There are 12 owner-reported brakes complaints for the 2014 Subaru Outbackin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
My 2014 Subaru Outback, with only 42,000 miles on it, is unfortunately among the 3% (per Consumer Reports) with undiagnosable, therefore, unrepairable, brake failure issues. The brake failures began in April 2023 as I pulled out of my driveway in the Tucson Mountains, headed into town. On the downhill, I pressed my brakes to slow down. My foot went to the floor - no brakes. Terror! I pumped the brakes and gradually they came back. Luckily, no one was ahead of me. The brake fluid was down a very slight bit, so I brought it back up. No problem for two weeks, until the exact same thing happened again. Tucson Subaru has an excellent Service Center. I've kept the service on my Subaru up, so I booked in for a regular tuneup, plus advised them of the brake issue. The shop mechanic flushed the brake cylinder along with the usual tuneup: brake pads, etc. There was no problem for about two more weeks when brakes failed again. Took back to Subaru on a Friday. They kept over the weekend, but by Monday afternoon, brakes were still working "fine". They Ubered me to test, but I didn't need to even pull out of parking lot, everything seemed okay. Took my Outback home and all okay until brakes failed again. Took on AAA's and my friends' recommendations to Tucson's Primarily Japanese auto shop. The brakes failed once more in the interim, but worked fine at the shop. The owner thought possible a failing ABS unit. However, both Tucson Subaru/Primarily Japanese were reluctant to try replacing either the brake cylinder or the ABS unit as both are expensive fixes and they were unable to duplicate the failure. In the meantime, I went online and found that other owners of Outbacks across a range of years/mileage had the same problem - and the same results, none of fixes reliably worked. That included flushing/replacing the brake cylinder, the ABS unit, cleaning/replacing brake pads, etcs. Some owners were not as "lucky" as I was. The car is parked.
Parking break did not disengage. It also blocked the key hole and car could not be moved. I called AAA and they could not even tow it because the gears would not switch from parking to neutral. While manipulating the car, the AAA technician does not know how, but was able to move the key and the gear, and then the car could start. After some online research, there has been recalls for this problem in Australia in Subaru Outbacks of around this year. Since AAA technician did not have to move in the end the car, there is no receipt of this event. It has happened twice by now.
ORIGINAL FRONT BRAKE PADS HARDLY WARN AFTER 100000 MILES. REAR BRAKE PADS WARE OUT AT ABOUT 30000 MILES. CHECKED TEMPERATURE OF FRONT ROTORS AFTER DRIVING BARELY WARM, REAR BRAKE ROTORS EXTREMELY HOT.
I HAVE CHANGE MY EMERGENCY BREAKS. HOWEVER.KEEP THE LIGHT ON.IDID TAKE TO SUBARU DEALER AND THEY TOLL ME NOT USES THE EMERGENCY BREAK..SAMETHING IS WRONG..
EBRAKE COMES ON INTERMITTENTLY WHILE DRIVING IN TOWN.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2014 SUBARU OUTBACK. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE BRAKE INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT TOOK THE VEHICLE TO SUBARU NAPLETONS SCHAUMBURG SUBARU (911 WEST HIGGINS ROAD, SCHAUMBURG, IL 60195, (847) 884-6000) WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE BRAKE MODULATOR FAILED. THE MODULATOR WAS NOT REPLACED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS CONTACTED AND PROVIDED CASE NUMBER: N1-45447123655. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 57,000.
BRAKES COMPLETELY FAILED WHILE DRIVING ON A CITY STREET, SLOWING TO LET A PEDESTRIAN CROSS IN A CROSSWALK. THE VEHICLE HAD A 100% BRAKE FAILURE. THE BRAKE PEDAL WENT TO THE FLOOR. THERE SEEMED TO BE A MALFUNCTION IN THE DUAL BRAKING SYSTEM. FRONT BRAKES AND REAR BRAKES WERE SERVICED AT A SUBARU DEALERSHIP AT DIFFERENT TIMES. THE BOLTS HOLDING THE PASSENGER SIDE REAR CALIPER SEPARATED FROM THE CAR. THE BOLTS HAD BACKED OUT. THE LOWER ONE WAS MISSING. THE OTHER CALIPER BOLT HAD BACKED OUT OF THE THREADS BUT WAS LOOSELY HELD IN PLACE BY THE BRAKE HOSE. THE DRIVER SIDE REAR CALIPER DID NOT APPEAR TO BE LEAKING.
FAILURE OF EMERGENCY BRAKE. FAILURE OCCURRED AT 13800 MILE AND AGAIN AT 13900 MILES WHILE BEING DRIVEN HOME FROM DEALERSHIP. VEHICLE DIAGNOSED WITH FAILED EPB MODULE. EMERGENCY BRAKE WILL NOT ENGAGE WHEN MODULE IS IN FAILED CONDITION.
I WAS ATTEMPTING TO PULL MY SUBARU OUTBACK INTO MY GARAGE AND WAS HEADING TOWARD THE GARAGE DOOR OPENING WHEN I THOUGHT I HAD PUT MY RIGHT FOOT ON THE FOOT BRAKE TO STOP THE CAR, HOWEVER, IT CONTINUED TO PROCEED FORWARD BECAUSE MY FOOT WAS UNDER THE BRAKE PEDAL. CONSEQUENTLY, I HIT THE CORNER OF THE GARAGE WITH MINOR DAMAGE TO MY FRONT BUMPER. UPON FURTHER CHECKING THE BRAKE AND GAS PEDALS , I CONFIRMED THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN THE GAS PEDAL AND MY FOOT COULD FIT UNDER THE BRAKE PEDAL AFTER MOVING IT SIDEWAYS FROM THE GAS PEDAL. IN ADDITION, ON TWO OTHER OCCASIONS, I HAD MOVED MY RIGHT FOOT FROM THE GAS PEDAL TO THE BRAKE PEDAL AND WHEN PRESSING DOWN ON THE BRAKE PEDAL MY RIGHT FOOT WAS ALSO PRESSING ON THE GAS PEDAL AND THE CAR CONTINUED FORWARD (AT LOW SPEED) UNTIL I PLACED THE GEAR SHIFT IN PARK. I'VE OWNED THIS CAR FOR ONE YEAR AND I THOUGHT I WAS COMPETENT IN IT'S DRIVING TECHNIQUES REQUIREMENTS, BUT NOW I'M BEGINNING TO WONDER. I HAVE A WIDE FOOT, IS THERE A MINIMUM REQUIRED SIDEWAYS SPACING OR SIMILAR PEDAL HEIGHTS BETWEEN GAS AND BRAKE PEDALS WHICH PREVENTS THESE OCCURRENCES? I NEVER EXPERIENCED THESE INCIDENTS IN MY PREVIOUS CAR ( 2004 BUICK LESABRE) OR OTHER CARS I HAVE OWNED.
RIGHT REAR BRAKE BEGAN TO CLATTER, THEN SCRAPE. THE ROTOR WAS BADLY SCORED. THE DEALER CLAIMED THAT THIS WAS DUE TO ROAD SALT AND NOT COVERED BY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. THAT IS, CALLED IN "NORMAL" WEAR. THERE'S NOTHING NORMAL ABOUT ONE REAR BRAKE FAILING THAT EARLY ... AND WITH LITTLE WEAR SHOWING ON THE OTHER BREAKS. THE CALIPER WAS STICKING AND THAT'S A DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION FLAW.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2014 SUBARU OUTBACK. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE TRAVELING 40 MPH, THE BRAKE PEDAL TRAVELED TO THE FLOORBOARD. THE BRAKE PEDAL REQUIRED SEVERAL PUMPS IN ORDER TO STOP THE VEHICLE ON A HILL. THE FAILURE OCCURRED ON MANY OCCASIONS. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE AND CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 1,666. UPDATED 08/11/14*LJ UPDATED 8/30/2017*CN
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2014 SUBURU OUTBACK. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING VARIOUS SPEEDS, WHEN THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS DEPRESSED, THE PEDAL GOES ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FLOOR. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER FOR A DIAGNOSTIC TEST AND THE MECHANIC STATED THAT THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS NORMAL AND WERE UNABLE TO LOCATE A PROBLEM. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE AND THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 1,600.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026