2006 Subaru Outback
This year drew an ordinary 280 complaints for a Subaru Outback — the model's median is 293. What they were about is the unusual part: 34.3% of them mention check engine, against 5.4% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Subaru Outback, which began in 2005 and ran to 2009. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 280 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 293 |
| Involving a crash | 7 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- check engine — 34.3% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the other years of this generation (6.3×).
- pedal — 32.1% of this year's complaints, against 7.1% across the other years of this generation (4.5×).
- control — 37.1% of this year's complaints, against 13.7% across the other years of this generation (2.7×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING AT HIGHWAY AND CITY STREET SPEEDS THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON/THE CRUISE CONTROL FLASHES AND CAR GOES LIMP, GAS PEDAL STOPS WORKING. A CODE THAT HAS SHOWN UP IS P2138.VERY DANGEROUS. WHEN I PUT THE CAR IN NEUTRAL THE ENGINE REVS TO A CONSTANT…
WHILE DRIVING AT 40 MPH, THE ENGINE RPMS INCREASED. IN ADDITION, THE CHECK ENGINE AND THE CRUISE CONTROL WARNING LIGHTS ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE THROTTLE PEDAL POSITION SENSOR NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE V…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V003000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V002000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V001000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V297000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V311000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 15V323000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 13V110000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Outback was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Subaru Outback? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…