on new meaning if i had a non convertible lol.

 

[Posaune]

I have a 2015 Impezza. It drives fine and gets me where I want to go, but it has three "features" that really bug me.

1. It's too low slung. I keep grinding on wheel stops and have had some problems with snow depth. My solution for skiing is to drive my 4WD Tacoma when I have clearance issues.
2. There is no mark for the 5 mph increments on the speedometer, not even a little line. Not a huge issue, but it would be nice to be able to easily see where 35 or 45 or 25 mph are. It bugs me.
3. I like to listen to tunes from an iPod Nano that is plugged into the factory sound system. When I start the car the system always starts at the top of my 17 gig list alphabetically. I have to punch four buttons (some real, some on the touch screen) before I can get it to random play, and it resets to the top every time I turn off the ignition. That's not terrible, but the system takes so long to boot up that I'm usually about three blocks away from where I started before I can give the thing any input at all (including turning it off). This means I'm driving and trying to touch buttons, particularly on the touch screen, that are small and hard to find. It's dangerous and a big PITA. I'd replace it but the back up camera uses the touch screen too, so I don't want to replace it as well. I have looked on the Subaru forums and gone to the dealer and I've been told that that's the way it's designed.

I LOVED my Ford Focus. It didn't have any of the above problems, but it didn't have AWD either.

 

[crgildart]

3. I like to listen to tunes from an iPod Nano that is plugged into the factory sound system. When I start the car the system always starts at the top of my 17 gig list alphabetically. I have to punch four buttons (some real, some on the touch screen) before I can get it to random play, and it resets to the top every time I turn off the ignition. That's not terrible, but the system takes so long to boot up that I'm usually about three blocks away from where I started before I can give the thing any input at all (including turning it off). This means I'm driving and trying to touch buttons, particularly on the touch screen, that are small and hard to find. It's dangerous and a big PITA. I'd replace it but the back up camera uses the touch screen too, so I don't want to replace it as well. I have looked on the Subaru forums and gone to the dealer and I've been told that that's the way it's designed.

Some of my MP3 players do that, both on the Forester and on the 2017 Ford Edge rental they gave me for Air Bags round one.

I found that if I PAUSE the device manually before turning off the car when it boots back up it starts at the spot on shuffle where I paused it. Pausing it will cause it to turn itself off while paused at a marked spot. Shutting off the power while it is playing causes it to start over fresh when it turns back on.

 

[Posaune]

Some of my MP3 players do that, both on the Forester and on the 2017 Ford Edge rental they gave me for Air Bags round one.

I found that if I PAUSE the device manually before turning off the car when it boots back up it starts at the spot on shuffle where I paused it. Pausing it will cause it to turn itself off while paused at a marked spot. Shutting off the power while it is playing causes it to start over fresh when it turns back on.

I'll give it a try tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[Snowfan]

...I got an AWD Ford Escape...

...I returned the full size AWD Ford Escape rental car...

...and on the 2017 Ford Edge rental they gave me...

Edge or Escape? (I'm guessing Edge)