2011 Subaru Outback CVT
Asked by Anniegotasubaru Jun 27, 2018 at 10:43 AM about the 2011 Subaru Outback 2.5i Premium
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I just bought a 2011 outback a few weeks ago. For the
first week, it shuddered when coming to a stop, and when
starting to drive from a stop. It stalled once. It feels very
much like a transmission issue to me, I’ve had
transmission problems with other cars before. After doing
my research, I found that Subaru has put an extended
warranty on the CVT, and for cars over 100k miles (which
mine is) you are covered until July 31 2018. I took it into
my dealership yesterday, and told the guy what was
happening, but that it hadn’t been having any issues for a
week. He told me they would do their best to reproduce it,
but they could not. I’ve called SOA, and they basically told
me tough luck. It definitely needs to get fixed, but it of
course isn’t performing for the mechanics. Does anyone
have any advice?
6 Answers
TheSubaruGuruBoston answered 6 years ago
YELL LOUDER! If still no recourse get your complaint on record in their system, so that when it recurs frequently you'll have coverage. In the meantime it's not a bad idea to drain and refill the CVT (3.75 qts CVT fluid).
This is a known fault with the CVT's. You may have to wait until the dealer can verify the problem before SOA will do the repairs.
This exact same thing has happened to me. The CVT went out on August 17th, 2018 and the extended warranty went until July 31, 2018. All of the routine maintenance has been done and documented and yet SOA said I am SOL. Here is what they told me when I contacted them. Paul, Thank you for the reply, I apologize as I was out of the office yesterday. I have received further details from Subaru of Puyallup for review. Your vehicle was given a warranty extension, The extension increased Powertrain coverage for all included vehicles to 10 years or 100,000 miles (whichever comes first). For vehicles over 100,000 miles, a 1 year extension had been granted for transmission concerns. The extension expired July 31, 2018 to have any transmission issues addressed by your local Subaru retailer. In the review with Subaru of Puyallup, they let me know that the repair estimate would be around 8536 plus tax. If I were to offer good will assistance, I do not believe that it would be a substantial amount toward the repair, however I would be more than happy to review for an owners loyalty coupon toward the purchase a new previously untitled Subaru if that is something you would be interested in. Please let me know how I can best assist moving forward. Regards, Mark Hammer Customer Retailer Services Subaru of America Inc.
TheSubaruGuruBoston answered 6 years ago
Sorry, Paul, but the Hammer has struck. The good news is that pre-owned CVTs abound in salvage yards for under $1k and can be easily installed for under $500. In a way Subaru has replaced its head gasket crises of yore with a similar $1.5k annoyance. At a purported 4%/yr failure risk it's a reasonable gamble. Go for it, and good luck. SOA would have to pony up 80+% goodwill toward a new one to be attractive, and they're probably not going to do that now that it's September.
I had this problem, and it was totally operator error. I forgot to turn off my cruise control and my car would die at stop lights or off ramps. I had just forgotten to disengage my cruise control. spent a lot of unneccessary money
The cruise control automatically disengages at speeds under 25 mph. Forgetting to disengage is not possible if the system is working properly.
