Battery problems with a 2017 Subaru Outback

The dealer is lying about the battery replacement.

I figured that out after reading all the previous threads on this site. Not happy! I will be getting back to them, and Subaru America as well. What doesn't seem to be clear from this thread is whether replacing the battery with a heftier one will make a difference if there is this parasitic draining going on. The dealer did the required software updates but that didn't make a difference. I understand that there may be some class action suits in progress. Does anyone out there have any further info. on that?

All cars use a certain amount of power when not running due to the electronics. The undersized battery that Subaru uses is not enough.

My 2013 Outback has been in service at 2 different dealerships over almost 2 years for a total of 17+ weeks as they "attempted" to fix the ongoing dead battery issue. FINALLY - it MIGHT be fixed. After 5 new batteries (no help) and a completely new CPU unit (didn't help) they installed a completely new dash cluster ($$$). My problem always occurred after my car sat at airports for 3 nights or more. I have now had three trips where my car started! Not saying it is positively corrected but do NOT let them keep telling you it's the battery, or the lights left on yada yada... I opened a case with subaru America last February after fighting it for months with 2 different dealers. My case worker at Subaru of America heard from me constantly, as did the dealership until finally they started replacing the expensive stuff and I now MIGHT have a fix. Godd Luck - Do NOT give in!

Update to my post. I did call Subaru America and was given a case number. They called my dealer and I did, as well. Brought the car in and left if so it could be fully analyzed (battery, electrical system, etc.) Lo and behold I was called after one day and was told that the battery was defective and that there was no indication of "parasitic battery drain". Battery was replaced with a more "powerful" one and given a clean bill of health. No charge to me as a "goodwill" gesture. I did get a follow up call from both the dealer and Subaru America. So far the car is behaving properly. I also, just to be safe?, bought a Faraday box on Amazon that I keep in the car and instructed our garage (we live in an apartment building with an indoor garage) staff to always keep the keys in the box. All my research online seemed to point to the reality that keeping the keys in that box would (might?) help prevent any battery drain. For a small price perhaps another helpful step. I will post a further update.

I'm on my 4th battery for my 2017 Outback. The 2 dealers say it's just the battery. This time they finally tested the car and said it tested out fine. My wife's 2017 Altima is still on it's first battery. I live in California not somewhere it freezes. I guess its time to file for Lemon Law.

After a year of this problem They replaced the entire CPU which also did not fix it. Ultimately they replaced the dash cluster, expensive but it worked! I had my case open for over a year and didn't give up that's what all of you need to do.

I have the same problem with my 2017 Subaru Outback. I does appear to happen when I leave the hatch open for any amount of time. Or, a door open? Shouldn't the lights shut of after a given period? Anyway, I got a brand new battery/larger one...and it just happened again. Is this particular to the 2017 Outback? My son has a 2015 and it doesn't seem to happen. Very disappointing!

Just an update, the replaced dash cluster seems to have done the trick. I have not had another failure since. Stop letting dealers tell you it's the battery, it's not! As I've said many times open a case with Subaru of America and be a pitbull about not letting it go. trust me they don't want to start replacing expensive stuff like they did with my CPU and my dash cluster but the bottom line folks, it seems to finally be fixed once they did, knowing I wasn't giving up and not going away.

I must agree with Subi3522. Open a case with Subaru of America. I was taken seriously and follow up was excellent. The fact that I had documented all the interactions with the dealer and all the solutions that didn't work (several battery replacements and diagnostics that showed that the electrical system was ok) and my insistence that my Outback (2017 3.6 Touring) wouldn't start if left in a heated garage for three days or more was effective. Dealer took the car, promised not to start it for at least three days and lo and behold it wouldn't start! Further diagnostics were done and finally it was determined that there was a problem! and that it appeared to be the main module that controls all the electronics and the radio module. All were replaced, at no cost, and it would appear that the problem has been resolved. Follow up by Subaru America was excellent and the dealer did what was needed to be done. Don't despair...just set up a case, document, document, document and don't give up. BTW...be sure that all lights (hatchback dome light, etc) are turned off when you leave your car.

It happened twice on my wife's 2017 Outback. Both times when unloading items from the back, the items dragged the tailgate light switch to the back which forced the light to stay on. The second time the tailgate would not open. I fixed that by pressing the tailgate switch and door open switch on the remote at the same time (3 times) which resets the fault. I have put tape over the dome light switch.

Our 2017 Outback has about 46K miles. The battery has died six times. The last incident happened after the car was parked in a lot for five hours. No lights are left on, and the hatch had not been repeatedly opened before we left the car. The battery has been replaced but the problem persists. We live in northern California and do not have cold temperatures. Thanks for advice to file a claim with Subaru America. What is the procedure for this?

Your battery is now 2 years old which is about as long as the cheap Subaru battery lasts. Try a good Optima or Interstate battery. Personally I don't see that a hundred bucks is worth multiple trips to the dealer. Costco has good prices on Interstate!

Thanks for the suggestion. I neglected to say that we are on the THIRD battery for the Outback. I love the car otherwise but now want to trade it in.

These problem(S) ( Plural !!!) are like a QUINTA-PLEX of "Over-Engineered" Automotive disasters : 1) They put horribly undersized batteries in the Vehicles, "some" of which were several years old before they even left the Factory (Subaru Pre-Aged your Battery like fine steak - the older ... the Better - Right ???); 2) Subaru modified their Battery-Management-System to "never" have your Battery properly Fully-Charged ( part of a "Regenerative" process that never was really regenerative, except on paper); 3) They Cycle your Starter-Battery like it is a Deep-Cycle Battery, never having it fully charged; this would work in an Automotive Application "only" if they used a Lithium-Ion-Battery ..... $$$$$$$ ... not gonna Happen in Subaru-World !!! 4) They went to an Electric-Powered Power-Steering-System that puts tremendous "load" on your battery, then forgets to have the Alternator put the "Power" part of the "Steering" back where it came from ! 5) Then to add Insults to actual injuries ...... they "Blame" YOU for leaving fictitious Lights on in your Vehicle, even when the Vehicle DIES in their Service Bays from this very same Problem !!!!!! Occasionally they "blame" Parasitic-Currents (From Their "designs" !!), but they never seem to find what they propose is the Deep-Hole where the Current goes !!!! SOLUTION(s) : As long as their Battery-Management-System keeps your Battery CHRONICALLY UNDERCHARGED, no Starter-Battery will last longer than the Reserve built into the Product : (1) a larger Battery will last longer "between" death throes !!! (2) To Keep your Battery properly-charged : (a) it will need Constant-Charging-Assistance, best done with a Battery-Maintainer, plugged in almost Every-Night ! (b) OR, you (on your own) will need to electronically alter theAlternator Charging Profile (Alternator Bias Diodes !) to get Proper Voltages to your Battery "constantly" while the Vehicle is running (Pay-Me-Now-or-Pay-Me-Later). (4) Go full throttle ($$$$) and replace your over-burdened Starter-Battery with a LOAD-CYCLING (Lithium-Ion) Battery that will put up with the constant power-shifting Battery-Management-Program they began using several years back ... ! (5) There is not much that can be done with Service-Managers & Service-Technicians that are "abusive" of Customers .... unless you are willing and capable of with-standing their "mis-information" ... which has such a repeatability to it as to lay bare the possibility that they are Trained & Instructed to perform Customer-Insult Policy ..... ///MRB

Update: Took the Outback to a Subaru dealer. The battery did indeed fail the performance test. A new battery was installed and software related to battery use was updated. The auto technician reports that this update seems to solve the battery decline issue for other customers.

2017 Outback - had to tell the dealer about the reprogramming recall when we originally had the problem. I agree that even after a long drive, the battery voltage is only about 11.5 volts. The real problem is one that my wife discovered. She said "there's something running on the Outback after it's been parked and everything shutoff" I asked her if it was soon after parking the car and she said, "No, it was probably 5 or 6 hours after I parked it." I was thinking of the battery powered radiator fan that would sometimes run on a hot day for a few minutes when our old car was first parked. I was skeptical . . . Then one evening she went into the garage and came back immediately and said "It's doing it NOW". Sure enough there was a "fan" noise coming from the rear axle area and could be heard on the driver's side. My first reaction was to capture that noise, so I have a couple of videos with sound that document the sound. I'm thinking it might be some sort of emissions fan related to the gas tank?

I have seen so many possible fixes that it's ridiculous for all of us to think that Subaru doesn't know what the problem is and/or what it would take to correct the problems. As mentioned previously, after four different batteries and multiple months at various dealerships my CPU was replaced and then my entire dash cluster was replaced and my car has not failed since then, but I follow this thread because it feels like it's only a matter of time...... My case was open for over a year and I did get Subaru America to pay for rental cars for several weeks due to the ongoing issue . Don't give up folks - or give up and buy something other than a Subaru . Unfortunate.

Our problem seems to have something to do with the rear hatch. The one time the car started And ran the rear hatch kept beeping so we came back home. We tried the to open the hatch and all it did was beep. I had to crawl in back and hit the switch in the inspection opening to open. Now I cannot get the rear hatch to open at all. I tried to hold the rear hatch button and the remote door open button at the same time-and can’t get that to work either I’m not looking forward to the fight it takes to get the problem fixed. It sounds like the dash cluster needs replaced but do you also need the cpu replaced

Hello (Guru9Z4J9P), I wish I could tell you if they both need to be replaced or not. Understand that mine was over a year-long process replacing batteries, then the CPU, then the dash cluster. That final fix seems to have corrected my problem but I cannot assure you that it wasn't a combination of the CPU and the dash cluster. I advise you to open a claim with Subaru of America if your first fixed does not work.

to Guru9Z4J9P - Yes, I've been through that also, taking everything out of the back area to get to the access panel and finally getting it open. And yesterday we did have another back hatch problem opened partway and then froze. . . I manually raised it, put in the stuff in the rear and then it closed with the button on the hatch. At that point, I'd took the battery voltage and it was 11.5v . . . usually it doesn't start at that level, but it did yesterday.

I am in Canada but having the same issues with my outback. It is 2017 and first battery was changed august 2019 after coming back from a 2 week trip (car was in a garage not heated but it was summer). AMA replaced my battery in my garage and January 2020 I had to take it to the dealership because it wouldn’t start. They replaced the battery and 5 days later my car wouldn’t start again. They told me it’s my command start draining it and to go take it to the person who installed it to reprogram. We did this and it worked until this year Jan 2021. Same thing...all the dealership did was replace my battery once again and were useless when I said this cannot be the problem. I emailed Subaru Canada but the dealership would not do a thing. I am thinking this is a problem with the CPU system or dash cluster? The battery is 550 CCA. What is needed for a Subaru?

To pcsdpo I have had the same problem that you had. I have heard a ( fuel pump running) noise coming from the left rear wheel well. I have also recorded this sound. It happens after the 2017 Outback has been parked in the garage for several hours and or days. Not sure if it does it often. I only heard it twice but then again I don’t spend a lot of time in the garage. Hoping to get an inexpensive fix. Maybe a relay or switch replacement. The original and replacement battery both died if something was left on in the car for 10 or 15 minutes.

I too have a 2017 Subaru Outback and have been having issues with the battery. We camp out a lot and have already experienced a number of "dead-battery" situations while out camping. I have been very cautious about leaving the doors and hatch open since the side mirror lights stay on (I think they are called approach lights) Cabin lights a purposely turned off to avoid battery drains. More recently (like these past weekend) on our way to our campsite, we stopped for lunch after driving for 2-3 hours and couldn't start the car back up to head to the campsite. Since this has been happening a lot we went ahead and bought one of those portable jump starters which worked fine - but it doesn't really fix the problem. I feel like something is draining the battery that I am not aware of. I have a scheduled maintenance this weekend at the dealership and hope to get some answers. I took in before but I don't recall them doing anything specific about it.

@subi3522 I found this thread while waiting for my battery to be tested on my 2017 Outback. 3 times the battery failed and 3 times it tested "normal." I had the ECU thingamajc "reprogrammed" which seemed to fix the problem for 6 months. Can you point me where to open a case with Subaru America?

Follow up on our 2017 Battery Problem. I was monitoring the battery charge before and after starting. A lead-acid battery is 100% charged at 12.7 volts (at 70 degrees F). Flooded Lead-acid starting batteries should never be discharged below 12.06 volts (essentially 12V) or it will permanently damage the battery. Usually when I checked the voltage after the car sat overnight it was 11.5 v or lower. Even when returning from a long trip which should be "fully charging" the battery, it was barely above 12v. Finally, we came out one morning after the vehicle hadn't been driven for 4 days and the battery was dead to the point that the electric locks wouldn't open the door to allow you to open the hood to charge it. Called our Dealer who we've been working with. They towed the vehicle, did more troubleshooting and I believe that had to replace a voltage sensor in the alternator. They also replaced the battery. All this was no charge to us. It seems to be working fine now for about 5 months. I'd start here to get to Subaru: https://www.subaru.com/customer-support.html Go to the Contact us - Send Email link. They'll open a case for you. Also, we went here https://safercar.gov and enter a "safety problem" report. I think that they also contact Subaru about this issue which raises the priority a bit.

I have had the same issue with the battery going dead after a week of no use. I first noticed this in early 2020 when the pandemic hit and my wife was no longer going into the office and the car would sit for a week without being driven, this happened several times to the point I kept a battery tender on it. I even bought a new battery thinking it was getting old. I got into the habit of driving it at least once a week to keep it charged and recently I hadn’t driven it for two weeks and again a dead battery. It is very frustrating because my truck can sit for three weeks and it will start just fine, my 2012 Camry has the original battery in it and it starts with no problem. I am going to have to try some of these suggestions but it is out of warranty and I am not sure they will replace without me forking over money. Disappointed I. This as it sounds like it is not an isolated issue with the outback’s.

Battery problems, or rather battery discharging for no apparent or normal reason, seem all pervasive. These problems are actually solvable with this cheap and easy fix - a $150.00 lithium battery. I have used mine for about 6 of these non starting events with my 2016 Outback this winter. It has not failed me once, I used it once, for three separate events without charging in between emergency use. These boosters are small, sturdy, very to use, and with some effective features for safe and easy use. Highly recommended

I've replaced my battery two years ago and now it is dying again. I've noticed when I first purchased my new 2017 Outback that my engine compartment is always very hot when I drive it. My first dead battery in 2020 was low on water. Once refilled, it seemed okay, but I replaced it anyway to be on the safe side since that was during the COVID outbreak. Well, two years later, it is doing the same thing again. My question is; Is the engine compartment running too hot and shortening the life of the battery? I love my car but need to fix this problem. My 2005 Mazda 3 has a three year old battery it and is hardly driven, but starts up fine. I did recently purchased a jumping system for my Outback just in case of being stranded somewhere. Any suggestions on how to fix the over heated engine compartment?

I read through this entire thread and have now bought two new products. We'll see how they work. First, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2CNQ2H6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00 ?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and second https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015TKUPIC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00? ie=UTF8&psc=1