Haven't gotten mine yet.

Does this diminish my 100,000 mile Gold Warranty?

 

about time… they stopped originally with the extended warranties at the 2018 model…. Then, some of the Gen6 had other problems, so some of those got one.

 

I haven’t gotten one yet either.

 

You don't need one.

 

I paid over $3,000 for a repair...after 100,000 miles.

So an extended warranty isn't going to save you any money. Unless you are lucky and have an early failure.

 

The letter i just got says you get a year after receiving notice, regardless of mileage or years of ownership. And says they will reimburse for previous repair.
"*A one-year coverage period is available for all vehicles listed above regardless of mileage and warranty start date, effective date of customer notification. "

Look into it if you it applies to your vehicle.

 

For those that want to know, is this for both types of CVT's ? or just the one on the 2.5 ? I think the numbers are TR580 and TR690.

 

The ascent will have the TR690. When I do a lookup for the TSB related to this warranty, it doesn’t show up under the 3.6 2019 … but subaru isn’t the best with tagging the docs to get them to show up with the searches…. It does show up when I search the 2020 outback XT. I’m guessing it’s both transmissions.

16-155-25

Technical Service Bulletin

CVT Warranty Extension

Jul 1, 2025

 

seats, trannys, batteries, head unit, arrrgh.
should have boughta honda.

 

After 20 years of Hondas we switched to Subaru, and they have been more reliable than our Hondas. The closest comparison was our 12 Odyssey with 141K miles that we traded for a 19 Outback; that Odyssey was a great car, but somewhere in the 90-100K mile range it didn't feel "tight" anymore. Our 20 Outback is approaching 120K miles and still feels tight and drives like new.

Other than reliability, the biggest reason we keep buying Subarus for the last six years is the way our service department takes care of our cars. Are their prices a little high? Perhaps, but they don't push extra fluff and always do a good job. The lead mechanic always does our work, even the oil changes, because he knows he'll get the bigger ticket jobs like brake fluid, differentials, and CVT fluid exchange. Next week will be the final in warranty service check on our Outback before it crosses 120K; the same day will be the 54K oil change on our Ascent, which just finished a 1340 mile road trip averaging 29mpg overall for the entire trip; that beats our Odyssey which was only fwd.

Honda is still on our short list when car shopping, but our 19, 20, and 23 have been Subarus. Our 26 or 27 will likely be another Subaru, just not sure which one, though it won't be an Outback since the cloth interior is gone.

 

moved and stuck 🎯 to top of section.... (updated title for 2019-2020)

 

Did anyone else get a letter recently (mine was June 30) about Subaru extending the warranty out to 10 years and 100k miles? That will cover my Legacy out another 5 years. My wife had to have the transmission replaced in her 2020 Outback Onyx XT almost 2 years ago now which was covered under warranty. The letter says almost all 2019-2020 models are covered.

 

merged with existing.

 

What have been the main transmission problems that caused this extension?

 

As @Halmath just posted, the most common symptom is the shuddering and vibration as you accelerate through a turn when the engine and transmission are cool or cold. When my wife’s car started doing it, it seemed like we were rolling over rumble strips in the back end. My wife had a bad case of COVID at the time, so I was dealing with the service guys, and even though there was a TSB out about this very problem, the issue couldn’t be duplicated for them because at that time, the engine and transmission had warmed up on the drive there. One of the guys said there was some diagnostic indicating some kind of battery issue and suggested I connect a battery charger to the car when it wasn’t in use. My wife was retired, but she drove the car almost every day, multiple times a day, and I knew this was bs.

So for 6 months, I kept going back to them and was just told that if it eventually got worse, it would be handled through the warranty. Eventually, it got to the point that the vibration was occurring even when the engine was cool, and they could replicate it. So their protocol is to first replace the clutch pack assembly. Many on this forum had this done first, and it did work for us for about 5 to 6 weeks. They had to wait for the clutch pack parts for several weeks, so we had a loaner for that time. After we got the car back, as I mentioned, it was fine for 5 or 6 weeks. Then one day, my wife came home and told me there was something wrong. I drove it, and this high-pitched whine started and got louder and louder as I increased my speed. It sounded like the transmission was going to explode, so I just drove straight to the dealer. I got a loaner in a day or two, and they had it for another week until all the transmission parts were in. And as @Halmath mentioned, it drove beautifully afterwards.

Bottom line, if it starts making that shuddering or vibration as you accelerate through a sharp turn, just head for the dealer because it’s going to go, and these days I don’t believe you have to through 6 months of complaining; it’s happened to so many that they are very aware of it, resulting in the warranty extension.

 

My transmission went on my 2020 Outback XT at 50,000. Cost me nothing. Car rides much better than it ever did. There was a funny knocking noise when making sharp turns when cold at start of day . Diagnosed brilliantly by my dealer and that was long before these letters came out. It can happen!!

 

Well, I am assuming this was addressed in future builds, because it is not offer for year 2021, 2nd year of Gen 6. I was shopping for a leftover 2020 back then, wonder if I missed the bullet.

 

My wife now has a 2024 Onyx XT with about 13,000 miles. She’s had no issues, and the transmission is smoother than my ‘20 Legacy though I’ve not had any problems. But I have seen a few posts here from some who had an issue with their ‘24 Outback but those might not be related.

 

Was the CVT also a problem for the 2017 Outback 2.5? I had 105K miles on mine and didn't notice a problem and recently gave it to my daughter.

 

There have been a number of warranty extensions for the CVT… this is just the latest.

the first was the 2010-2014 CVT… I can’t remember what the problems were with the 2015-2017 units, there were a few threads on it… and subaru extended the warranty. That might have been because of the 2010-2014 problems, the wording was “in the interest of customer satisfaction” or some such….

Then, this was all going on as the mid generation model refresh, so they included the 2018 in a different warranty extension. So people wouldn’t be afraid to buy the new car, I guess some of the issues were getting in the news, and subaru wanted people to not worry about buying one of their cars.

the 2019 was skipped, somewhere there is a document or statement that by then subaru was certain the CVT was ok, sales were going fine, and there wasn’t a need to extend a warranty for something that didn’t need it (subaru didn’t think it was needed in 2018, other than to give people warm fuzzies when buying the car).

WRK-21 was a recall for whatever the problem was at the time - the clutch pack - and that resulted in an extended warranty for cars on the list (Certain VIN ranges). There are actually 3 different problems with the Gen6 CVT transmissions that can happen, depending on which transmission, two are documented in different service bulletins, are very different causes and symptoms. The third was listed as having a to be determined date for a service bulletin release (it hasn’t been released yet).

The 2019 cars finally get an extended warranty - and the 2020 is bundled in. So, for whatever reason, the subaru statement that the 2019 didn’t need an extended warranty because they’ve been doing all of the prior extended warranties for customer satisfaction, and the product is good enough that it doesn’t need an extended warranty… is now out the window and those cars have an extended warranty.

16-155-25	Technical Service Bulletin	CVT Warranty Extension	Jul 1, 2025	2019-2020 outbacks
16-139-22R	Technical Service Bulletin	CVT Assembly (WRK-21) Warranty Extension	Jan 9, 2023	2020 outbacks
16-129-20	Technical Service Bulletin	CVT Warranty Extension	Jul 10, 2020	Ascent?
16-117-18	Technical Service Bulletin	CVT Warranty Extension	Oct 9, 2018	2018 outbacks
16-115-18	Technical Service Bulletin	CVT Warranty Extension	Sep 6, 2018	2015-2017 outbacks
16-107-17R	Technical Service Bulletin	CVT Warranty Extension	Mar 13, 2018	2010-2014 outbacks

I haven’t seen a letter yet, but I’m sure the wording is similar, or the same, as the 2015-2017, and the 2018 letters.

 

FYI- Subaru of America mailed out letters stating:

2019-2020MY Outback and Legacy 2019MY Crosstrek, 2019-2020MY Forester, 2019-2020MY Ascent and 2019-2020MY Impreza

*Coverage period extends the vehicle’s New Car Powertrain Warranty as it applies to the CVT from five years (5) or sixty thousand (60,000) miles to ten (10) years or one hundred thousand miles (100,000) whichever comes first.

*A one-year coverage period is available for all vehicles listed above regardless of mileage and warranty start date, effective date of customer notification.

Is it safe to drain and fill the 2015 outback cvt on your own? i dont have a computer to have it "relearn"

 

I got this in the mail over the weekend.

Everything seemed pretty straightforward except for the URL.

I don't know if I trust autosolutionteam.com and the URL is http, not https.

What do you think?

 

https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/cvt-warranty-extension-2019-2020-models.575732/#post-6567615

 

Thank you!

Not sure if I should delete this thread or leave it up for others.

 

Just received this letter today. Out of curiosity, what if you’re not currently having issues but likely will based off what most folks have been thru? Will they replace it or do they have to drive it and make sure it does have an issue. I’m at 95k miles on my 2019 Ascent and don’t wanna run into this in 10k miles and get screwed.

 

Here is an update. It’s not all CVT types in those years.

For 2019, it’s only the four cylinder cars (TR580)…. For 2020, it’s only the turbo models (TR690).

Sorry 3.6 2019 peeps, we are left out yet again.

Details:

• A one-year coverage period is available for all eligible vehicles listed above regardless of mileage and warranty start date, effective from the date on this customer notification.
• The coverage period extends the vehicle’s New Car Powertrain Warranty as it applies to the CVT from five years (5) or sixty thousand (60,000) miles (whichever comes first), to ten (10) years or one hundred thousand (100,000) miles (whichever comes first).
• Inspections or repairs under this coverage period must be completed prior to the expiration of this warranty extension.

There are more details in the memo sent out to the dealerships (attached)

 

*A one-year coverage period is available for all vehicles listed above regardless of mileage and warranty start date, effective date of customer notification. So you have one year from the stated date on the letter. Good luck!

 

They should return the transmission cost part of Gold Plus buyers up to 100k mile plans.

 

My wife and I are running into this issue now. We’re 2 weeks away from having our first baby and our 2020 Crosstrek Premium is our only car, and just threw the transmission codes for this problem. The dealership and SOA is saying that can’t find my VIN relating to the CVT warranty. Just really confused and afraid because my wife and I weren’t expecting such a random and expensive problem that we aren’t really prepared for two weeks before delivery :/