Subaru

I made an appointment with Fort Wayne Subaru to bring the car in for repair of the cracked windshield. When I arrived at the dealership, Fort Wayne Subaru ran a ballpoint pen over the cracked windshield and they claimed that there was a very tiny chip, not visible to the eye, on the windshield by the wiper blade. They put in a warranty claim to Subaru America and said I must wait for them to approve the claim before they would repair it under warranty. I waited two weeks, calling them back periodically and eventually they did not approve the claim. I was told by Trevor in the service department that they probably wouldn’t approve it since it was taking so long. I do not blame Trevor. Trevor was quite helpful throughout this whole ordeal.

I decided to go through my insurance to get the repair done and I had to pay a $500 deductible since I had no glass coverage. The repair was done at Fort Wayne Subaru on November 23rd by Mike who is the owner of Autoglass MD. Mike inspected the windshield and his expert opinion was that the crack was a stress crack due to a defective windshield. He took photos to document this. I personally visited the dealership during the first week of December and I spoke with the General Manager Connor ** who acknowledged the Subaru windshield issue and Connor promised me that he would investigate this and get back to me. As of today, December 23rd I have still not heard from him or anyone at Subaru.

I like my Outback but I will not buy another Subaru. Subaru America is an unethical company that does not stand behind its products and does not honor their warranties. I also feel that the dealership could have and should have done more for me. They were unwilling to go up to bat for me to get Subaru to honor my claim. It was explained to me that Subaru America and its dealerships are separate entities, and the dealership is not responsible for warranty issues with Subaru America. I completely disagree with this philosophy; they are both Subaru. The bottom line is that I am very disappointed in the way this situation was handled and I expected better service and more ethical behavior from a prominent Fort Wayne car dealership business and a large automobile corporation. I will probably not bring my vehicle into their service department unless I need to get something repaired under warranty.

Both the McCurley dealership and the Subaru manufacturer have said, in order to assess the problem, the glitches need to be duplicated. In my dealings with the McCurley dealership, they have not been able to reproduce the same problems that I’ve been experiencing, which means the issues have not been resolved.

I have sent videos and pictures of some of these glitches, freezes, and shutdowns to the Subaru manufacturer to help them understand the electronic failures. I offered these same videos and pictures to McCurley but they are not interested because they claim they need to see the problems themselves. The service department has not taken the time it needs to determine the cause of the glitches.

I have spoken with employees in the McCurley service and sales department who have told me the troubles I’m experiencing with this head failure have been a recognized problem with Subaru vehicles. Apparently, the electronic failures I’ve identified are not an isolated matter. I have taken time off work to bring my vehicle to the dealership service department during their regular hours, Monday through Friday, when the service department handles these kinds of issues. If I were offered a loaner vehicle, I could leave my vehicle to be assessed in the time needed without missing work.

I feel as if I’m getting the run around from both McCurley and the Subaru manufacturer. Both parties have different ideas of how to determine the cause of my car’s problems. When I call the Subaru manufacturer, they say they are waiting on McCurley. When I call McCurley, they say they are waiting on the Subaru manufacturer. I have not received follow-up calls or emails about next steps. I bought a brand new car, with a warranty. I would like my car to be fixed. The process to get it repaired seems like a broken one. Nobody has a solution or has taken ownership of getting it fixed.

Who agrees to pay more than half unless they admit their engines don’t hold up? The customer advocacy manager who called me (she must be the CEO of Subaru because she doesn’t have a manager above her) just went around in circles with me while refusing to acknowledge that this was a problem in 2018. She didn’t say I was a liar but pretty much she said it didn’t fail the test then so just because the oil light came on and there was no oil doesn’t mean it was burning.. O.. Ok? Even though the problem started 20,000 miles before the warranty was up it doesn’t matter. Subaru did offer to pay more than half of the $8000 engine replacement, but even $3,000 is a struggle for us being on one income, with only this one car. Even 70,000 miles is way too low of mileage to have this kind of problem.

It seems this problem is very common and this is all very disappointing. Even being on hold with them you hear recordings boasting about “the Subaru family” and how much they care. Well I must be the black sheep of the family. We loved our 2010 forester and traded it in in 2015 for This one. We still thought we would get a new one after this one but if we have to pay for a new engine 10,000 miles past the warranty because of a common problem like burning oil that started during the warranty period (there’s cars 20 years old that don’t have this problem) then no thanks.

We will not buy another Subaru again, not so much because of the problems, because hey problems happen, but we will not buy one because they are not willing to stand 100% behind their products (only 62.5% apparently). The car was burning oil at 39,000 miles and they admit that but it wasn’t burning enough to fail the test. Now it’s burning 23oz every 1200 miles. For a 2015 with 70,000 miles. I know, ridiculous. So anyways it’s a little more sentimental for us since we loved the car, but if owning a Subaru means needing a new engine at 70,000 miles then we will buy a different brand, and I recommend you do the same.

My car is still under warranty having only 32,000 miles on it. I am still paying a payment on a car that I have not had in two weeks because Subaru is stating that the technician has to catch it on their computers for them to replace anything. Subaru has all these ratings for being such a good company that cares about their customers but I am highly encouraging people to stay away from Subaru after this incident which is not resolved. I have contacted the customer care line only to be told the support specialist would reach out to the dealership and get back to me which has yet to happen. I am so beyond irritated at this point. I just want my car back and I want it fixed.

I take my SUV on Subaru service center twice. They are not able to fixed that issue. I guess they don’t have experienced technicians. They tried to fix and said it’s manufactured fault. Right now I am confused. What I gonna do. This SUV is not value to money so I decide to give review about my experience for helping people be careful before buying this suv make sure first check the seats in this SUV. After buying no one take responsibility. My car is under warranty but they didn’t fix. I go every week in service center and request them please fix my car.