2022 Subaru Outback
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Visibility/wiper is the leading concern among 463 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 8th highest complaint count among 26 Outback model years with reports.
Of the 2022 reports, 10 involved a crash and 4 involved a fire. 6 people were injured.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
Air bags, sensor, occupant classification, front passengerMar 22, 2024
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Outback and Legacy vehicles. A capacitor in the sensors for the Occupant Detection System (ODS) may crack and short circuit, which can prevent the front passenger air bag from deploying in a crash.
An air bag that does not deploy during a crash can increase the risk of injury.
Dealers will replace the ODS sensors on the front passenger seat, free of charge. Owner notifications were mailed February 3, 2025. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WRA-24.
Campaign 24V227000 on NHTSA.gov
Power train, automatic transmission, park/neutral start interlock switchNov 9, 2023
Subaru of America, Inc. is recalling certain model year 2021 Crosstrek, 2022 Forester, 2021-2023 Legacy, and Outback vehicles. An insufficient weld may allow water to enter the inhibitor switch, causing it to fail.
An inoperative inhibitor switch may prevent the reverse lights from illuminating and the rearview camera image from displaying, increasing the risk of a crash.
Dealers will replace the inhibitor switch, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 8, 2024. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-800-782-2783. Subaru's number for this recall is WRQ-23.
Campaign 23V755000 on NHTSA.gov
Visibility, windshieldSep 22, 2022
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2022 Impreza and Outback vehicles. The incorrect paint clearcoat may have been applied, which can cause the windshield to be insufficiently bonded to the vehicle. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 212, "Windshield Mounting."
An insufficiently bonded windshield can detach during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
Subaru will offer owners a vehicle exchange or repurchase, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed November 21, 2022. Owners may contact Subaru's customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WRH-22.
Campaign 22V712000 on NHTSA.gov
Engine and engine cooling, engine, engine control module (ecu/ecm)Jul 1, 2022
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2022 Outback vehicles. The engine wiring harness may have been damaged, resulting in a loose electrical connection to the engine control unit (ECU).
A loose electrical connection to the ECU may cause an engine stall, increasing the risk of a crash.
Dealers will replace the engine wiring harness and ECU, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed August 30, 2022. Owners may contact Subaru's customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WRC-22.
Campaign 22V473000 on NHTSA.gov
Representative owner complaints
463 reports, newest first.
Visibility/wiper, Mar 21, 2023
I started my car via the mysubaru app so it could warm up. The outside temperature was around 25 and I had full heat via the app..which the front defroster was on. I get to leave and before I pulled away, the windshield cracked, without any cause. It cracked mid-way left side and spread halfway across over the following few days. It is apparent this is a known issue as there appears to be a defect with this generation of windshields and the amount of reported issues. Additionally, I filed a complaint with the BBB and encourage others to report this safety issue to BBB.
Visibility/wiper, Mar 20, 2023
The car was parked in my driveway overnight and developed a cracked windshield without any viable impact from an outside object. The crack is midway up.
Visibility/wiper, Mar 16, 2023
Windshield cracks from a very small pebble. The whole driver side. Windshield is defective. Has not been inspected yet.
Power train, Mar 16, 2023
I purchased a 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness in August 2021. I've made several complaints to my dealership about issues of the vehicle jerking during deaccelartion, holding high RPM during acceleration, or rough acceleration. Everytime, I've taken the vehicle to the dealership to have to investigate the issue, I've been told the same response, "The technician was unable to replicate the issue." I know there is somethings wrong with my transmission, I've read several other Wilderness owners having the same issue, and their transmissions were replaced at 9,500 miles or less. My vehicle is currently at 15,000 miles, I've maintained it through the dealership in reference to servicing. I've owned a vehicle that previous had a similar issue, and the issue ended up being an issue with the transmission control unit and pressure mechanism inside. The transmission had to be rebuilt because of this issue. I would not recommend owning a 2022 Outback Wilderness to anyone.
Visibility/wiper, Mar 13, 2023
Windshield started spontaneously cracking from bottom of glass without any sign of rock or glass strike. Dealers will not replace due to manufacturer defects. Vehicle only has 14K miles, less than one year from purchase. After researching outback social forum, this is a problem many other owners with exact model experienced glass spontaneously cracks. Also there was a class action lawsuit against subaru for previous subaru outback model year 2015-2019 for the same exact problem/
Visibility/wiper, Mar 9, 2023
While sitting stationary on our driveway over the weekend, the windshield of our relatively brand new 2022 Subaru Outback developed a large crack starting from the center bottom and is slowly creeping up. There are no rock chips or any damage that would have caused this crack. Looking online and this is an incredibly common issue and frustration. I'm attempting to have Subaru replace it themselves but I worry the next one will crack in the same amount of time. In all my years of driving and owning cars, I have never experienced a cracked windshield before.
Power train, Mar 9, 2023, crash
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while reversing out of his garage, the vehicle made an abnormal sound, and while the transmission was shifted into reverse (R), the vehicle rapidly accelerated, crashing into a tree. The contact stated the vehicle made the abnormal sound again and rapidly accelerated forward, crashing into a fence. The contact sustained injuries to his head and received medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a collision center. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000. The VIN was not available. The contact stated the vehicle changed gears and right foot wasn't close to the accelerator during the crash. Medical attention was not required because the head injury was not severe.
Visibility/wiper, Mar 5, 2023
The problem is with the windshield. On 12/26/22 a crack about 8" long appeared spontaneously on the passenger side running from the edge straight towards the middle. I drove the car that day and noticed at dusk that another crack appeared, starting at the bottom edge in front of the driver and running upward towards the middle. Both of these occurred with no noticeable impacts from stones. Both cracks have continued to grow over time. I contacted the dealer on 12/31/22 , where they took pictures and notified Subaru. Three weeks later Subaru wanted more, better pictures so the dealer took more. After receiving no response, three weeks later I contacted Subaru through their website. Their response to contact me still has not been fulfilled. Given the nature of these cracks, the expense and safety issues of having extensive cracks, I decided to contact NHSTA.
Visibility/wiper, Mar 5, 2023
Needing to replace windshield again due to smallest rock hitting windshield and cracking it. Wind shield has been replaced 3 separate occurrences due to the same issue.
Visibility/wiper, Feb 27, 2023
We had some cold weather in Minneapolis but we were told that Suburu had worked out its cracked windshield issues when we purchased the outback. Not true. A crack developed from the center of the base of windshield and continues a third of the way up
Visibility/wiper, Feb 26, 2023
I was driving, approximately 50 miles per hour, when my windshield cracked from top center down and across the driver's side obscuring my view and startling me. Nothing struck my windshield and there are no divets or marks other than a clean crack that looks like a stress fracture. There were no other vehicles near me and I was on a paved road. My car is 6 months old with 3300 miles on it.
Tires, Feb 25, 2023
The Outback Wilderness comes stock with Yokohama Geolandar A/T 225/65R17. There was 13,300 miles on it from factory new tires. At interstate speed of about 75mph, the tread appears to have fully separated from the sidewalls. The tread was closely inspected for any debris by myself, my dealer, and others and no tire punctures are present. We believe this tire has a manufacturers defect and would like to have it inspected if possible. We have kept the tread, despite asking dealer to save all part of tire, the still managed to lose the part from the rim, thought there as not much left from the accident, it was virtually destroyed. Very unusual in all my years of driving.
Visibility/wiper, Feb 23, 2023
The windshield cracked without provocation of a rock or any impact, just cold weather. I don’t feel that the windshield of my “ski car” should just crack if the weather gets cold. I was up skiing at our local mountain before this occurred and heard concerning sounds from the windshield. Lo and behold a few weeks later it cracked on its own.
Vehicle speed control, Feb 17, 2023, crash
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving approximately 1 to 2 mph on two occasions into a parking spot, the vehicle hesitated then accelerated and crashed into a pole. There were no warning lights illuminated. There were no reported injuries, air bag deployment, or fire. A police report was filed. The vehicle was taken to a collision shop. The contact called the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and had an investigator inspect the vehicle but was unable to duplicate the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 700. The VIN was not available.
Engine, Feb 16, 2023
This has happened many times since my vehicle ownership in May. Today for example I am on the highway cruising along (cruise control set) and alarms start going off, the vehicle lurches as it self-disables safety features one by one - Cruise control shuts off automatically - check engine light on, reverse auto breaking disabled, lane assist disabled, Collision avoidance disabled, entire eyesight system disabled. (and I'm sure more I am missing) I have contacted Subaru of America many times about this fault, they have yet to respond appropriately to my inquiries (usually they dont respond at all or simply tell me something about the factory stereo?). The only fix I've found is removing the gas cap tapping it a few times and resetting (to the "one-click") tightness. After multiple start/stops the codes will clear and life will resume with safety features. This incident today was 204.3 miles into my gas tank, not sure how the gas cap is related but something is definitely wrong. If it truly is the gas cap they could simply have a small icon on the 11" display vs disabling every safety feature- While I am DRIVING!
Visibility/wiper, Feb 13, 2023
The windshield cracked without any impact to it after five months of taking delivery on my 2022 Subaru Outback. The crack appears to have originated from the base of the windshield, under the plastic cover. The car was parked outside with the temperature close to 44 Fahrenheit, and was not moving. Based on the amount of the reports for a broken windshields for this model, this is not an anomaly. Subaru should address this issue before they have another lawsuit that covered previous generations. This is my first introduction to the car maker, and it is not going well as one would hope.
Other or unspecified, Feb 10, 2023
Went out our Outback this morning and noticed a crack in the windshield. The crack originates from the drivers side edge of the windshield, at approx. the midpoint of the vertical edge of the windshield. I drove the car yesterday without incident. There was no crack in the windshield when I parked in the driveway yesterday, late afternoon/early evening. There does not appear to be a rock chip or impact crater at any point of the crack. The crack appears to have formed spontaneously without an impact to the glass.
Visibility/wiper, Feb 9, 2023
Windshield cracked while driving in low temperatures, forming a foot long crack from the passenger side edge inward. No impact was felt or heard, but the Subaru service department claims to see an 'impact event', so they're not covering it under warranty.
Visibility/wiper, Feb 6, 2023
Went to work one morning and noticed a crack from black piece of windshield under wipers 12 inch up center of windshield with no impact noted temps in upper 30s
Other or unspecified, Feb 1, 2023
Minor pebble chip hit the lower area center of the windshield (with the sound effect of maybe small paper clip equivalent). Initial impact created a 3" crack, which spidered to about 36" in total within a few hours. Impact 12/7/2022. A minor impact should not compromise a windshield so significantly and so extensively and put passenger safety at risk with poor glass quality. Independent windshield replacement company has observed unusually high volumes of windshield replacements for late year Subaru Outback models. Windshield replaced asap 12/12/2022.
Visibility/wiper, Jan 31, 2023
Vehicle windshield shattered without noticeable impact from object, producing a 12 inch crack on center of glass. Dealership refused to warranty the glass, claiming that they did not see the damage occur and cannot verify it was spontaneous. Repair costs were egregiously high given that a camera recalibration is mandatory to ensure safety, quoted at $675 - more than the price of the replacement glass itself.
Visibility/wiper, Jan 30, 2023
Windshield spontaneously cracked on lower right side. Crack spread within minutes across entire windshield. This happened in May 2022 in fairly decent temperatures in the upper 60’s
Electrical system, Engine, Jan 29, 2023
On January 28, 2023 at approximately 1930 hours, vehicle battery was dead after being in a parking garage for a week. Vehicle was jump started and being driven on a highway for about 10 miles at highway speeds. At a location on the NYC Harlem River Drive, traffic came to a stop for a minute or so. The 'Auto Start Stop System' stopped the motor as designed. When traffic started to move again, the motor would not restart and the battery was dead. We were disabled in the left lane of an unlit high speed, high volume highway in the dark with our emergency flashers rapidly going dim. After about 45 minutes and numerous near serious collision misses, a tow truck arrived to tow us off of the highway. The system that failed was the 'Auto Start Stop System' and the vehicle is available for inspection. I have 40 years of investigating and reconstructing fatal and serious motor vehicle collisions and this defect put the safety of the motoring public at a serious risk. It is unknown if the problem has been reproduced and the component has not been inspected by the manufacturer. There was not any warning indicators or other symptoms of the problem. To the contrary, the vehicle operator had the false assumption that all systems were operating properly. This defect presents a high risk of serious injury to highway users.
Visibility, Jan 26, 2023
The windshield cracked during a severe weather incident where outside temperature was -24 degrees. There were no stone chips or any other issues with the windshield. I drove the car for approximately 20 minutes with the defroster on, when I got home I pulled the car into the garage, when I got back into the vehicle the windshield was cracked from the bottom left of the driver’s side across the windshield toward the middle. I took the vehicle to safelite first, they said the sandwich piece of glass between the exterior section and interior section of the windshield had suffered a failure to to extreme temperature differential. They had seen a number of similar failures since from the prior weekend. They said it is a manufacture issue and said to take it to the dealer for a warranty issue. I took it the the Subaru dealer where I purchased the vehicle, they inspected the windshield and took a number of photographs to submit to Subaru. I was told their windshield experts would examine the photos and get back to them with an answer, that will be four weeks ago tomorrow, Friday the 27th. Meanwhile I’m driving a vehicle with a broken windshield which is not safe. I called Subaru customer care and they are trying to contact the dealership about the claim submission but haven’t been successful. I can certainly pay to replace the windshield, however, if it is a manufactured error I believe Subaru should honor the claim and replace it. I searched the Subaru Outback owners portal and found numerous similar incidents where owners claimed the windshield failed under similar circumstances. According to safelite, Subaru windshields are softer than most manufacturers in an effort to save weight and expense.
Visibility/wiper, Jan 26, 2023
I was driving to work, temps in the mid-thirties, and I heard a crack. It was confusing because there was nobody else on the roadway with me. That's when I looked and saw a 12" crack, beginning at the bottom-middle of the windshield and extending upward.