[aburkhardt]

Yep you heard me. No lie 69 miles. Had it less than 2 hours and it left me, my wife and mother in law stranded. Having it towed To the dealership at 11 pm local time. Roadside assistance is slow. Dead battery and check engine light is on.

 

[Subyblue]

Same thing happened to a brand new 1972 Chevrolet Pickup back in June 1972. Bad voltage regulator. Left me stranded at the first stop, gas station to fill up--In those days you were lucky to get enough gas to drive off the lot.

 

[Radar]

It's too bad but it happens and it is called "infant mortality." Any mechanical or electronic device is most vulnerable to a component failure in the first few hours of use. Any component that is weak or defective in manufacturing is most likely to fail then. After that initial period, reliability goes way up. Chances are your new car will be absolutely great once they fix whatever failed.

 

[Euchre]

Dead battery and check engine light is on.

Non sequitur: If the battery is truly dead, the check engine light won't come on. If the battery is too low to start the car, the check engine light would illuminate as you turn on the key as it always would. Not sure if the current cars have a proper battery warning light, but if not then the check engine light would likely be used to tell you the battery is low too. But again, if the battery really is dead, you'd have no light at all.

I'll be curious to hear what the cause is.

 

[jogosub]

Could be a short inside the battery - those are outsourced.. most OEM and replacement car batteries are manufactured by Johnson Controls up in Wisconsin - they custom make them for various car and auto parts companies, who sell them under their own name...

 

[aburkhardt]

Funny story. I know the guy that bought the car just before us. He said when he got there he saw the dark gray outback running in the lot. Come to find out when they want to go fill up the car they needed to jumpstart it. Someone had left the dome light on. They started the car, filled up the tank, drove back to the lot and let it run. When we stopped last night the battery must not of had enough current to start the engine. Serviced replaced the battery. The technician said the check engine light was from the crank angle sensor. He called me at lunch said the car is "perfect". Now my wife and I have to drive 30 minutes back to the dealership pick up the car drive 30 minutes home; that's another hour of our lives. Should we be compensated? Free oil change? Free accessories? Free extended warranty? I don't want to be unreasonable but this is a bad start owning a Subaru. Did not get to sleep until well after midnight last night had to get up at six in the morning. I know this is a good car, just got off to a rough start.

 

[DavidPeab]

I don't think it would be unreasonable to ask for some form of compensation. I imagine it would be something "small" like an oil change because the offense was fairly minor. One of those we're only human screw ups.

Let us know if the dealership offers you something as a way of making amends.

 

[aburkhardt]

They gave me 6 qts of oil, filter and crush washer. I didn't even have to ask.

 

[Glennda5id]

Does the oil and filter fit your application or was it just a random 6 qts of oil and filter they had laying around...