Anyone having trouble with a bad battery or am I just unlucky? After about 1,000 miles the battery on my 2020 OB Ltd went completely dead. Local dealership tested the battery out and said it was defective. Adding insult to injury, dealership claims there are no spare batteries in my local area (Seattle/Tacoma). After 1 week with a loaner car they locate a battery in Houston and tell me it's going to be another 4 days till they have it on site to install in my car. At this point I suggest they just swap out a battery from one of the new 2020's on their lot. My service guy says the batteries in those cars could have the same issue. He recommends I wait for the "new and improved" one coming from Houston. I reluctantly agree to wait longer. Long story short--it seems there is low level of confidence in the batteries installed in the initial run of 2020 outbacks. After doing a little online research, battery issues may have have plagued various Subaru models for a few years now. Just wondering if anyone else has so more background
dkirivng
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From my understanding, legally, the only time a car becomes used is when it is titled first. So a car can be driven for thousands of miles with dealer plates, then be sold off as new as there was never a title for it. This is how demo cars are sold as new with hundreds to thousands of miles on them.
Should suggest they pay to have Costco provide a battery. Once you have the Costco battery there should be no issues.
My understanding is that Costco, NAPA, Autozone, etc., are yet to maintain stock of batteries specific to the 2020 OB.
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I just did a search at Napa and it came back with 43 results for their Premium for the 2020 Subaru Outback.
How many are exact fit?
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I have purchased batteries from Napa in the past and they have always fit the vehicle. And they also provide batteries with higher cranking amps than what comes stock.
Napa batteries are good, Optima, and many, many others.
Batteries ALL have plates though, even the newer gel-types, and they CAN/will have defects, it's just a "matter of odds", like any mass-produced item.
Some of these manufacturers do pretty rigorous QA testing, but still, if the battery in-question gets dropped/knocked-around, before install (who knows which battery got "dropped by accident, when shelving them, for example?), then all-bets-are-off.
Just buy a battery from a reputable dealer (NAPA is handy like this, Costco, and many, many others), that way if it does die, shortly after install, you can simply swap it out.
Having one of those "budget battery jump-starters" isn't a bad idea, in this era/area, given that they sort of give you a "bailout" if you have a failure, to at least "limp along" until you can get it replaced, just make sure to disable the Auto-S/S, or you won't get far, even after jumping it ;-]
Batteries ALL have plates though, even the newer gel-types, and they CAN/will have defects, it's just a "matter of odds", like any mass-produced item.
Some of these manufacturers do pretty rigorous QA testing, but still, if the battery in-question gets dropped/knocked-around, before install (who knows which battery got "dropped by accident, when shelving them, for example?), then all-bets-are-off.
Just buy a battery from a reputable dealer (NAPA is handy like this, Costco, and many, many others), that way if it does die, shortly after install, you can simply swap it out.
Having one of those "budget battery jump-starters" isn't a bad idea, in this era/area, given that they sort of give you a "bailout" if you have a failure, to at least "limp along" until you can get it replaced, just make sure to disable the Auto-S/S, or you won't get far, even after jumping it ;-]
My Onyx XT battery died at 1400 miles. No stock at the dealership so they gave me a loaner. Evidently there are 2 different batteries in the Outbacks with mine being the larger one. Dealer called to tell me they couldn’t get the battery till the end of this week so I’ll be in the loaner for about a week. Interesting to see if these battery issues become more widespread.
So this battery is listed as a LN2 in the owner's manual. It is not found at Costco link to interstate, in fact there not a Subaru option offered in their search engine. This was also the case with a number of auto parts stores. Subaru is unnecessary making things difficult, at least for me. This is my first experience dealing with an auto brand that uses such an odd specification. I have not been able to properly define a replacement. BTW it is a 650 cca battery. I will appreciate any link that explains the differences between LN2 and Group 25 batteries.
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Duralast Gold Battery H5-DLG Group Size H5/LN2 650 CCA
Shop for Duralast Gold Battery H5-DLG Group Size H5/LN2 650 CCA with confidence at AutoZone.com. Parts are just part of what we do. Get yours online today and pick up in store.
www.autozone.com
H5 is a standard battery group commonly used in European cars, and I suspect LN2 is the Japanese equivalent designation. BCI Group 47 is size equivalent.
Autozone does not show this as fitting the 2020 Outback, but they may not have the applications loaded yet.
I'd bet that Subaru is using an AGM version of this battery for the start/stop operation.
2016 2.5i Premium / 2020 2.5i Premium / 2021 Rav4 Prime / 2012 F150 ecoboost
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Where is the second battery? I think I read somewhere that if that battery is removed or a battery that's too small is installed, then S/S does not kick in. Worth an experiment?
Yep, what @tickman said, I just don't see Subaru going out and having a "specialty battery designed", for the newer Outbacks/Forester/whatever, it's not practical, from a LOT of standpoints (such as what happens if your "custom battery company" goes out of business, to start.
I'm pretty sure it's just a group 47, not common, but certainly easy to buy, locally or online: https://www.dstgateway.com/ACDelcoDocuments/BatterySpecifications.pdf
I'm VERY curious too, about this "2nd battery". I've only ever seen dual-batteries in things like big trucks, heavy equipment, or RVs.
I don't doubt that there aren't a few cars out there, that did this, stock, but it's gotta' be very few.
Just doing the "electrical isolation alone" would be a HUGE headache, both in terms of drain/use, but also in terms of charging, which has to include both the alternator, and external.
I'm pretty sure it's just a group 47, not common, but certainly easy to buy, locally or online: https://www.dstgateway.com/ACDelcoDocuments/BatterySpecifications.pdf
I'm VERY curious too, about this "2nd battery". I've only ever seen dual-batteries in things like big trucks, heavy equipment, or RVs.
I don't doubt that there aren't a few cars out there, that did this, stock, but it's gotta' be very few.
Just doing the "electrical isolation alone" would be a HUGE headache, both in terms of drain/use, but also in terms of charging, which has to include both the alternator, and external.
I was looking in the engine compartment drivers side fuse box (there are 2) and it looked like there might be a small battery in there. I didn't have a chance to check it out further, but it was a rectangular block approx 5 x 1 x 1 inches that looked like it could be a Li-ion battery. Maybe its to hold some settings when main battery is disconnected.
Actually, there have been quite a few"defective" batteries noted in the Ascents, described as having "dead cells". Apparently the supplier has poor quality control standards. 
I would have thought this issue would have been taken care of, and maybe it has been. You are the first battery issue I have read about. Could have just been that one in many thousands. Sorry for the trouble and I hope you get back on the road with your own car soon. Safe travels!
I would have thought this issue would have been taken care of, and maybe it has been. You are the first battery issue I have read about. Could have just been that one in many thousands. Sorry for the trouble and I hope you get back on the road with your own car soon. Safe travels!
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Look on the bright side, there haven't been any wind noise complaints.
SOA did for me. I am not sure why you would think that. It is not always practical to get the car to the dealer. The battery needs replacement. Subaru needs to cover the replacement under warranty. Subaru would lose those cases in court. Plus, that would be a PR nightmare.
Yeah, if those regulations were too strict, car dealers would not be able to operate. As one of many examples, imagine a tire gets a nail as it is coming off the truck. What do they do, patch/replace the tire and sell the whole car as used? Or send the whole car back? No way.
2016 2.5i Premium / 2020 2.5i Premium / 2021 Rav4 Prime / 2012 F150 ecoboost
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Who would take SOA to court over a $100 battery?
But nice, didn't know they would do that.
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There isn’t one. Subaru designed the system with just the one main battery. Here is the thread discussing the start stop and use of just the one battery.
If the battery with a lower spec is installed, presumably the system would detect that and not activate start stop (assuming that swap even worked in the first place), but then you’re not keeping up with the state of charge in the battery, so that’s not going to work out well.
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