2020 Subaru Outback Electrical System

Issue started when one day my battery was dead. I thought I left the door or light one but that was not it. Dealer visit after dealer visit it’s the same thing. Keep getting the battery replaced with the same OEM. Works for a while and then it’s dead. Luckily I have not been stranded but I have been trying not to drive my Outback to avoid it. All the complaints about this battery is a shame since it’s an excellent vehicle. We need a higher quality replacement instead of spending money for another brand battery when the vehicle is under warranty.

For the third time in a week I have went out to the garage to find the lift gate up and the battery dead. I talked to the dealers service dept. and they said the fob button had to have been pushed which opened the lift gate and the open lift gate drained the battery. Their recommendation was to make sure the fob button doesn’t get accidentally pushed. I have never had any vehicle with this problem before. Doing an internet search I found that a number of Outback and Ascent owners have had this same problem and it was recommended that it be reported here.

Starlink Head System/software malfunctions while driving. This shuts down all safety systems, back up camera, radio. Heating system cannot be controlled while shut down. System restarts automatically after a few minutes but settings, etc may need to be restored. This creates a distraction that could lead to a collision or loss of vehicle control. Investigation reveals that many have this problem with the 11.6" Starlink display. A recall should be initiated for repair/replacement of problem components. Note that two software updates have been completed at the dealer to correct this problem to no avail.

Car is 2 years old. Battery has died twice already. Dealership cannot find any issue other than dead battery. Dealer told me that dead batteries in short timeframes is a known issue with this car. Batteries draining for no apparent reason is a safety risk as it indicates a larger problem, namely a possible parasitic drain on the battery and/or faulty electrical components. Dealer cannot replicate the issue in the few days they have had the car for repair. There was no warning of a battery failure. Car was driven earlier in the day with no issue. Tried to start it about 4 hours later and it was dead. Jump started it to take it to dealer for repair a few days later. Opened an incident report with Subaru of America on 5/2/22.

My 2020 Subaru Outback has had starting issues since shortly after I purchased the car on 1/31/2020. If I do not drive the car for more than two or three days the car will not start without a jump. On one occasion the battery was completely drained so that the fob key would not even unlock the car. Not long after I purchased the car I spoke to a mechanic at the Subaru dealership regarding the battery drain issue. He offered me no solutions except to say that there are many computers in the Subaru Outback and together they draw a lot of current. I do not know if I received a defective battery or if there is some electrical defect causing excessive battery drain when the car is off.

I have a 2020 Subaru outback that I purchased brand new one and a half years ago. It has 31,472 miles on it on December 28, 2021 and then again on January 31, 2021 my car would not start on the battery had to be replaced.

Battery Failure. Auto-start would shut engine off at light and no restart car. Took 3 trips to Subaru to fails their test. Once replaced car is fine now.

Battery draining and constant jump starting. If the car is not driven for a few days the battery is drained out. This has happened on more then one occasion. The vehicle has only 11,339 miles on it. Take it to the dealer and they claim dome lights were left on. Well a fully charged battery leaving a led dome light on won't drain the battery beyond starting. Of course they do a battery test and nothing is wrong. Well, after you drive it of course it will test good. This issue needs to be looked at or at least addressed in some form

The battery on the vehicle began dying repeatedly. At first, the service provider said there was nothing wrong, however the vehicle died again the next day after inspection. Subaru replaced the battery after I brought it in a second time and the vehicle died again the next day. I brought it in a third time, and It turned out that there was a problem in the electrical system that was draining the battery. Subaru has since fixed the issue but I had heard that lots of other Subaru Outbacks were having the same problem so I wanted to report this.

Battery inexplicably drains overnight. 1st occurrence was on 21 December 2021 and second occurrence on 25 December 2021. Car is stored in garage, located in Ponte Vedra, FL and is used daily. Mileage is 31,000 miles.

The left and the right front windows won't roll up when you push the button to roll up the driver side, it goes up and goes down and doesn't shut at all you have to turn off the car to stop it, super dangerous, and the right passenger window doesn't go down or up at all with the driver control on the door. You know what else is INCREDABLY DANGEROUS? THE LED LIGHTS THAT ARE ACTUALLY RETINA BLINDING! THEY BLIND ME AND I'M IN MY OWN CAR, THE OTHER SUBARU LIGHTS ARE BLINDINGLY HIGH AND SHOULD BE A SAFETY RECALL!

The car battery is draining faster than it should. The battery had to be jumped this morning to get me to work. I work 10 miles away from my house and I drive the car around 200 miles a week. I do not use the start stop feature so the battery only starts the car at the beginning of a trip.

My Suburu Outback's battery has gone dead 4 times in a year and a half, the first time at 6 months. I took it to the dealer at a year and a half and they said it didn't show a drain on the battery, the battery was good, and was told I should be sure to start it daily to keep the charge up. After driving 180 miles, the car battery was dead 2 days later. I have never had a car that needed to be turned on daiuly just to keep running. At close to $30,000 purchase price, I would expect dependability. The car is not dependable and is defective.

CONTINUAL BATTERY PROBLEMS. HAD TO JUMP AT LEAST 4 TIMES IN LESS THAN A YEAR AFTER BUYING THE CAR NEW. FINALLY WOULDN'T TAKE A JUMP AND DROPPED OFF THE CAR AT THE DEALER WHERE I BOUGHT THE 2020 SUBARU. THEY SAID THERE WERE KNOWN BATTERY PROBLEMS BUT I NEEDED TO DRIVE THE CAR AT LEAST EVERY 2 DAYS TO KEEP THE BATTERY OPERATIONAL. THE SOLUTION WAS A NEW BATTERY AND AN ECM UPDATE.

EXPERIENCING A DEAD BATTERY. 3RD TIME THIS MONTH. VEHICLE ONLY HAS 7090 MILES ON IT, ONCE JUMPED LASTS A WEEK OR 2 AND THEN REPEATS PROBLEM. DEALER JUST SAYS TO CALL ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE.

WE JUST BOUGHT THIS CAR. USED, LESS THAN 7K MILES. I HAVEN'T EVEN MADE A PAYMENT YET. MY WIFE CALLED ME FROM THE TURN LANE OF A BUSY INTERSECTION WITH HUNDREDS OF CARS SPEEDING PAST. SHE WAS DRIVING AND STOPPED TO TURN LEFT AT A RED LIGHT. WHEN SHE WENT TO GO, THE CAR TURNED OFF AND WOULD NOT START - ALTHOUGH IT APPEARED THERE WAS POWER; RADIO, LIGHTS, ALL WORKING. A POLICE OFFICER AND A PASSER-BY PUSHED HER INTO A PARKING LOT AFTER 20 MINUTES. WHEN I ARRIVED, IT APPEARED THE BATTERY WAS NOT CRANKING THE STARTER. I HAD HER GET JUMPER CABLES AND YES, IT STARTED RIGHT UP. NO INDICATION THAT THE BATTERY WAS HAVING ISSUES, NO WARNING LIGHTS. I TURNED THE AUTO STOP-START OFF WHILE I DROVE IT TO THE DEALERSHIP WHO COULDN'T EVEN TALK TO ME BECAUSE THEY WERE TO BUSY. FORTUNATELY, IT STARTED UP AND MADE IT HOME. TOOK MY SON TO HIS BASEBALL GAME AND AFTER SITTING FOR 3 HOURS, WOULD NOT START, GOT A JUMP. TOOK IT HOME, LET IT RUN A BIT, IN THE MORNING, WOULD NOT START. THE INTERNET IS FULL OF PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT SUBARU AND THIS EXACT ISSUE. THIS SOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IN BASICALLY A NEW CAR.

Battery/car died on new 2020 outback. Less than 35,000. Dealership cannot diagnose the problem. It has happened 4 times. 3 before. 1 after the dealership tried to diagnose.

In approx 2 years, the battery in my brand new 2020 Subaru Outback has died approx 8-10 times. The dealership claims it's Covid related (not driving enough); or the car has so many electrical systems that the battery is being drained as it sits in garage-the fix is me driving it more according to them.

Issue started at 8,000 miles. Dealership blames my driving habits (about 15 miles a day for the most part, with more on the weekends) and states there are no issues with the battery. Walmart. Autozone, etc. tests indicate faulty battery. I've been stranded countelss times until I purchased a portable starter. Before a software update that allowed me to disable the auto start/off function, I got stranded a few times in the middle of the road, having to get out in moving traffic to jump the car.

This is a new car and recently seemed to be having some mid software issues. However, when I went to start it this morning, it is completely dead with no battery power. It has been driven less than 12k miles and should not encounter this issues. I am aware there is a class action lawsuit related to faulty electrical systems in a range of years of this Subaru and I want to note this issue

MY OUTBACK WAS BOUGHT NEW LESS THAN 6 MONTHS AGO AND NOW THE CAR BATTERY WILL NOT HOLD A CHARGE. MY CAR ONLY HAS ABOUT 3,000 MILES ON IT, IT'S USED MOSTLY FOR CITY DRIVING. ONE MORNING MY CAR WAS COMPLETELY DEAD IN OUR DRIVEWAY, NOTHING WOULD TURN ON, SO WE JUMPED THE CAR BATTERY AND IT WORKED FINE THE REST OF THE DAY. WHEN THE CAR TURNED ON, NO LIGHTS WERE ON TO INDICATE THAT THE BATTERY HAD BEEN DRAINED DUE TO LIGHTS BEING KEPT ON. THE NEXT MORNING THE CAR WAS COMPLETELY DEAD AGAIN. WE JUMPED THE CAR AGAIN, BUT AFTER NOT BEING USED FOR SEVERAL HOURS THE CAR BATTERY WAS AGAIN COMPLETELY DEAD. WE ARE TAKING IT TO THE DEALERSHIP BUT IT APPEARS THERE IS ALREADY A LAWSUIT AGAINST SUBARU FOR THE SAME THING HAPPENING IN OTHER 2016-2020 OUTBACKS.

CAR HAD BEEN RUNNING FINE SINCE PURCHASED NEW IN AUG 2020. I HAD A NORMAL 6 MONTH SERVICE APPOINTMENT FOR MONDAY FEB 8, 2021. ON SUNDAY FEB 7, 2021 CAR WOULDN'T START. I CALLED ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE AND THEY CAME TO MY HOME AND USED A BATTERY STARTER TO JUMP START THE CAR. I LET THE CAR RUN FOR 30 MINUTES TO CHARGE THE BATTERY. THE NEXT DAY THE CAR STARTED FINE SO I WENT TO THE DEALERSHIP FOR THE SCHEDULED SERVICE APPOINTMENT. I ASKED THEM TO CHECK THE BATTERY BECAUSE THE CAR HAD TO BE JUMP STARTED THE DAY BEFORE. WHEN THE SERVICE WAS COMPLETE I WAS TOLD THAT THE BATTERY CHECKED OUT FINE. REFER TO ITEM #5 ON ATTACHED SERVICE REPORT. I DROVE THE CAR HOME. ON WEDNESDAY FEB 10, 2021 I TRIED TO START THE CAR BUT IT WOULDN'T START. ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE CAME TO MY HOME AND JUMP STARTED THE CAR. I DROVE THE CAR TO THE DEALERSHIP TO HAVE THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT LOOK FOR A PROBLEM. THE DRIVE TO THE DEALERSHIP TOOK ABOUT 45 MINUTES. WHEN I GOT TO THE DEALERSHIP I TURNED THE CAR OFF AND, WITH THE SERVICE ADVISOR STANDING NEXT TO THE CAR, TRIED TO START THE CAR. THE CAR WOULDN'T START. I'VE SINCE LOOK INLINE FOR SIMILAR COMPLAINTS AND HAVE FOUND THAT LAWSUITS HAVE BEEN FILED AGAINST SUBARU REGARDING SIMILAR COMPLAINTS. SEE PAGE #1 OF ATTACHED MAGAZINE ARTICLE.

Twice I The car is approaching one year old, and twice in the last 2 months the car would not start when I got in the car after it had been sitting in my garage for a number of days. I did not leave the light on or the door open. I had to call Subaru Roadside Assistance to jump start the car because the battery had died. There were no warning signs that the battery had drained. I am a 70 year old woman and it is extremely dangerous for me to be out somewhere, particularly at night, waiting for someone to arrive to give me a jump start. The dealer says the battery is O.K. after getting an appointment with them and having driven it for awhile, but obviously the battery is being drained when it is not driven for awhile.

BATTERY WAS COMPLETED DEAD AFTER SITTING FOR 2 WEEKS IN MY GARAGE. THE SUBARU 24 HOUR ROAD SIDE ASSISTANCE CAME AND JUMPED THE CAR, AND TOLD ME TO DRIVE IT FOR 15 MINUTES. ONCE I TURNED OFF THE CAR, DID MY ERRANDS, AND RETURNED, THE CAR WOULD NOT START AGAIN. HAD TO HAVE IT TOWED TO MY DEALERSHIP AND SUBARU REPLACED THE ENTIRE BATTERY. THIS CAR IS ONLY 15 MONTHS OLD WITH 3200 MILES ON IT. I WAS TOLD THAT I WASN'T "DRIVING IT ENOUGH" -- BUT WITH THE PANDEMIC, WHERE WOULD I BE DRIVING? SHOULD A CAR THAT IS SO NEW EXPERIENCE THESE KINDS OF PROBLEMS ALREADY?

2020 & 2021 model Subaru Outbacks, as well as Accents come with a battery that apparently are unable to power the vast electrical components contained within the car made by Subaru. Subaru service states the auto has to be continually driven, not just running, for the battery to recharge. They do not give a straight answer and place the issue on the vehicle owner usage habits.