Patience Needed: Massive Subaru Recall Could Take Until 2020 To Be Completed

Subaru is recalling certain Crosstrek, Impreza, BRZ models due to a faulty valve spring in the engine. Scion FR-S is recalled by Toyota. If your vehicle is on the list, it could take over a year to get repairs done.

If you received a notice from Subaru about a recall on your 2012-2014 vehicle, it could take over a year to get the repairs done. Subaru of America announced a recall back in November affecting 2012-2014 Subaru Impreza, 2012-2013 Impreza wagon, 2013 XV Crosstrek, 2013 Subaru BRZ, and 2013 Toyota Scion FR-S vehicles. The engine valve springs in these vehicles may fracture causing an engine malfunction or a possible engine stall.

This is part of a massive global recall affecting the FB20 2.0-liter Boxer engine used in all these vehicles. There are 165,534 vehicles in the U.S. potentially affected according to the NHTSA. Toyota is recalling around 25,000, 2012 Scion FR-S U.S. models. Toyota said it would contact affected U.S. owners by mail starting in December. Subaru also began sending out recall notices late last year.

Patience needed

According to reports from various owners and dealers around the U.S., it could take almost two years to get the repairs done by Subaru dealers. One report from the Burlington Free Press in Vermont says, dealers are waiting for parts and repairs have not yet begun. Bill Hunter, the service director at Burlington Subaru in Vermont says, "We’re still waiting on training which won’t be available to us until February 12th and, due to a limited supply of special tools needed to perform this recall, we only have the ability to perform one of these recalls per day.”

What does this mean for customers?

After receiving the recall letter, one Subaru owner scheduled the next available appointment with Burlington Subaru to get the defect fixed: Nov. 30, 2020, almost two years out. ”We’re hoping we can get additional tools in the future so we can perform more than one a day," Hunter added. 

According to Subaru, each fix could take between 7 and 13 hours to complete, “But they have yet to start making the repairs” Hunter said in the email. Dominick Infante, Subaru of America Director of Communications said, Subaru is "actively working on getting the tools out there.” Infante estimated the number of vehicles in the U.S. that are affected is closer to 140,000. He also said, the valve springs actually failing is a very rare occurrence. Subaru of America says since December, they’ve had only 11 reports of the springs actually failing, which is less than a 0.008 percent incident rate.

So if you have a 2012-2014 Subaru Impreza, 2012-2013 Impreza wagon, 2013 XV Crosstrek, or 2013 Subaru BRZ/Toyota FR-S, you’ll need lots of patience to get the recall completed on your vehicle. One owner says, “By the time I can bring my Subaru into the shop to replace a set of recalled valve springs, the 2020 presidential election will be over.” 

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Photo credit: Subaru USA