Complaint volume
289 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2021 Subaru Outback Complaints
289 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Subaru Outback, grouped by component category.
289 Total complaints
7 Crash reports
1 Fire reports
2 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are visibility/wiper, electrical system, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 7 crash reports, 1 fire report, 2 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 60 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 8,787 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to visibility/wiper, electrical system, unknown or other?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2021 Subaru Outback?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2021 Subaru Outback
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Subaru Outback complaints?
7 Crash
1 Fire
2 Injury
0 Fatality
6 Towed
0 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Subaru Outback complaint categories?
VISIBILITY/WIPER 86
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 44
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 37
AIR BAGS 14
VISIBILITY 10
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 6
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 6
ENGINE 4
POWER TRAIN 3
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 3
289 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Front Windshield crack so easily that I have to replace it two times already. The first time the windshield crack from using the defrost in the snow, and the second time was a small rock while I was driving on the highway. I've driven many cars in the past and have had rocks strike my windshield all the time and never experienced anything like this. I'm surprised the windshield recall isn't extended to the 2021 model Outback yet. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that there was a crack on the windshield. There was no impact to the windshield that could have caused the crack. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed that a rock chipped the windshield. The dealer informed the contact that the windshield crack was not covered under warranty. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but denied the claim for the windshield replacement. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 19,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 19,000 |
| Jan 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The front windshield on the passenger side cracked for not apparent reason. The vehicle had been parked in my carport all was fine. Next morning upon entering the vehicle I noticed the crack. Within 2 days the longest crack had grown from about 2 inches towards the drivers side to about 10 inches. I called Subaru of America customer service with a complaint. They suggested taking it to the dealer for inspection and a determination if it’s covered under the new car warranty. I have had the vehicle for about a year and it has less than 15000 miles on the odometer. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The Subaru Eyesight system malfunctioned while I was driving. All Eyesight components were enabled at the time of the incident, including pre collision braking and forward collision warning. I had been stopped at a red light at a four way intersection. I was the first car waiting at the red light, with other cars behind me and to each side. The intersection had multiple lanes in each direction. There were four lanes going the direction I was driving, and I was in the second from the right. When the traffic light turned green, I took my foot off the brake and onto the gas to begin accelerating. I accelerated through the large intersection reaching approximately 20 miles per hour. The speed limit is 25 or 30 there so I was continuing to accelerate to that speed and was just about through the intersection when the pre collision braking suddenly engaged with no warning at all. My foot was still on the gas trying to accelerate when this happened. All of the lights that show on the windshield seemed to light up red, and it showed that the pre collision braking had engaged on the dashboard screen behind the steering wheel. The car came to an immediate stop in the middle of the road and would not move forward. I took my foot off the gas and my car would still not move. My dashboard said something along the lines of “firmly press brake to hold stop.” I hit the brake, then everything returned to normal and I could move forward. I moved forward, safely switched to the right lane and pulled into the nearest driveway to get off the road and park. I then disabled all Eyesight features and called my Subaru dealership who said they will “diagnose and recalibrate” the system on 1/14/2022. My car and windshield were clean and my windshield is the same from the factory with no defects. No cars were in front of my- the road ahead was wide open, clear, flat, and straight. No one turned in front of me or anything. Fortunately I was not rear ended but it was very scary and dangerous. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | AIR BAGS | The passenger air bag alert on the dashboard indicates the air bag is off when my wife who is elderly and weighs approximately 95 pounds is seated in the front passenger seat .Sometimes it changes to " air bag on" during our journey but other times it remains off .I am concerned the air bag won't deploy in the event of a crash potentially causing serious injury .I have e mailed sales representative who sold us the car at Maple Hill Auto Group Kalamazoo ,MI in March 2021 who responded that seat sensor was designed to alert "off " at 65 pounds or less .Two subsequent e mails to Subaru Customer Service about this issue have not been acknowledged or generated any response which concerns me . At this point car has not been tested by technician as my wife is frail and not in position to go to dealer for demo . Not sure what next steps to take since Subaru Customer Service is not responding to my concerns . | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH approaching a traffic light, the contact heard an abnormal cracking sound coming from the front windshield. The contact noticed a small crack on the driver’s side of the windshield that spread to the middle of the windshield. The contact took the vehicle to a local dealer who stated that the failure was related to a thinner OEM breakable glass on the vehicle that needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 6,400. | Crash: No Fire: No | 6,400 |
| Dec 2021 | STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Passenger lower side windshield cracked while driving, it started as a tiny crack but the next morning the crack line was 16 inches long. I contacted Subaru because the car is under warranty but they said they will not cover it. The whole windshield had to be replaced. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Fragile windshield. I’m just under a year of ownership and I replaced the windshield twice so far so I’m on my third one. First time was about a month in, no visible strike mark. Started on the Driver side halfway up and spread daily horizontally towards the passenger side and within a day or two was half the windshield. Second one was nine or 10 months out. Tiny strike basically did the same spread. In traffic a tiny rock got tossed up at low speed and I have a Starbust right now. Hopefully it won’t spread overnight before I can get it epoxied because then I will be on my fourth windshield before one year of ownership. Decades of other models and cars and same driving locations and I’ve never had to replace a windshield or repair one. Currently at 16K miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Car won't start. Battery drained after in garage overnight. The lights weren't left on and keys far from car. This same thing happened after leaving car with blinkers on for a very short period. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | In February 2021 my windshield was cracked in the lower left corner for an unknown reason. Windshield was inspected by manufacturer service center and thought to be result of an impact and was then replaced. December 2021 the windshield was again cracked in the lower left corner and again needs to be replaced. Appears to also be the result of an impact but will need to be determined by insurance. Both instances the windshield cracked in the bottom left corner and the crack began to quickly grow across the drivers side to the top center of the windshield. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Purchased vehicle 1/2021. Currently has 8500 miles. For the past few months the dash/navigation system intermittently shuts down. Lose everything including speed/cruise/gps/radio. After a few seconds will reboot. I have called the dealer twice regarding this issue - was told to press "defrost" button 5 times and bring to the service department. This was done and they sent the info to Subaru - have not heard anything from Subaru regarding this complaint which was done over 2 months ago | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Battery dead after leaving in garage for a day. Happened three times and I brought it to dealer, and they charged battery and said it passed Subaru test procedure and that nothing they can do. No lights on and key is in house closet area. Battery still drains if left in garage for a day without driving. I bought a portable charger for $150. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Several times, at random, the infotainment system goes blank. Screen goes black and can NOT adjust any of the ADAS controls! After 10 to 20 seconds the system seems to reboot and slowly returns to normal operations. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | The sunroof on my 2021 Subaru Outback exploded for no apparent reason while I was driving. There was no impact by any object, and the glass shattered into innumerable pieces, suggesting it was definitively tempered, not laminated, glass. The weather was sunny and 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I happened to have my sunroof shade closed - if I hadn’t, I would have gotten glass in my hair and possibly in my eyes while driving my car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Purchased new Outback SUV in March of 2021. Currently has 4488 miles on odometer. Center console infotainment center randomly reboots at times without warning. System reboots after several seconds, but until system is restored, any function active at the time controlled from that console is unavailable (radio, navigation, etc.). Dealer has not yet inspected the car for this problem at this time. I have not been able to cause the system to reboot at will, it appears to be totally random. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I have owned my 2021 Outback since April of 2021. I currently have just under 15,000 miles on it and am now looking to replace my second windshield. I have taken the car on 5 road trips over 200 miles and this is the second time where I instantly have a 6-8 inch long crack appear. There was evidence of a very small impact but the instant spreading seems to be an issue with many other Outback owners as I have seen on social media groups that some people have gone through 5+ windshields in the first year of ownership. I believe it is clear at this point that there is an issue with the glass itself and this could be a serious safety concern as I am fearful what would happen if a normal size rock were to hit it how it would respond to the impact. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | STRUCTURE,VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield developed a large crack for no apparent reason. There is no sign of an impact from an object. Vehicle was parked outside when outside temperature dropped overnight. Crack over 6” long appeared the next morning. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | When I bought my new 2021 Subaru on Sep. 27, 2021. It was twilight and the sales lady said it had a small rock chip in the windshield but they were going to fix it. Driving home, I saw the windshield had a spider web of cracks all over it. I took it back on Sep. 30 and they replaced the windshield. On Oct 31, I drove 660 miles. When I looked at the Subaru in the motel parking lot the next morning, the new 5-week old windshield had cracks. There was a rock chip where the cracks crossed. They were not spread all over but covered an area about 14" wide and 8" high. I didn't want to drive it but I had to get it back to the dealer. Later I saw the State of New Jersey had filed lawsuits against Subaru for cracked windshields on 2.5M vehicles. I felt sick and didn't know what to do. I found a "Service Bulletin" No. 12-192-12R dated 10/26/15. It was only for 2015-2016MY Legacy and Outback models and MY's but it described the crack issue and illustrated it. It was very limited. It just offered an extended warranty and one repair on specific models. I believe this is a serious Safety Defect because it is spread over a large population of vehicles and Subaru is not admitting any defect or safety problem. If this occurs on a trip, it's likely the driver will continue to drive to their destination with a dangerously compromised windshield. FMVSS 205 states that Glazing in Auto windows is to reduce injuries resulting from impact to glazing surfaces, to maintain transparency for visibility and minimize the chance occupants are ejected from the vehicle in a collision. It also appears the windshields do not meet Fracture Test 7 in SAE Z26 for tempered glass and multiple glazed units. The size of fragments observed in the spider-web patterns are 1" to 3" and more and likely weigh more than the 4.25 grams in the Fracture Test. In my 65 years of driving, I’ve never had a windshield crack like the two windshields cracked on my Outback in the period of five weeks. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | We purchased a new 2021 Outback Subaru 2 months ago. Three days ago, on 11/12/21, a crack appeared on the windshield overnight, while the car was parked on our driveway. Nothing hit our car while we were driving and there's nothing that stands above the car that could have fallen on it while parked at our house. The crack is linear and started on the very left side right above the driver's sight. It started at about 5 inches long and the next day was already extending almost halfway through the windshield length. We are highly suspicious that the crack is a result of a defective windshield specially after learning that Subaru has several lawsuits regarding this same issue. We had to stop driving the car in fear that the windshield may completely break at any time. My husband contacted Subaru twice and the representatives told him someone would soon contact him about the incident. Nobody contacted us for the next two days. My husband then called Subaru and they said it would cost $1,500 to fix it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 2021 outback purchased Feb 2021. Within 2 weeks the touch screen, which controls the cruise control, heating, all eyesight controls went blank. This causes cruise control at highway speed to quit, causing sudden deceleration at highways speeds. Sometime the screen reboots, most times it requires driver to pull car over to reset. This also controls GPS and Heating/Air. There have been times when I have working canines in the car and loss of air conditioner in summer months has been extremely problematic requiring pulling car off road to open windows to ventilate. Multiple trips to dealer, and open case with SOA results in no resolution, as there apparently is no fix. Recently 11/1/21 instructed when this happens to push my front defroster button five times after reboot to record codes. How distracting while driving is this? Feel like this is severely underreported as owners frustrated. Receiving dealer instruction to look at touchscreen while driving causes the cars alert function to activate saying “keep eyes on road”. Why are they advising this unsafe action? Recent software updates as late as last week of October installed and does not fix issue, verified by dealer service manager. Multiple incidents, recorded on my phone video, last incident occurred 7/12/2021. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Front window crack without being struck by rock or any other object in the second month of ownership. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The vehicle on board computer system periodically goes completely black (i.e., completely shuts down) disabling all of the operator controls (heater/fan/defrost controls, seat heater controls, temp controls, navigation, radio and other dash monitoring and informational controls, etc.). I am not sure of all features/functions that are lost because it happens when I am driving and I cannot investigate to see what all functions/indications I have lost. It remains out of service for a short period (the times of the shut down seem to have varied) of time and then comes on and reboots itself. Sometimes it comes back to where/when it shut down, and sometimes it just comes back to the initial ignition/start screen. This requires action by the driver (which is a safety concern because it requires the driver's attention and is distracting) to reset control settings. Navigation sometimes requires resetting an address because the computer lost its destination. This is dangerous. I just had the vehicle serviced for this issue and had a Subaru "FIX" installed - that apparently did not work. The problem still exists. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the home screen on the center console would go blank without warning. Once while driving 65 MPH with the cruise control activated, the center console went blank and the cruise control deactivated with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that vehicle abruptly slowed down due to the failure and the 360-camera feature failed to operate as needed. The dealer was notified and acknowledged the failure; however, they informed the contact that there was no remedy for the defect. An independent mechanic was also notified and provided the contact similar information as the dealer. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 11,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 11,000 |
| Oct 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield spontaneously cracked on passenger side at eye level after 5 months, 5,700 miles | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The emergency braking forward collision system has deployed several times when it should not. In some circumstance the braking could result in the person behind me rear ending me. The main problem is that if the car detects another car directly in front of you, the system will sometimes deploy even if the vehicle is not in the same lane as you. I've had the emergency brakes deployed incorrectly in the following situations. I am driving in the left lane of a 2 lane road with a speed limit of 45 mph and the road is banking sharply to the left. Because of the sharp bank, a car was directly in front of me but in the right lane, so this is a normal non dangerous situation but the brakes deployed. I exited a parkway, the exit ramp banks sharply to the right as most exit ramps do. Directly ahead of me but off the road is a disabled vehicle. There is no danger to me as it is safely off the road, but the brakes were deployed. In both instances there was no one following close behind me but if there was, either situation could have resulted in them rear ending me. I have taken to disabling the emergency braking feature because I no longer feel safe using it. Unfortunately this takes 7 key presses to accomplish and it resets every time you turn the car on. I contacted Subaru customer service to complain, but got ridiculous suggestions, like just turn off the emergency braking when you expect to be driving with a lot of cross traffic. If not rectified, sooner or later that's going to cause an accident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |