[apb]

I'm just wondering how my OB will do in the outback, considering I just got stuck in my friend's paved suburban driveway. Maybe someone can explain to me how to avoid this situation in the future.

My friend's driveway is steep, probably 15 degrees or so, and rises abruptly from the road. As I turned into it, I decided to back up to get straighter. The OB refused to let me back up. The engine revved, but the car did not move and the reverse display showed a color-filled (yellow?) box in the rear on the road I was trying to reach. When I switched back to drive, same result, but with some indication iirc on the dash of an obstacle ahead. The only way I was able to move at all was to put the car in neutral and let it roll backwards. The car was not bottoming out, which was my first thought -- it was the obstacle avoidance system being a fascist dictator.

This seems to bode really poorly for what could happen in an dirt road situation.

 

[2wheel]

Turn off eye-sight collision avoidance. Look at left bottom of the dash for 2 rows of buttons. Not sure on the rear one but I believe there is a way to turn that off too.

 

[2wheel]

This overview should help too: Off-road reference sheet

 

[jonbrush]

This overview should help too: Off-road reference sheet

Thanks for the pointer to the reference sheet. Can anyone add a section about settings for snow/slush?
Thanks,
Jon in snowy Boston

 

[apb]

Thanks for the replies. I did consider trying to turn something off, but what? It was dark, I could not make out the icons on those buttons at the lower left dash, not without a different pair of glasses and/or a magnifying glass, did not have the 200 page user manual handy, and even if I could have made out the icons on the buttons, I would still find them inscrutable. What would be better would be a single giant switch that makes the car 100% manual operation. It may surprise the engineers at Subaru, but I actually know how to drive. When there are n switches, there are 2^n possible combinations that I am supposed to figure out and remember, and this is reflected in the manual, which gives complex "if then else unless" descriptions of how every single thing in the car works.

 

[dukey33]

Hahahaha! Technology strikes again.

 

[ammcinnis]

Turn off eye-sight collision avoidance.

That will only work moving forward. Reverse Automatic Braking is a totally separate system, and there is a "button" available in the MY 2018-2019 head units to temporarily disable it. Yes, the topic is covered in the Owners Manual.

 

[Biebs]

WOW glad I have a limited with out the Nanny fancy pants Option!!

 

[2wheel]

Thanks for the pointer to the reference sheet. Can anyone add a section about settings for snow/slush?
Thanks,
Jon in snowy Boston

Snow is very similar to mud. Usually you want some wheel spin so I'd say use the traction control off.