Problems with 2010 Subaru Outback POWER TRAIN

When driving and approaching a traffic light the car will begin to stutter as if there is a clog in the system. then it will shut off. i contacted subaru regarding the issue when we first had the car because there was always a loss of power. our model is the outback 2010. they inspected and said it was a carbon build up in the pistons that would cause this issue. there hasn't been any recalls or subaru notices about this. now while driving and coming to a stop the car just turns off. on your site nhsta some other customers have been saying that it could also be a bad torque converter. either way this issue could cause serious accident if not dealt with. the stutter and shutting off happens any time of the day and cold or hot weather it doesn't matter. some days it happens more often the others and usually after a few times of shutting off the problem does stop for remainder of the day.

We bought our car in 2010 its a subaru outback. there has always been an issue with a loss of power. the dealership at the time said it was caused by excessive carbon build up on the pistons. its now 2016 and the car will stutter and shut off when you are braking at red lights. to try to beat the stutter and stall, i find myself having to ease off the brakes and try to reapply my brakes to see if it won't shut off. i've avoid many accidents but one of these days i won't be so lucky. i feel a rear end accident is coming. this stutter and stall happens any time during the day and in any weather. this morning there was no issue, this afternoon there might be. usually once the car stutters and stalls the problem goes away for the day. i read some other complaints on nhsta and they are reporting their similar issue as it being a possible torque converter problem. i'm not sure either way since my mileage puts me over the warranty and i don't want an accident to deal with i would like to see what are options to getting this problem taken care since its been doing this since 2010.

Vehicle stalls when coming to a hard stop. apparently this is a known issue to subaru since they issued a service bulletin in 2012 - service bulletin # 16-90-13 design change to lock-up type torque converter bulletin description: this bulletin announces the availability of a countermeasure torque converter assembly to address a customer concern of very low engine rpm when coming to a stop. the condition is similar to coming to a stop in a manual transmission equipped vehicle without depressing the clutch pedal. thrust washer wear inside the torque converter can cause restriction of the oil passage used to bleed off lock-up clutch application pressure. the result is either a delayed (momentary low engine rpm) or no lock-up pressure release. the thrust washer has been changed from a solid bushing-type to a needle bearing type. i'm not sure why this was not a recall since stalling should be considered a safety issue.

Vehicle stalls when coming to a hard stop. the condition is similar to coming to a stop in a manual transmission equipped vehicle without depressing the clutch pedal. this seems like a safety issue to me.

Both right and left cylinder head gaskets defective (blown). right hand cylinder head cracked.

Car stalls from rapid braking. dealer reports the torque converter is defective.

Cvt transmission. the vehicle predictably stalls while in motion approaching a stop on city streets or on the highway. electric system remains operational during and after stalling indicating that the issue is unrelated to electrical system. mechanic believes issue to be now-known and widespread faulty torque converter. vehicle stalling in traffic has become very dangerous and has nearly caused several accidents.

Car shudders and sounds like engine will die when coming to complete stop. if this were a manual transmission, feels as if clutch should be pushed in. problem occurs intermittently. cold or hot engine. problem became noticeable around 58,000-60,000 mile.

Vehicle placed in park and ignition turned off. engine would not restart. towed to mechanic. mechanic restarted after sensing loose ignition connection and noted no other problems. returned vehicle to owner, parked in garage in park and ignition turned off. engine would not restart. mechanic came to home and restarted as before. driving to repair shop, stopped and placed in park, but left running and exited vehicle. apparently transmission not actually in park but in reverse and traveled a distance before hitting a tree causing an estimated $9,000 damage to vehicle. apparently shifter in park but transmission in reverse and loose connection in transmission/ignition communication. shortly after purchase and delivery of vehicle in 2010, experienced significant recurrent problem believed to be transmission related thought to be fixed.

I bought my outback in march 2010. i noticed my dash lights flickering early in my ownership, but i thought they flickered because maybe i went into a shadow and a sensor caused them to go off and on. the feeling the car is going to stall has happened before, but it was and would only happen every now and again. on a recent trip, january 8, 2012, it did it every time i slowed down for 4 or 5 traffic lights . that really got my attention. i thought maybe my brakes were catching so i took it into my dealer on january 12, 2010. they told me the brakes were fine. after i thought about it, i decided the "catching feeling" actually felt more like l had not depressed a clutch when slowing down and the car was going to stall. the only problem with that theory is that i have an automatic i spoke to my-son in-law about the feeling that the engine is going to stall when i slow down at a light. he mentioned that he had noticed the flickering lights last winter when he drove my car. he explained to me that it was not normal for the lights to do that. he told me to have the alternator checked out. i took it back to the dealer on january 27, 2012. they ran three different diagnostic test and everything checked out fine. i am so afraid the car will cut out on me and i will lose control on the road. i thought i was the only one having this problem, but after my son did an internet search he found a lot of people having the same problem. from the complaints i read most people have a manual transmission. *tr

I took my 2010 subaru outback to my dealer to have my front brakes checked. it felt like they were grabbing, and i wanted to check the wear. they checked the brakes, cleaned them up, and stated they were at normal wear for 35,000 miles. in the next breath, they stated i needed a new transmission. i still have not gotten an exact reason why my two year old car needs a new transmission. i have a cvt automatic/manual transmission. the dealer was very vague as to what happened. they stated it was the first one they've seen this happen to. *kb

Engine idle drops 200 rpm below normal under braking at low speeds. sometimes this results in an engine stall in traffic. subaru of america suggested a transmission "retraining" which seems to have cured the issue. *tt

Subaru outback steering wheel shimmy and vibration. i purchased my 2010 subaru outback new in october of 2010. after driving the vehicle home and spending a few miles getting used to the feel and sensation of a new car, i noticed that the ride of the car was somewhat unsettled, vibrating and shaking at highway speed. i initially attributed this to the new tires and slightly overly inflated tire pressure. i precisely adjusted the tire pressure and spent the next few months waiting for the tires to "settle in" and smooth out. my wife started driving the car regularly and did not mention any issue about the ride. i drove the car several times afterwards and on each trip found the car very very uncomfortable to drive. the ride is noticeable leaving the driveway but is most apparent at highway speed, most especially in low power situations like coasting down descents at greater than 60mph. the steering wheel shakes dramatically in this situation. thinking that the cause of the shaking was the oem tires, i removed the conti contisport tires and replaced them with michelin defender xt's from costco. almost immediately, i noticed that the tires were no smoother than the oem's. i had costco remove and rebalance the tires. the steering wheel shake and vibration remained even after the rebalance. i was about to return the car to costco when i found the link on the subaru forum about "shaky subarus" and that the problem was so widespread that a technical service bulletin (tsb) had been issued about the problem, mandating that major modifications be made to the car. i have not been notified by soa about the tsb. *tr

2010 subaru outback automatic,2.5i, in first month of ownership noticed vehicle wanted to stall when i slowed down or stopped. have had for 4 months vehicle is worse, rpm's drop to near zero, car will then idle fast to compensate...in the last month vehicle has a severe shudder, on top of the near stalling...was told by dealer that subaru has fixed problem on manuals but is still waiting for software for automatics to reflash computer. car is very shaky after the near stalls upon acceleration. car also accelerates when i have foot on brake and release to inch forward (waiting in traffic) as though it has a very fast idle. i was told by corporate headquarters today, that there is no problem with the automatics..just manuals???? my dealer disagrees and stated today that i am not the only person with this problem waiting for a solution. *tr

I have a 2010 subaru outback with a 6 speed manual transmission. when the clutch is depressed to slow down for a stop, the engine will sometimes stall. the stalling has occurred about a dozen times in three months. the engine tries to stall under similar conditions about 50% of the time, i.e. the dash lights come on, and the a/c compressor and fan cut off. the problem occurs primarily when the air conditioning is on, and the temperature is above 85 degrees. a month ago, i took the car to the dealer for two recalls, and two other problems including this one. the mechanic stated subaru was aware of this problem, but his computer had not been upgraded to reflash the ecu. the dealership stated they would call when the ecu upgrade (flash) was available. one month later, they still had not called. i called the dealer today, and have an appointment friday (8/27/10) to have the ecu upgraded. when the car stalls, power steering and brakes are lost resulting in unsafe driving conditions. *tr

I purchased a 2010 subaru outback 2.5i with a 6 speed manual transmission on may 2010. what has been happening is upon fully depressing the clutch to either slow the car down and/or bring the car to a coast the engine rpms drops rather rapidly which on several occasions has resulted in the vehicle borderline stalling before the engine computer compensates by increasing the idle slightly while coasting or slowing down with the clutch depressed. this is far more prevalent when the a/c is running. today (sun 7/25) i was approaching a right turn, the a/c was running. i started the process of slowing down the car by fully depressing the clutch and braking. when i started to turn the steering wheel to enter the turn i barely could do so. the reason for this is the engine this time stalled. generally you can hear the engine shudder before a stall, in this case it did not. it almost resulted in the vehicle hitting a pole with my two young children inside. the car restarted right away and i was able to resume normal operations. during the course of this same day on at least two more occasion i fully depressed the clutch to either slow the car or coast and the car shudder indicating a potential stall but the car compensated. this issue needs to be addressed asap because it will result in a serious accident. thank you. *tr

Subaru outback 2010 with cvt transmission bought new. numerous failures. the transmission first failed due to a solenoid open circuit that disabled the car. code p2762 ( last week in march, about 2,600 miles). that was fixed. after this event the transmission would on occasion disengage while still on drive. while driving slowly and after applying brakes to stop at a stop sign. the gas pedal would be depressed, the engine would roar but the car would not move. the transmission would re-engage after shifting to neutral or park and back to drive. the first time this event was reported to the subaru dealer a number of codes came up; c0057, c0045, c0231, c0232, c0282. subaru told the dealer to erase the codes and re-program the software. this event has occurred three times since then (last week of july 2010, about 9,000 miles). the next time was last week in august, about 10,200 miles. since the software was re-programmed no codes appear even though the events are identical. this event happened again in december 2010. i brought the car to the dealer (1/27/11). no codes were found. dealer says that if there are no codes and they cannot reproduce the event then it does not exist as far as they are concerned. the event occurred again in early february 2010.to be stopped at an intersection and press the gas pedal while the car is on drive with nothing happening other then high engine revs is a dangerous situation. consider being in a left turn situation. we have no sympathy from subaru. *tr

(1)under normal driving conditions, (2)the engine stalls approaching a stop when the clutch is depressed, it almost stalls every time i drive it whenever approaching a stop. it has only stalled once in the two weeks i have owned it. possible consequences could be a collision due to loss of power steering, power brakes, and distraction.(3)contacted dealership service department and was advised that they have another vehicle with same problems in for over a month with no fix available yet. i was offered a loaner vehicle, but i declined it. vehicle is a 2011 subaru outback with 6 speed manual transmission, not a 2010. *tr

2010 subaru outback stalls when in neutral or between gears when the clutch is depressed. the stalling occurs nearly daily within the first ten minutes of driving and leaves the driver with no power steering and very limited braking. the problem occurs more frequently when the air conditioning is on. two near accidents due to the condition as there is no indication that the car has stalled unless you keep your eyes on the dashboard lights and watch for them all to light up and the tachometer to zero. subaru has stated that no solution exists but that they are working on it. numerous inconclusive tests done on the car. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 subaru outback. the contact stated when braking to a complete stop and depressing the clutch, or while in neutral, the vehicle would stall without warning. the contact would be able to immediately restart the vehicle but stated the failure would usually occur when the vehicle had not been operated in some time. the vehicle was taken to the dealer twice but the failure could not be duplicated. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer would not provide any assistance. the failure mileage was approximately 5,000 and the current mileage was approximately 6,100.

It is a manual transmission car. when you re driving in 3rd gear and shift down to 2nd to make a rolling right or left turn the car stalls out. the only way you know it has shut itself off is that you have no power and all the idiot lights come on. it also happened when i shifted into 1st coming up to a stop sign. this problem didn't start until the car was about 3 months old then it started to do it within a mile to 2 miles of driving after it had been sitting overnight or all day while i worked. i took it back to the dealer after about 4 or 5 times of it happening. they checked it could not find anything wrong. they contacted their corporate headquarters who sent someone out to look at it and performed a bunch of test on it. they then found other cars with the same problem and started working on a fix for the car. they have offered to swap cars with me which we are in the processes of doing. they have also informed me they now feel they have a fix for this car, but i am leary to try it. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 subaru outback. the contact stated when downshifting from second to third gear, the vehicle would stall and lose all power. the power steering and brakes would become inoperable when the failure occurred.the vechile was taken to the dealer where a diagnostic test was perfomred, during which the vehicle continued to fall to rpms of 300 until it would stall. the vehicle was left in the dealer's possession for further diagnostic testing. the failure and current mileages were 900.

5 months after the car was purchased new i started using the air conditioner. within the first week as i was slowing make a right turn into a parking lot from the street i engaged the clutch to shift from 3rd gear to second and the car died and i had no power steering or power brakes. i didn't use the air conditioner all the time. two times the following week the same thing occurred again, both times slowing down and engaging the clutch and down shifting. i took the vehicle in to have it looked at on 6/2/10 and they tested all the sensors and checked it on their computer and they found no problems and asked that i keep a log of each time it happens and if i notice any patterns. i noticed that the majority of times as i would engage the clutch to down shift the tack would drop and the car would shutter and the tack came back up. the times when the tack dropped and then died it did not shutter. the problem only happens when the air conditioner is on. i then had a near collision shifting from 4th to 3rd in a busy t-intersection and called service the next morning, 6/10/10 and scheduled to take the car in on 6/14/10 and did not use the air conditioner at all. the service department duplicated the problem and had a subaru engineer look at it. they erased the car's memory and will have a program written to hopefully fix the problem. since the program will not be available for a long time they are giving me the car back to drive and believe that since they erased the car's memory that may fix the problem. they believe it may be an electrical or computer problem. *tr

2010 subaru outback 3.6r limited, automatic transmission. upon leaving freeway from 50-60 mph and decelerating on the off ramp to approximately 5-15 mph, there is a definitive slam as the transmission downshifts to 2nd or 1st gear. also, when decelerating from 30-60 mph and then applying the accelerator there is a 1-2 second delay before the vehicle begins to accelerate. the vehicle then tends to buck, or accelerate faster than intended from the accelerator being depressed further due to no initial acceleration. i took the vehicle to the dealer who said the vehicle "operates as designed", but reset the transmission "memory" anyway so it would "learn" how i drive. this did not improve performance. this issue occurs every time the vehicle is driven at the above stated speeds. *tr

My husband has tried contacting both subaru north american corporate office and the eastern regional office regarding the several recalls he has received on his 2010 subaru outback. he went to the top because the people at the dealership are - well - stupid; and he his concerned about their ability to "fix" the car properly. he asked the dealer about tsb's and was told there were none; when in deed there are four (4). the people he has contacted are at the vice president level of management. he has also tried to speak to someone in the president's (thomas doll) office. everyone refers him to an 800 customer service number. the people at this number know nothing about cars; all they do is read off what is ever written on their computer screen. of course, subaru has no plant manufacturing problems; their problems are all caused by the companies they get their components from. my husband does not want to be "put-off"; he wants someone from subaru's upper management to give him a call right away. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2010 subaru outback. while driving approximately 30 mph he applied pressure to the brake pedal. he took his foot off of the brake pedal before reaching a stop sign and attempted to accelerate. the vehicle momentarily hesitated before accelerating. the failure recurred while driving approximately 30 mph whenever he attempted to accelerate after applying the brakes. he also stated that while driving approximately 75 mph he took his foot off of the accelerator pedal but the vehicle did not begin to decelerate for approximately 4 seconds. this failure also recurred whenever he was driving approximately 75 mph. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where he was informed that the vehicle was manufactured to operate in that manner. the failure mileage was 2,000 and the current mileage was 8,000.

2010 subaru outback, 3750 miles. took to the dealer when rattling noise seem to come from instrument cluster. dealer had it for a week. dealer service isolated the noise as coming from subaru new transmission. they called the company rep in southern calif. who instructed the dealer to put the car back together and stated the problem is known, and no fix is available. since than i also noticed that when the car is almost in idle, creeping into parking spot, the car jerked forward, and was able to stop it before hitting the car next to me too hard. it is very disturbing to me and i am driving this new car with very little confidence now. *tr

My wife and i have been loyal subaru owners for over ten years, but we have encountered two troubling problems within the same year. the first problem was eventually taken care of by subaru of america after several months of going to different dealers to resolve the problem. we had a bad transmission which finally was recognized as the problem and it needed replacing but subaru of america decided it would buy back the 2009 subaru forrester which had this problem from the day my wife purchased it. we were told we had to buy another subaru but this we thought was no problem. my wife chose a 2010 outback and within a couple of weeks the nightmare started all over again. we thought how could this happen'what are the odds of two cars from subaru having transmission issues. the first time was one thing but a second time? the transmission is electronic but it does not perform properly. we have taken it to the dealership a number of times have been told it is operating normally. we know the transmission is not supposed to slam into first gear when the car comes to a stop after being on the highway. the problem is way past annoying and we need to get to the bottom of this. my wife and i have been more than patient but enough is enough. we have test driven other models of this make and do not experience the transmission issue. my wife drives the car more than me seeing as it is her car but she is at wits end. we are way past being pissed off or extremely angry and want someone from subaru of america to check out this car. *tr

Engine almost stalls when coming to a stop or (not as often) accelerating from a stop. i have spoken with subaru technicians at two dealers and both acknowledge that this is a none issue with no known fix. the frequency of the problem is increasing on my car and may become dangerous if a sudden acceleration is required. *tr

After decelerating to approximated 5-15 mph and then applying the accelerator there is a 1-2 second delay before the vehicle begins to accelerate. when it does it tends to buck or accelerate faster than intended as the accelerator was depressed further as there was no acceleration. driving in city traffic that has almost resulted in a accident dozens of times. there have been two tsb's issued for this known problem one for the engine and one for the transmission, neither one of which has addressed the issue. i have taken the vehicle to two different dealers who state that this is a known issue and that there is no known fix. this issue occurs every time the vehicle is driven at the above stated speeds. *tr