[Patty F]

Has any Subaru owner having a power lift gate ever had the hatch come down on you when you couldn't get out of the way in time after pushing the button? This may sound crazy, but I got a concussion when it struck me on the side of my head as it came down. I thought my granddaughter had moved out of my way when I pushed the button to close the hatch, but she was standing so close to me I was unable to get out of the way in time. Unfortunately, the liftgate does not have a system that stops the hatch from lowering if something or someone is in the way, like an automatic garage door has. While it took some time to heal from the concussion, my biggest concern is if a child is struck by the hatch. It is an extremely heavy liftgate and came down hard enough on me to cause a concussion. Imagine the injury it could cause to a child. I contacted Subaru, but they are not showing any interest in examining and correcting the problem. I would hate to hear of a child getting injured or killed because they won't address this issue.

 

[AvidHiker]

A properly functioning hatch absolutely does detect when it's hitting something, and will reverse immediately, so get it to your dealer if that's not how it behaves. I know there's no way mine could give anyone a concussion. Were you diagnosed by a physician?

 

[Brucey]

Were you diagnosed with a concussion? That's something worth mentioning if you were.

The auto gate is pretty sensitive in my experience. Like I can stop it by two fingers.

If it did give you a concussion I would check with a dealer to confirm something isn't functioning properly.

 

[Nhcycle]

I dunno...... concussions typically require a fair amount of blunt force. The lift gate doesn’t come down fast enough to cause blunt force trauma...... it just doesn’t. I’m sensing a lawsuit in the making,......

 

[Patty F]

A properly functioning hatch absolutely does detect when it's hitting something, and will reverse immediately, so get it to your dealer if that's not how it behaves. I know there's no way mine could give anyone a concussion. Were you diagnosed by a physician?

Yes I was. My dealership suggested I contact Subaru's quality assurance team which I did and was told they declined to inspect my vehicle. I find that my vehicle's hatch detects when something is in the way of it's latching but not on the way down. I was struck by the outer edge before it reached that point.

 

[Patty F]

I dunno...... concussions typically require a fair amount of blunt force. The lift gate doesn’t come down fast enough to cause blunt force trauma...... it just doesn’t. I’m sensing a lawsuit in the making,......

 

[Patty F]

It does not come down fast, but it does not take a rapidly moving object to cause blunt force trama. The liftgate is extremely heavy and if you're unable to get out of it's way, it's going to hit you hard if there's no mechanism there to sense you're in the way. I guess I should have taken a picture of the side of my head for people like you who automatically assume someone's looking to sue. Had that been my intention, don't you think I would have taken pictures? My intention in asking is to hopefully get Subaru to do whatever is necessary to ensure that no one else suffers from this or worse, especially if it should happen to a child. But thanks for your impolite response.

 

[Patty F]

A properly functioning hatch absolutely does detect when it's hitting something, and will reverse immediately, so get it to your dealer if that's not how it behaves. I know there's no way mine could give anyone a concussion. Were you diagnosed by a physician?

Were you diagnosed with a concussion? That's something worth mentioning if you were.

The auto gate is pretty sensitive in my experience. Like I can stop it by two fingers.

If it did give you a concussion I would check with a dealer to confirm something isn't functioning properly.

You're right, I should have taken it in but I was unable to drive due to the concussion. I contacted my dealer and was told to contact Subaru's quality assurance team. Here is their response:

Were you diagnosed with a concussion? That's something worth mentioning if you were.

The auto gate is pretty sensitive in my experience. Like I can stop it by two fingers.

If it did give you a concussion I would check with a dealer to confirm something isn't functioning properly.

 

[Patty F]

A properly functioning hatch absolutely does detect when it's hitting something, and will reverse immediately, so get it to your dealer if that's not how it behaves. I know there's no way mine could give anyone a concussion. Were you diagnosed by a physician?

Were you diagnosed with a concussion? That's something worth mentioning if you were.

The auto gate is pretty sensitive in my experience. Like I can stop it by two fingers.

If it did give you a concussion I would check with a dealer to confirm something isn't functioning properly.

You're right, I should have taken it in but was unable to drive due to the concussion. I did contact my dealership tho and was told to contact Subaru's customer service department. Here is their response:

"Following up about your Outback. Our quality assurance team has reviewed your case and respectfully decline to inspect your vehicle. I am glad you provided us with the opportunity to look into this further on your behalf. Should you have any questions, please
let me know.

Sincerely,

Julianne Rudd
Subaru of America, Inc.
Customer/Retailer Services Department
1-800-SUBARU3 (1-800-782-2783)"

Didn't really feel the Subaru "LOVE" with that response.
I will have it looked at by my dealership the next time I take it in. Not much urgency now that I am painfully aware of the potential hazard.

 

[Patty F]

A properly functioning hatch absolutely does detect when it's hitting something, and will reverse immediately, so get it to your dealer if that's not how it behaves. I know there's no way mine could give anyone a concussion. Were you diagnosed by a physician?
[/QU
In fact,

A properly functioning hatch absolutely does detect when it's hitting something, and will reverse immediately, so get it to your dealer if that's not how it behaves. I know there's no way mine could give anyone a concussion. Were you diagnosed by a physician?

The strike was so hard, it almost knocked me off my feet and I was momentarily dazed. I went to the emergency room after several days, as I was still experiencing headaches and nausea, at which time I was diagnosed with a concussion.

 

[z28dug]

Have you tested your auto reverse function?

What year car are you discussing?

 

[Zedhead]

I find this very hard to believe.

I've never seen a Subaru hatch move fast enough to cause anything more than a bump. Moving out of the way of a slowly moving hatch is sooo easily performed. Even if there is a slight interruption in moving.

 

[Nhcycle]

Yes I was. My dealership suggested I contact Subaru's quality assurance team which I did and was told they declined to inspect my vehicle. I find that my vehicle's hatch detects when something is in the way of it's latching but not on the way down. I was struck by the outer edge before it reached that point.

Ok. How was your concussion diagnosed?

 

[stfsubaru]

I'm 5'10. A week after owning the car, was at the supermarket, loaded my groceries in the back, pushed the close hatch button, started moving out of the way with my cart, but someone senior to me (I'm old) came around the car unexpectedly. I reacted by pulling my cart out of the way, but doing so blocked my exit.

The hatch came down and clipped me on the shoulder very hard, and did not reverse. I then bent way down and moved away from the car.

I chalk it up mainly to user error. I think it's possible @Patty F got contacted at an angle that didn't supply sufficient force for the closing mechanism to detect interference.

Same possibly for me.

The force threshold may be quite different in that situation, than when a person is caught between the car and a fence or garage door as it opens.

In otherwords, where and how the opposing / restrictive forces are applied may make a difference.

 

[AvidHiker]

Well, the degree of force is subjective, but I've never seen it fail to reverse, and Subaru's auto hatch is without a doubt the slowest I've ever seen (other makes move much faster). In order to cause a traumatic brain injury it would have to be moving much faster. The only possibility for a concussion would be getting knocked to the ground and hitting your head on pavement. There are obvious symptoms of a concussion but diagnosis should be left to a medical doctor.

 

[originaltwotone]

Has any Subaru owner having a power lift gate ever had the hatch come down on you when you couldn't get out of the way in time after pushing the button? This may sound crazy, but I got a concussion when it struck me on the side of my head as it came down. I thought my granddaughter had moved out of my way when I pushed the button to close the hatch, but she was standing so close to me I was unable to get out of the way in time. Unfortunately, the liftgate does not have a system that stops the hatch from lowering if something or someone is in the way, like an automatic garage door has. While it took some time to heal from the concussion, my biggest concern is if a child is struck by the hatch. It is an extremely heavy liftgate and came down hard enough on me to cause a concussion. Imagine the injury it could cause to a child. I contacted Subaru, but they are not showing any interest in examining and correcting the problem. I would hate to hear of a child getting injured or killed because they won't address this issue.

Nothing to fix. If it happened as you said just one of those freak things.

 

[stfsubaru]

Well, the degree of force is subjective, but I've never seen it fail to reverse, and Subaru's auto hatch is without a doubt the slowest I've ever seen (other makes move much faster). In order to cause a traumatic brain injury it would have to be moving much faster.

I've heard people argue points like this, "well I've never seen it... not in my experience", yada yada, there for it can't be true....

I got clipped smartly in the shoulder and it hurt like a MF. 😈

None of us know how fast @PattyF 's hatch was moving, if her hatch is miscalibrated, malfunctioning or other.

We don't know her age or physical conditioning. She probably experienced head trauma of some form.

We can be so dismissive... I've had my hatch fail to latch too, even fail to open, and it hit me once with decent force and did not reverse direction.

IMHO, her report should be given a little more respect.

I vote we need @Brucey to do some testing on the subject. 😜

 

[scoobydoo2]

I can believe you no problem. The rear gate is heavy. I had one of my gas struts snap due age and rust. That gate came down with a crash barely got out of the way. The arm of the strut took out my rear window. https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/tailgate-lift-struts-2011-outack.509375/post-5825335

 

[Tim W]

The lift gate on my 2020 Outback Limited XT hit my wife on the head this morning so hard that we almost brought her to Urgent Care!
She raised it to put something in, and after it was all the way up, she bent down to put the item in. The lift gate came down on her head!
Later on I experimented with the gate, and it malfunctioned the same way 2 more times! After it went up all the way, it immediately came down on its own.
As of now, it is working properly.
We have had the car less than a week.
The irony of this happening with a car renowned for its safety features is not lost on me.

 

[stfsubaru]

@Tim W - thanks for writing that... proves my point. wow - i hope your wife is ok. I'd bring this to the attention of Subaru.

you've gotten the unit to exhibit the behavior 3 times... i think the probability of it happening again may be pretty high.