We bought the subaru in anchorage and started heading toward our home in fairbanks. approximately 100 miles into the journey we stopped to rest and eat. while sitting in the car talking, there was a pop sound and a large 9-10" crack appeared behind the mirror and binocular cameras descended into the passenger's view. i inspected the outside window for evidence of impact from a rock or debris, such as chipping, but there was none. i tried to get a replacement window after subaru blew me off, but was unable to due to an apparent large demand for replacement glass for this model. since then cracks have appeared spontaneously from the bottom of the windshield working there way up. my son has a brand new 2015 subaru forester, which did the exact same thing on the way home from anchorage. again subaru dealer denied they have seen any problem with the windshield, but read the complaints logged with nhtsa and one can only come to a different conclusion. perhaps subaru is making their glass too thin to reduce weight or there is some sort of flexing of the window midpoint on the glass but this is a problem.
The windshield developed a mysterious crack from the lower corner driver side, and it propagated across in a week a two. we have been unable to find a reasonably priced after market windshield and the quoted cost from the dealer is way too high. we also understand that the dealer has difficulty getting the new glass in a timely manner. i am not willing to spend so much money to replace the windshield when it appears that another crack may occur on this defective product.
This car has a screen in the dashboard that controls the stereo, phone, and other functions. it has a very reflective glassy finish. the screen is not surrounded by a hood of any sort and it is titled at about a 50-degree angle. on other occasions, i have noticed that this screen reflects a lot of sunlight, but it was more of an annoyance than anything. on this occasion, i was driving the car at about 1:30 in the afternoon, going east on a highway. the dashboard screen was reflecting the sun into my eyes so directly that it was painful. it was also distracting. the light was so bright and so consistent that i had to drive while holding my right hand in front of the screen to block the light. i had to drive that way for probably half an hour. i did not have any sort of "accident." however, i can foresee that under the wrong circumstances, this characteristic of the car could blind or distract a driver from seeing other traffic, traffic signals, etc. and cause an accident. it could also cause someone to keep one hand off the wheel and maybe cause an accident that way. it is my opinion that this characteristic of the car should be addressed. *tr
Noticed an 18 inch crack in my 2015 subaru outback windshield starting at the top under the heating element two months ago. was not hit by a rock and no impact spot found. had the windshield replaced three weeks ago. while driving yesterday, heard a cracking sound and noticed a 12 inch crack appear in the lower left (again, starting where the heating element is and again, no rock sound or impact spot). my sister has the exact same car with a crack in the *exact* same spot that developed last week out of the blue (i have photos of both of our cracks for comparison). from doing research, it seems this is a common problem with subaru windshields (www.subaruoutback.org has several forum threads detailing similar reports). *tr
Windshield developed a crack with no noticeable impact from debris. first incident december 1, 2014, windshield replaced with identical model by carlex (minus the subaru oem sticker). the replacement windshield has exhibited the same symptoms (developed a crack with no noticeable impact) on january 15, 2015. this seems like a safety issue for structural and visibility reasons. both cracks began in the windshield wiper heater area. *tr