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SOA Slow Response

4K views 17 replies 13 participants last post by  CRC 
#1 ·
I've been having a serious safety problem on my 2015 Outback Limited for about 4 months. Two times it has stalled completely taking off from a stoplight. That hasn't happened for at least 3 1/2 months. Now it has been hesitating briefly upon accelerating from a complete stop. It starts to move and then it feel like the gas pedal is completely disconnected. When I push down further, nothing happens and then suddenly it takes off. This is very scary when you a trying to get across a very busy intersection. The car never fails to start and I never have the problem at speed. My dealership has been very responsive and accommodating, but, since there has been no "Check Engine" light, they have not been able to find the problem. Subaru has taken over my case for about a month. They installed a data logger in my car, hopefully to record any anomalies. After three weeks of perfect operation, I had three episodes of this problem on the same day. The data logger has been in the hands of Subaru for a week now and they still have not let my service manager know if they determined what the problem might be. Completely unacceptable to me. I have opened up a case with Subaru but their responses have not been in a timely fashion. I am scared to drive this car, but do not have a choice. I am a single retiree living in a very rural area. I do not have access to another vehicle and there is nothing within walking distance. I was hoping to not avail myself of the "Lemon Law", but I may not have a choice. This is my fourth Outback and I have loved them all. I just want this car fixed, SOON.
 
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#2 ·
New vehicles use a drive by wire system which means there is no mechanical connection between the gas peddle and the engine. The computer can kill the accelerator if it is unhappy with anything. Fuel pressure, ignition, air mix plus probably just about anything else it monitors including the brake system. Any momentary fault in any of those systems and the gas peddle can be overridden. Not that this helps you much but this is not an uncommon problem with modern cars, should be fixable however. My audi did this sometimes when turning to the right from a stop. Seems to stop doing it after a while. Who knows why. I expect they will fix it, but I feel your frustration.
 
#3 ·
There are some reports of CVT hesitation on the Forester forums as well, but I haven't seen any recently. Though they haven't done anything to fix the issue, the fact they put a data logger on the car is pretty big. They can't do anything about a problem until they've data logged it and identified the cause.

In the mean time, I would file a case with the NHTSA regarding the issue. SOA is in all likelihood working on a fix since the data logger was present for 3 hesitation events. But an NHTSA report is a good idea since documenting these issues is important, and it may speed up the SOA response.

Have you tried starting from a standstill in first gear? Until they have a software update you could hit the downshift paddle to start off in first gear, then flip the shifter to the manual mode, then back to drive unless you wanted to stay in manual mode. Keep us posted, and stay safe.
 
#4 ·
My Toyota truck will do this when the rear wheels skip over uneven surface rough pavement etc, it triggers the stability system which cuts power to prevent wheel spin etc. It can be really unnerving and the way it cuts power you can actually pump the throttle pedal 2-3 three times before it comes back. Some times is really minor and not easily noticed other times its really obvious to the point where the truck will come to a near stop. If its doing this on any sort of surface where wheel spin can happen like a little loose gravel etc its probably the traction control system killing power to prevent wheel spin.

If the engine is actually stalling meaning you need to actually turn the key again and restart the car then thats a whole different deal.
 
#5 ·
It starts to move and then it feel like the gas pedal is completely disconnected. When I push down further, nothing happens ...
Is your Outback EyeSight equipped? Your symptoms sound a lot like the expected behavior of EyeSight's Pre-Collision Throttle Management function.

ABS, VDC, Traction Control, and EyeSight are all interconnected systems, and all are capable of modulating both the throttle and the brakes.

The good news is that you probably captured three events in the data logger. That will give the engineers something tangible troubleshoot. It's hard to diagnose, much less fix, a malfunction that leaves no trace.
 
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#8 ·
Yes but its something you need to do each time you get into the car and start it. The default is traction system on and eye sight on.

The traction control system in the Subaru is typically pretty tolerant of wheel spin and not as nannyesque as other vehicles like my big heavy tall Toyota SUV which seems to have a Nanny that will cut power if you sneeze.
 
#9 ·
Very similar problem as yours. 2.5L, Outback Limited with Eyesight.

Took a trip to west coast and back home. Put over 6,000 miles on it, all different driving conditions. With 8,000 miles on it, I returned it to the dealer and complained about hesitation, jerky accelerator control, poor acceleration. I was told "they are all that way". I called Subaru Customer Service, got a case number. NEVER, i repeat NEVER did I here back from Subaru after that. Car sat at the dealer for a week, we finally picked it and have continued to drive it, more carefully.

I am convinced it is something to do with the eyesight making sure everything is ok before it accelerates. I think all the software hand-shaking going on is taking to long, causing erattic accelarator, acceleration.

I can disable the lane changing chime, collision avoidance and the adaptive cruise. It runs and drives the same. With all the nanie controls off, it still slows down if you approach a car to close and hits the brakes if a car stops and turns in front of you. Even with all the nanie controls disabled, I am convinced it is not turned off, it still monitors for "worst case" conditions.

This is my 5th Subabru. Extremely disappointed in this one. Will be my last one based on the quality of Subaru customer service.

Gb
 
#11 ·
Hmm.... I too have experienced acceleration from stop that I thought I was laggy.... but only sometimes, on my new '16 3.6R. You're right, I think it is something to do with Eyesight/throttle management, etc. It's almost like the car starts accelerating, hiccups, and starts again. Feels like a bad gear shift, but of course there are no gears, so at first I was thinking it was just the silly "fake gears". But the fact that it only does it SOMETIMES is proof of that to me that its Eyesight related. Almost like the computer doesn't expect me to have such a heavy foot and freaks out. If that's all it is, well.... I'd still rather have Eyesight than not have it. All those systems would definitely have prevented the one and only crash I was ever in. A low speed hood bender in stop and go traffic caused by my heavy foot and a slight distraction. And when it DOES decide to move, it feels and sounds like a Porsche. :D

Also one time I had to floor it to merge into high speed traffic from stop. For a second it felt like the car did not register that I had floored it before finally deciding that yes, I did want to move like a bat out of ****. A little scary (there was no stall but rather really slow acceleration), but luckily the coming car wasn't all that close. Might just try disabling eyesight next time I'm in a situation like this to see if its more responsive.

I think if I had a 2.5 which honestly felt real slow to me to begin with, coupled with this issue, I'd be sorely upset. But thanks to the H6 it's probably not nearly as bad for me as it sounds like it is for you guys.

Sometimes I wonder if the computer thinks you "accidentally" hit the gas that hard/suddenly and attempts to throttle it before realizing you're doing it on purpose. Again, a one button test could determine if that's the case.

Just read about managing for preventing wheel spin. You're probably right. I have never EVER had wheel spin during hard acceleration with my OB. Had it frequently with my old Focus.

I guess if I remind myself that I'm driving a computer rather than an old dumb mechanical car I'll feel better about it. The way I drive sometimes it will probably keep me out of trouble more often than not.
 
#13 ·
For what it's worth, my 2016 OB with Eyesight went to the dealer with less than 100 miles on it and stayed there for a little over two weeks because of a somewhat similar issue. I was never able to reproduce it without using Eyesight, and everyone from the dealership and SOA was sure it was Eyesight, but the final diagnosis (which involved flying in a tech from Japan!) was a faulty master cylinder. They replaced it and I've had no problems since. I called SOA after about a week and they were extremely responsive, helpful and apologetic, and I was very happy with how they handled it.

The symptoms: the car would sometimes fail to accelerate from a stop, or it would get up to about 5 mph and then drop back down to zero. Sometimes it would then drive normally, but in other cases it would stay in this state for over an hour, even after turning the car off/on repeatedly, disabling eyesight, etc. In one case it allowed me to drive but seemed to be partially applying the brakes the entire time, so I stopped after a few blocks. I have video of the infotainment's "Vehicle Info" screen showing throttle at 100% while the speedometer goes from 0 to 5 back to 0.

I had it towed to the dealer twice, and both times the car was working fine/acting normally by the time the tow truck showed up, an hour or two after it first started happening. On a test drive with one of the dealership's techs, we reproduced it and he was able to get the car back to "normal" by pulling a fuse in the engine compartment.

As I said above, in my case the problem was a faulty master cylinder and I've put 400 miles on it since without any problems. I'd suggest calling SOA again and emphasizing that this is a serious safety concern for you.
 
#14 ·
SOA update: Very happy



Shortly after my post, I got an email from Subaru that they were re-purchasing my car and giving me a replacement. Within six days of this email, I was driving away with my new vehicle. I could not believe how quickly everything was handled. Kudos to my dealerships Sales Manager who put my name on a car that they had coming in from Subaru, in advance of SOA making a decision. That alone saved me several weeks if I would have had to order one. Thank you to everyone at Faulkner Subaru, Mechanicsburg PA. for your help in resolving my issue. Thank your SOA for not letting this loyal customer down.
 
#17 ·
Wow....

Shortly after my post, I got an email from Subaru that they were re-purchasing my car and giving me a replacement. Within six days of this email, I was driving away with my new vehicle. I could not believe how quickly everything was handled. Kudos to my dealerships Sales Manager who put my name on a car that they had coming in from Subaru, in advance of SOA making a decision. That alone saved me several weeks if I would have had to order one. Thank you to everyone at Faulkner Subaru, Mechanicsburg PA. for your help in resolving my issue. Thank your SOA for not letting this loyal customer down.

....what a fix. Did you happen to ask if they could let you know what the "root cause" was?
I bet they knew they had a truly bad problem with your car! I am still curious what it was that was causing this problem--please keep us informed here-- Thanks.:surprise:
 
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