37 of the
126 complaints about the 2023 Subaru Outback are about the
driver-assist systems — 29% of everything
reported for this model year.
Half of the failures with a mileage on record happened before
4,900 miles.
F
37
Complaints
5
Crashes
1
Fires
0
Injuries
Exactly what failed
Automatic Emergency Braking
1745.9%
Adaptive Cruise Control
1027.0%
Warnings
821.6%
Blind Spot Detection
12.7%
Camera
12.7%
Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance across every Subaru Outback year
Phantom Braking of Pre-Collision Braking 2023 Subaru Outback Turbo Wednesday, July 29, 2026. 9:30 am, sunny day Driving south on local city street. Brakes slammed on, car stopped, flashing yellow lights on left Combination Meter stating that Pre-Collision Braking was activated. There was no vehicle/obstacle/animal in the road. No parked cars, no cars backing out of a driveway. Road was completely clear. No strange shadows, no cracks in street. Pre-collision braking system hallucinated an obstacle and activated, throwing me forward into steering wheel, and dog in the back seat thrown forward into back of driver’s seat. Restarted car and drove off. Turned off system every time I drove the car until I took it to the dealer 2 days later. Problem was not reproduced by dealer . No messages or warning lights prior to incident. The repair order stated that there was a "sticky" substance on the windshield, but I had just had the car washed. I didn't notice anything on the windshield.
NHTSA complaint #11754558 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The Advanced Driver Assistance System (EyeSight/Automatic Emergency Braking), the Service Brakes, and the Central Electrical System malfunctioned. The vehicle is currently held at an authorized dealership and is available for inspection.On Monday, June 22, 2026, at approximately 4:47 PM, while traveling at highway speeds on I-295 South under clear weather conditions, the vehicle suffered a catastrophic, unprompted automatic emergency braking event. While my right turn signal was active and I was initiating a lane change to pass a truck, the autonomous braking system engaged with maximum force, pulling the brake pedal completely to the floorboards with zero obstacles present. A consumer mobile telematics application (Life360) officially registered the extreme hard-braking event at 4:47 PM. This unprompted stop caused the vehicle to violently lose traction, fishtail across highway lanes, and nearly roll over in high-speed traffic, placing my life and the safety of surrounding motorists at extreme risk.Symptoms of systemic electrical network instability occurred prior to this failure, including a dashboard GPS clock that precisely jumps four hours ahead in specific geographic location, and a power rear liftgate/hatch that randomly opens only halfway or reverses direction unprompted. Furthermore, this identical bouncing and jumping brake system behavior was first reported to an authorized dealership service center in November 2023 at 14,435 miles while operating on factory-original wheels and tires, but the dealer was unable to duplicate or resolve the issue at that time. The manufacturer's corporate customer advocacy team has been notified and a formal vehicle inspection is scheduled for next week.
NHTSA complaint #11749144 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Green Cove Springs, FL
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The Advanced Driver Assistance System (EyeSight/Automatic Emergency Braking), the Service Brakes, and the Central Electrical System malfunctioned. The vehicle is currently held at an authorized dealership and is available for inspection.On Monday, June 22, 2026, at approximately 4:47 PM, while traveling at highway speeds on I-295 South under clear weather conditions, the vehicle suffered a catastrophic, unprompted automatic emergency braking event. While my right turn signal was active and I was initiating a lane change to pass a truck, the autonomous braking system engaged with maximum force, pulling the brake pedal completely to the floorboards with zero obstacles present. A consumer mobile telematics application (Life360) officially registered the extreme hard-braking event at 4:47 PM. This unprompted stop caused the vehicle to violently lose traction, fishtail across highway lanes, and nearly roll over in high-speed traffic, placing my life and the safety of surrounding motorists at extreme risk.Symptoms of systemic electrical network instability occurred prior to this failure, including a dashboard GPS clock that precisely jumps four hours ahead in specific geographic location, and a power rear liftgate/hatch that randomly opens only halfway or reverses direction unprompted. Furthermore, this identical bouncing and jumping brake system behavior was first reported to an authorized dealership service center in November 2023 at 14,435 miles while operating on factory-original wheels and tires, but the dealer was unable to duplicate or resolve the issue at that time. The manufacturer's corporate customer advocacy team has been notified and a formal vehicle inspection is scheduled for next week.
NHTSA complaint #11749144 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
When going down my driveway, the (RAB) Reverse Automatic Braking system will often times turn itself off and not reset like the manual say's it should. I have to stop the car, shut it off and open the door to ensure everything is off and restart the car to get it to reset. It has been in the dealership, Subaru of Kennesaw, Kennesaw Ga 4 time for this issue. Last time it was in the dealership they had it for over a month. And it is still happening. This started after a software update done on 10-28-2024 and to date has happened 52 times since then. I have photo documentation of these instances. These exceeded the max allowable of your website so did no upload them.
NHTSA complaint #11651579 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The vehicle has received all scheduled and regular maintenance. I was driving right around the speed limit of 50 mph. Traffic was stopped ahead, and I had plenty of time and space to stop. I pressed the brake pedal, but continued to coast. I pressed it harder, all the way to the floor for at least four seconds, and there was no resistance, no feel of the antilock brakes kicking in, no emergency braking to avoid a collision, and no braking or slowing whatsoever. I could not safely swerve out of my lane, as there was no shoulder on my left and traffic on my right, and so there was an accident. The vehicle is currently at the body shop, and I told Stare Farm about the brakes, but they have no intention of investigating it.
NHTSA complaint #11628020 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Lancaster, PACrash
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The vehicle has received all scheduled and regular maintenance. I was driving right around the speed limit of 50 mph. Traffic was stopped ahead, and I had plenty of time and space to stop. I pressed the brake pedal, but continued to coast. I pressed it harder, all the way to the floor for at least four seconds, and there was no resistance, no feel of the antilock brakes kicking in, no emergency braking to avoid a collision, and no braking or slowing whatsoever. I could not safely swerve out of my lane, as there was no shoulder on my left and traffic on my right, and so there was an accident. The vehicle is currently at the body shop, and I told Stare Farm about the brakes, but they have no intention of investigating it.
NHTSA complaint #11628020 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Santa Monica, CA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
This complain is specific to the wireless charging pad featured in the Touring 2023 model I leased. The wireless charging pad overheats very quickly, thus overheating the phone it's charging. Even if the device is just plugged into a charging cord, located right next to the charging pad, it will overheat the phone, sometimes to the degree that the phone and the screen console will go blank. This has been incredibly dangerous when using the screen for navigation on the highway and the whole thing goes black/malfunctions, and this has happened quite a few times. The other frustrating issue is that the battery of my phone has overheated many times so it doesn't hold much of a charge anymore. The other issue is that the Eyesight function, which is necessary for cruise control, goes out often and completely malfunctions in head-on strong sunlight, which is often in Southern California.
NHTSA complaint #11622339 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Hampton Township, NJ
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
When coming to a stop at a stop sign, the car jerks and the engine appears to stall. I have brought it to 2 dealerships and both have said that it is "normal". I have had dozens of cars and none have ever performed in this manner. The adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking frequently brakes for no reason or does not recognize cars in front of me. It regularly misses large objects directly in front of the car. The system also has a lot of failures and turns itself off randomly for unknown reasons. (again, "working as designed")
NHTSA complaint #11620816 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
When coming to a stop at a stop sign, the car jerks and the engine appears to stall. I have brought it to 2 dealerships and both have said that it is "normal". I have had dozens of cars and none have ever performed in this manner. The adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking frequently brakes for no reason or does not recognize cars in front of me. It regularly misses large objects directly in front of the car. The system also has a lot of failures and turns itself off randomly for unknown reasons. (again, "working as designed")
NHTSA complaint #11620816 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Warren, PA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
In the last approximately 8 months my car has deployed the forward collision warning--Slamming on the brakes-red lights flashing on the screen-seat belts locking--for no apparent reason. Nothing was in front of me!! Twice I was in a local construction zone with cars right behind me and was nearly rear-ended!! Very Frightening experience each time! I took it to the Subaru dealer but they found nothing wrong with the eye sight technology. They did a test drive and it did not do that for them.. But what are the chances that it would occur for them when it has only occurred once a month or so. Contacted Subaru Customer line and was basically told unless it could be collaborated by their mechanics -there was nothing they could do.! Unbelieveable!! Ironic if my safety features are going to get me in an accident!! I am fearful about driving the car as there is no rhyme or reason to the device malfunctioning and slamming on the brakes. I hope you have some information on this to help me.
NHTSA complaint #11602697 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Encino, CA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The Eyesight system on my 2023 Subaru Outback will suddenly stop working. It will go out in all conditions, mornings, afternoons and evenings. Sometimes it will go out a a minute or two. Other times it will be out for hours. Since the feature is involved with automatic braking, this poses a safety hazard if there is any kind of driver distraction that occurs, even if it is from an external source like another vehicle. This has been brought to the attention of the local Subaru dealer for a fix. It worked for a period of time and is happening much for frequently now. Many of the other driver monitoring systems in the car have similar issues.
NHTSA complaint #11587316 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The Eyesight system on my 2023 Subaru Outback will suddenly stop working. It will go out in all conditions, mornings, afternoons and evenings. Sometimes it will go out a a minute or two. Other times it will be out for hours. Since the feature is involved with automatic braking, this poses a safety hazard if there is any kind of driver distraction that occurs, even if it is from an external source like another vehicle. This has been brought to the attention of the local Subaru dealer for a fix. It worked for a period of time and is happening much for frequently now. Many of the other driver monitoring systems in the car have similar issues.
NHTSA complaint #11587316 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Gambrills, MD
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
My entire infotainment system, including the "EyeSight" sensors regularly shut off, or won't turn on upon vehicle start. Happens to the radio and other parts of the infotainment system too. It's been happening since about September 2023. I purchased the car in March 2023.
NHTSA complaint #11577064 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Gambrills, MD
LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
My entire infotainment system, including the "EyeSight" sensors regularly shut off, or won't turn on upon vehicle start. Happens to the radio and other parts of the infotainment system too. It's been happening since about September 2023. I purchased the car in March 2023.
NHTSA complaint #11577064 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Gambrills, MD
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
My entire infotainment system, including the "EyeSight" sensors regularly shut off, or won't turn on upon vehicle start. Happens to the radio and other parts of the infotainment system too. It's been happening since about September 2023. I purchased the car in March 2023.
NHTSA complaint #11577064 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
My son was traveling at an appropriate highway speed when the truck in front of him stopped suddenly. He braked immediately and was able to slow down significantly, but not enough to avoid colliding with the back of the truck in front of him. He was going approximately 20 mph, still braking, when the collision occurred. His best recollection is that the vehicle's pre-collision system did not engage until after he collided with the truck. There was damage to the front end of the vehicle but it was not severe. My son moved the vehicle onto the shoulder of the highway and put it in park. The driver of the truck called the police. My sons got out of the vehicle. While they were talking with the other driver and the police, a fire started under the hood of the vehicle and within several minutes the entire vehicle was consumed. The wreckage was towed to 1022 Shannon Court, Livermore CA 94550. In July 2023 we were involved in an accident that impacted the front bumper, left front quarter panel, and Subaru EyeSight system of the same vehicle involved in this accident. Repairs after the July 2023 accident were performed by Kraft Body Shop in Santa Clara, CA. Repair and calibration of the Subaru EyeSight system were performed by Santa Cruz Subaru after that accident.
NHTSA complaint #11574953 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Traveling on I-75 SB just outside Atlanta, was in lane 2 of about 7 lanes. One car in lane 1, bumper was near my driver door, another truck in lane 4 or 5 approx 200' in front of us. We were in the front of a pack of vehicles. I had the cruise control set about 70, weather was clear, about 3 in the afternoon. With nothing in front of us and no warning, the car began flashing the red dash lights, the cluster flashed the red warning about braking, and the brakes were automatically applied with enough force to set the seat belt pretensions and we unweighted the seats. The car drastically slowed, I am unsure the slowest speed, I was attempting to override the braking by pressing the accelerator. The system complied with my command and the car sped back up. We were nearly hit from behind when the following cars attempted to brake and go around us. No physical damage occurred in the incident. The Subaru dealership in Kennesaw attempted to recreate the problem without success. The diagnostic computer found no error codes in the vehicle. We have disabled the advanced safety systems of the Subaru to prevent any further unwanted braking.
NHTSA complaint #11549650 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Dalton, GA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Traveling on I-75 SB just outside Atlanta, was in lane 2 of about 7 lanes. One car in lane 1, bumper was near my driver door, another truck in lane 4 or 5 approx 200' in front of us. We were in the front of a pack of vehicles. I had the cruise control set about 70, weather was clear, about 3 in the afternoon. With nothing in front of us and no warning, the car began flashing the red dash lights, the cluster flashed the red warning about braking, and the brakes were automatically applied with enough force to set the seat belt pretensions and we unweighted the seats. The car drastically slowed, I am unsure the slowest speed, I was attempting to override the braking by pressing the accelerator. The system complied with my command and the car sped back up. We were nearly hit from behind when the following cars attempted to brake and go around us. No physical damage occurred in the incident. The Subaru dealership in Kennesaw attempted to recreate the problem without success. The diagnostic computer found no error codes in the vehicle. We have disabled the advanced safety systems of the Subaru to prevent any further unwanted braking.
NHTSA complaint #11549650 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
San Jacinto, CA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On my 2023 Outback my Subaru Eyesight is intermittently inoperable, which causes my cruise control and automatic braking to not work.
NHTSA complaint #11544611 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
On my 2023 Outback my Subaru Eyesight is intermittently inoperable, which causes my cruise control and automatic braking to not work.
NHTSA complaint #11544611 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
La Habra, CA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The Eyesight keeps disabling itself. And the infotainment system is not working properly. My car is at the dealership and they are telling me they are waiting for back up camera to come off backorder 10/3/23. This means my vehicle will have been at the dealership for repair a total of 45 days if backorder date is correct. I purchased this vehicle brand new 5/6/23. I have researched online and there is a class action lawsuit for the issue. The braking safety system does not work properly and warns with red lights beeping that collision is ahead which then brakes the car automatically when not needed. I have taken the car to dealer 3 times to have this repaired
NHTSA complaint #11541207 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The Eyesight keeps disabling itself. And the infotainment system is not working properly. My car is at the dealership and they are telling me they are waiting for back up camera to come off backorder 10/3/23. This means my vehicle will have been at the dealership for repair a total of 45 days if backorder date is correct. I purchased this vehicle brand new 5/6/23. I have researched online and there is a class action lawsuit for the issue. The braking safety system does not work properly and warns with red lights beeping that collision is ahead which then brakes the car automatically when not needed. I have taken the car to dealer 3 times to have this repaired
NHTSA complaint #11541207 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
While driving at a high rate of speed on a remote road, using cruise control, my vehicle suddenly braked/decelerated for no reason. Could have been the automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, or forward collision warning. The first time it happened, a warning bell sounded, red lights flashed, and the vehicle decelerated VERY rapidly. It happened again about 6 weeks later, but the second time there was no audio or visual warning, the vehicle just decelerated rapidly. If there had been a vehicle behind my vehicle I might have been rear-ended because there was nothing on the road in front of me to warrant rapid deceleration. Also, on both occasions, the deceleration was swift enough to cause items in the vehicle to dislodge.
NHTSA complaint #11528372 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Las Vegas, NV
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While driving at a high rate of speed on a remote road, using cruise control, my vehicle suddenly braked/decelerated for no reason. Could have been the automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, or forward collision warning. The first time it happened, a warning bell sounded, red lights flashed, and the vehicle decelerated VERY rapidly. It happened again about 6 weeks later, but the second time there was no audio or visual warning, the vehicle just decelerated rapidly. If there had been a vehicle behind my vehicle I might have been rear-ended because there was nothing on the road in front of me to warrant rapid deceleration. Also, on both occasions, the deceleration was swift enough to cause items in the vehicle to dislodge.
NHTSA complaint #11528372 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Las Vegas, NV
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
While driving at a high rate of speed on a remote road, using cruise control, my vehicle suddenly braked/decelerated for no reason. Could have been the automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, or forward collision warning. The first time it happened, a warning bell sounded, red lights flashed, and the vehicle decelerated VERY rapidly. It happened again about 6 weeks later, but the second time there was no audio or visual warning, the vehicle just decelerated rapidly. If there had been a vehicle behind my vehicle I might have been rear-ended because there was nothing on the road in front of me to warrant rapid deceleration. Also, on both occasions, the deceleration was swift enough to cause items in the vehicle to dislodge.
NHTSA complaint #11528372 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Pulling into our home driveway at a slow rate of speed, the auto emergency braking engaged for no reason and came to an abrupt stop. This system now has be concerned that it will engage at random times while driving and potentially cause an accident. We are taking the car to the dealer for inspection
NHTSA complaint #11521520 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Automatic Emergency Braking applied violently and unnecessarily when pulling into a parking space on two separate instances in the last week. I was pulling into the parking space this morning as normal. I was applying the brakes, and just before stopping, my car stabbed the brakes. It felt like a car crash, but my car was 3ft from hitting the other car. Immediately after, a message appeared indicating that automatic emergency braking was applied. The same thing happened to my wife last week. In both instances, we both got headaches from the jarring stop. We are taking the car to the dealership tomorrow.
NHTSA complaint #11519135 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I purchased the vehicle about a month ago and almost on a daily basis the precollision breaking system would cause the car to break when there was nothing there. It has picked up parked cars on the side of the road as well as breaked for no apparent reason. I have been almost rear ended a number of times. The precollision breaking system takes several steps to turn off and needs to be turned off every time the car is started. I spoke to the dealership and brought the car in to be looked at. I thought maybe the cameras were too sensitive. I requested for the precollision breaking system to be disconnected since I felt like it was a safety concern. They were unable to reduce the sensitivity or disable the system. They said they could disable it but in doing so I would lose several other features on the car. They could not tell me which ones.
NHTSA complaint #11517305 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
New Marshfield, OHCrash
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
As I was pulling in to park my vehicle, the car accelerated and after running over three small trees, finally stopped. Both my feet were on the brakes; I could not stop the car. Luckily, no one was hurt. The car was towed and Subaru had the car for close to 7 weeks for inspection; they reported no abnormalities with the car. I know that the car accelerated on its own- I had no control as I avoided hitting the cabin and plowing through the woods. I had my new car for 32 days and did not see any warning signs. It was towed on December 12, 2022, the day after the incident. Then Subaru had my car for inspection and repairs and it was picked up on March 22, 2023. I will not drive this car and Subaru has denied my request for a buyback. I will be trading it in for a loss.
NHTSA complaint #11514540 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
As I was pulling in to park my vehicle, the car accelerated and after running over three small trees, finally stopped. Both my feet were on the brakes; I could not stop the car. Luckily, no one was hurt. The car was towed and Subaru had the car for close to 7 weeks for inspection; they reported no abnormalities with the car. I know that the car accelerated on its own- I had no control as I avoided hitting the cabin and plowing through the woods. I had my new car for 32 days and did not see any warning signs. It was towed on December 12, 2022, the day after the incident. Then Subaru had my car for inspection and repairs and it was picked up on March 22, 2023. I will not drive this car and Subaru has denied my request for a buyback. I will be trading it in for a loss.
NHTSA complaint #11514540 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.