2019 Subaru Ascent

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Ascent. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at approximately 75 MPH, a deer ran across the highway and hit the left driver's side of the vehicle. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. A grayish smoke began to emit from the vehicle as the contact's wife immediately pulled off to the side of the road. Due to the damaged cause by the impact of the deer, the contact's wife had difficulty exiting the vehicle. The contact's wife used excessive force to open a crack in the door, which was enough to slide herself out of the vehicle. The vehicle became engulfed in flames soon after exiting the vehicle, and the authorities were called to the scene. The fire department arrived at the scene and managed to extinguish the fire. The contact's wife sustained bruising to her left shoulder, left leg, and left arm but did not seek medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was initially towed to an independent tow yard and was later towed to an insurance holding facility. The contact stated that the vehicle was destroyed as a result of the fire, but the insurance adjuster had yet to determine a final ruling on the vehicle. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer had yet been notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Component/System Failed: The vehicle’s CVT transmission and related transmission components. The transmission and associated components have been replaced multiple times by authorized Subaru dealerships. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. Description of the Failure and Safety Risk: The vehicle has experienced repeated, intermittent transmission malfunctions, including warning lights, loss of power during acceleration, and sudden harsh re-engagement. Most recently, while accelerating through an intersection from a stop, the vehicle briefly lost power and then abruptly surged forward, causing a pronounced lurch strong enough to chirp the tires. This created a serious safety concern. A hesitation or loss of motive power in an active intersection exposes me to potential cross-traffic collisions, while the sudden re-engagement creates unpredictable acceleration and possible loss of control. The intermittent nature of the malfunction makes it impossible to anticipate when it will occur. Dealer/Manufacturer Involvement: The issue has been reported to and inspected by authorized Subaru dealerships multiple times. Because the malfunction is intermittent, dealers have stated they cannot fully diagnose the issue unless warning lights are active at the time of inspection. Subaru corporate customer advocacy has been involved in reviewing the case. Warning Lamps / Prior Symptoms: Intermittent transmission and check engine warning lights have appeared repeatedly over several months. The lights often illuminate while driving and then turn off after restarting the vehicle, despite the underlying issue not being resolved.

Over the past few months the transmission has started randomly refusing to engage. When entering the expressway, you will press the accelerator, and the engine will rev and the vehicle will not accelerate at all. Then you let off the accelerator, let the engine RPM drop back down to idle, and press again and it will accelerate. This has happened 3 times in 2 months. Subaru is refusing to replace the transmission because their tech cannot personally reproduce the problem on demand, even though they have voluntarily extended the warranty on this model transmission due to slippage issues. They are instead going to change the transmission fluid, which has less than 1/2 the mileage for a typical fluid service, to mask the issue, risking the safety of passengers.

The break pads had to be renewed after 2.5 months because the ABS was engaging every time I used the breaks. At all speeds. 84,000 miles

The battery is draining so quick that the car doesnt start at all. The battery drained completely in 3 days and it’s happening more often.

All of a sudden my vehicle accelerated after placing it in reverse with my foot on the brake. There was a screeching sound and I immediately shifted into (at least) Park. In attempting to exit my garage again, it repeated the same events. I parked the car and never did leave my residence. No dash lights etc. I am afraid to now drive this vehicle. This occurred several days before this mentioned event, but responded OK the 2nd time. In May of 2025 I actually crashed into a car across the street from this happening. Others are definately at risk. This actually occured twice during my 1st year of ownership, but was overlooked until now. I intend to take it to my dealer and have my vehicle inspected. There were no warning lamps etc.

As a veteran and spouse of an active duty service member, we are currently fulfiling our overseas tour in South Korea. We were notified of the recall of our Subaru Ascent and made contact with Subaru via email for guidance on how to proceed as we are not within the continental United States. My email to them was as follows: Our family is currently stationed overseas in South Korea. Our family has been stationed here the past two years and will be completing an additional duty of two more years here in service of our country. I previously contacted Subaru addressing the concern of the Recall for our PTC Heater Ground Bolt which has been found to be unsafe and can lead to the vehicle catching on fire. It was disheartening to be told we could not be offered assistance as Subaru only services those in the U.S. Subaru prides itself as providing one of the safest vehicles for families on the market which is why we chose Subaru. What can be done to assist us? I look forward to hearing back soon.  Subaru responded with: Thank you for reaching out to Subaru of America. Regrettably Since we do not have a reciprocal agreement with Korea we would not be able to assist with the repairs until you return to the states. I do apologize as there would be no other loopholes that we will be able to provide to have the repair done. If fyou have any further questions, you can always give us a call back or email back in as well. Hope you have a good day ahead. We will not be able to ship our vehicle until all recalls have been fixed especially as this specific recall does come with a noted safety risk by Subaru and is as follows: This potential condition may result in the melting of the ground terminal and surrounding components when the PTC heater is in operation, increasing the risk of a fire. I am submitting a claim to acquire assistance as to how to proceed. -thank you.

While driving on the highway, my vehicle suddenly lost the ability to accelerate—this is the second time this has happened, with the first incident occurring in June 2022. Each time I bring the car to the dealership, I’m told that because the issue cannot be recreated on the spot, despite codes that are warranted for the QMR to be done they’re unable to inspect or apply the WRK-21 procedure to replace the transmission under warranty. Despite this, my car consistently slips during normal driving conditions. It shudders and surges unpredictably while accelerating in traffic, creating an extremely unsafe situation. Most recently, I was driving with my children when the car failed to accelerate as I attempted to merge across four lanes of highway traffic. I had to coast until I could safely pull over. On other occasions, the vehicle has jolted forward unexpectedly, nearly causing collisions and forcing me to slam on the brakes. This issue is not only recurring—it is dangerous. I am requesting that it be taken seriously and addressed appropriately under warranty.

Transmission belt broke while driving resulting in a catastrophic failure.

I have a 2019 Subaru Ascent Limited model with 96,xxx miles as of January 2025. In 2023, there was a safety recall for the PTC heater ground bolt sent first class mail for multiple year Ascent models. This recall was completed by local subaru dealership on 3/27/2023 stating "WRL 22 completed. Removed ground bolts and cleaned threads. Found no signs of heat damage. Removed and replaced bolts." Move forward to Saturday, [XXX]. I remote started vehicle from inside the house while on vacation in Bristol Tennesee. Car was running for roughly 5 minutes, when fire alarms inside the house starting going off. Seemed odd considering nothing was going on inside. Walked inside to see large amounts of white smoke coming from the windows of the Ascent. I was able to jump into the car and turn the engine off. I opened all 4 doors to let the car air out. I checked the engine, nothing seemed off. I then turned my attention to the air cabin filter, everything seemed normal as well. After the engine cooled and aired out, there is smoke damage to the vehicle. I was able to transport the car safely to Wallace Subaru which was less than 0.25 mile from our airbnb. I was quickly notified by the service technician that the car is not safe to drive until it was fixed. After further investigation, it was found that the PTC ground bolt has failed again, and this time melting the wiring harness and bolt around it. This was right next to the carpet and put my life as well as my wife, who is [XXX] and my [XXX] daughter. Thankfully we weren't in the vehicle when this occurred. There was no warning. No check engine light, nothing. No other issues leading into the incident. Car is still parked in Bristol TN at the dealership and I am 5 hours away in Lexington KY. Subaru has been uncooperative with this situation and is avoiding talking to me or making this situation better. I literally have no answers. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

STARTED THE VEHICLE TO DRIVE 30 MILES FOR AN APPOINTMENT. WHILE DRIVING, ALL OF THE INTRUMENT CLUSTER LIGHTS ILLUMINATED. THE EYE SIGHT TURNED OFF, CRUISE CONTROL NO LONGER WORKED, PARKING BRAKE LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED, ABS LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED. TPMS LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED. THIS HAS OCCURED 2 TIMES BEFORE. THE FIX FOR THE PREVIOUS ISSUES WAS TO CLEAN THE BATTERY TERMINALS.

When trying to maintain highway speeds (65 to 70 MPH) and driving in mountainous terrain of Pennsylvania, Maryland, or New York, the vehicle will shudder as if it is loosing power. The vehicle will rapidly loose speed. No warning code is issued. The only way to solve issue is depress the pedal to increase the RPMs. Took vehicle to dealer and reported that it felt as if the CVT chain was slipping. They said they could not recreate and there was no code.

Subaru windshild in my 2019 Ascent have been replaced twice in 30,000 miles due to very inadequate glass. I'm struggling to get Subaru to acknowledge their responsibility to replace this current cracked windshield with a new part, as per my reading of a settlement that they should be following [XXX] ). They are currently trying to send me to a 3rd party repair business to do the repair, but supposedly they have fixed the part on more recent versions of the car. By comparison, I had a Toyota Highlander for 11 years and never once had to replace the windshield glass. Yes, it took a beating, but never once cracked like this glass does. It's not up to the task, and clearly dangerous. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

We have had to replace battery twice and had to have auto club give us a jump start multiple times. We drive this vehicle once or twice a month, but something is causing battery to run down way to fast. Manufacturer claims we need to drive more often. I have always had one car, that burned to much fuel, and was used as an occasional vehicle, but never had this type of problem. Something needs to be provided so that battery does not leak power when it is a low use car. I don’t want the internal lights to turn on when I walk by, or for it to access the internet. I believe that this leaves us vulnerable to non-availability at a critical time. We are planning a multi-week trip and have no idea if car will start when we return. Nor is their a way to disconnect unneeded activity that is draining battery.

My Ascent is primarily driven in the city of San Francisco, a fairly hilly city. We have had issues with the suspension on this vehicle in the past, and I will need to install my third pair of struts in the coming weeks (the parts are currently on backorder). The CVT has also been replaced on the vehicle. The tires are routinely rotated, and we keep up with the maintenance schedule. We were driving home after dropping our daughters at school and while accelerating up a hill heard a crack. We immediately pulled over, and saw that the lower control arm had sheared.

The CVT experienced a catastrophic failure, later identified as "the chain" by a Subaru dealer mechanic. The night before the incident, the transmission "slipped" and made a metallic clunking noise when merging onto a highway. On the day of the incident, the transmission failed completely after turning onto a roadway from a stop sign. No forward or reverse power was available. Had the transmission failed the night before while merging onto a highway, with little ability to pull out of the roadway, we certainly would have been in danger. The vehicle has been inspected by the dealer and the transmission failure confirmed. The transmission "stuttered" for several months previously while accelerating, though not consistently.

While driving on a road with a lot of hills our car sudden lost all engine power but all of the lights and engine were still on. We pulled over but kept the car on and it seem to resume power. Then about 1/8 of a mile later it happened again. We shut the car off completely for 5 minutes and turned it back on and we were able to drive it normally for another mile. It then happened three more times on our way to a safe spot to pull over. The fifth time it happened all warning lights on the dashboard turned on (see picture). The speed in which it happened varied. It is important to note that we brought it in for service on 8/8 for a standard interval service at a Subaru dealership and have brought our car in multiple times to address issues with the transmission.

There is a knocking or clunking noise at low speeds during and after turning in the front driver's side of the vehicle. Car has 17,500 miles on it. Assembled inspection suggests that tie rod (inner and outer), ball joint, stabilizer links are all intact and functioning properly. No loose components or fasteners. All bushings appear firm and intact. There is an apparent [XXX] ), though seemingly unreported issue with the front-end suspension system that dealerships and service techs can't seem to diagnose. At best, noises go away for a period of time then return. If it's an issue with a wear component then it may be that the OEM parts are deficient for use on this vehicle. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Purchase the car two weeks ago the first night on the way home it was acting up just like it did when I test drove it and was told by the BMW dealership Aristocrat Motors in Topeka Kansas that they would fix anything that was wrong with it. On the way home I realized I didn't think it would make it back the 60 miles so I took it to Olathe Subaru they informed me that it had had transmission problems reported by the previous owners but their technician couldn't get it to do it again so the people just traded it in instead and then I got the car without them getting the transmission fixed or whatever was wrong. They are actually waiting on Subaru of America to respond to tell them what needs to be done to the car and in the process I have been two weeks with little information of what's going on. I feel the recall should have been done and the car is still a good car it just needs to be repaired correctly. Thank you for your response I look forward to hearing from you please help.

We have been dealing with issues with this vehicle since 2024. We had 3 open recalls which we took into the closest dealership to us and things were okay for a few months and then started having issues again. We live in a small town and it is hard to get to the dealership so we had a few local mechanics take a look and one had found that the exhuast recall was not installed properly and so he addressed that issue. Things were then okay for a little bit after that and then we started having bigger issues the car would not exceed 30 MPH in the middle of us driving and then the car would jerk back and forth. After advice from Subaru of America we got it checked out at a dealership who put a part into the vehicle and then we got it back and less than a week later the car was doing the same things. We took it back and they kept the car for 2 weeks but told us they could not duplicate the problem so we got the car back and right away had the same issues when taking it home. The CVT is for sure messing up we believe and now the car does not drive at all. After some back and forth we found out that the 1st owners took it in for the CVT recall so I reached out to the dealership who did that and was told that they did look at it but at the time the CVT was not an issue but the mileage was fairly low at that time. Personally I am not in a place to afford to get it replaced on my own but I do not believe that the recall should have been closed out knowing that the part would eventually go out since it is a known issue on that car I have tried to go back and forth to get this resolved but I am not getting anywhere and I am not sure what to do at this point to try and get the problems address and made right.