Update - Subaru Outback, Ascent Battery Drain Lawsuit What You Should Know

Thanks for this article. Any news if the battery issue was corrected for 2021 Outbacks?

Have a 2017 subaru outback. Had to have a hot shot twice in first month. Dealer said nothing wrong. Battery died a few months later while on vacation. Dealer there said the battery was bad and replaced. This all happened in summer of 2017. Bought May 2017. I turn everything off when i get home. Haven't had issue since.

So glad I saw this as I was planning to get rid of my 2014 Honda CRV which has the same issue (only 23,000 miles and on it's fifth battery) and go back to Subaru. I've been stranded too many times and had to cancel too many plans so will start considering other makes.

My wife has a 2015 Forrester which we have had to jump start more times than I can count. Subaru always said 'no that is the correct battery for the car'. I convinced her to buy a much bigger battery which she finally did and that appears to have solved the problem. Both of our sons have STI's and it seems they are OK. Subaru makes great cars!

It's not just those models. The Crosstrek Hybrid we have drained the battery in less than 2000 miles because of short trips. Instead of the car charging the 12v while charging the traction battery, I have to charge the 12v manually every month.

We have a 2020 Outback that we just had to jump this past weekend. This is our third Outback, we love them, but if this happens again it might be a deal breaker.

In November 2016 I bought a new 2017 Outback. In the summer of 2018 I left the tailgate for about 4 hours while I was unloading bags of mulch, etc. I made sure that all passenger doors were closed, and all the interior lights were switched to off, so they wouldn't drain the battery. Outcome: dead battery when I tried to start the car 4 hours later. I jumped it off, took it the the dealer that day, they could not diagnose the problem. I found a blog on the internet that suggested simply having the tailgate open somehow drained the battery because sensors were constantly sending signals to the motherboard. Then an unrelated thing happened in 2019 when I had to park on a narrow residential street to attend a short meeting - I turned on the hazard flashers and 45 minutes later when I returned to my car - you guessed it - a dead battery. That doesn't speak well of Subaru safety if you break down on the highway and have to wait 2 hours for a tow truck, your emergency flashers could give out before the tow arrives!

I have a brand new plug-in hybrid Crosstrek, leased in July, with 1,400 miles. Before this, I had a plug-in Prius and a plug-in Volt, with which I had no problems whatsoever. The Crosstrek has had a dead battery around 13 times since then. The dealership replaced the telematics module and have deep charged the battery several times. In the last 2 weeks, the battery has died 3x, and again today. Roadside service told me the car must be driven for 30 minutes every 5 days (which in and of itself, is a ridiculous thing to require of a car owner without telling them before they've bought the car). But I was about to drive it after 3 days. No lights are on. Another roadside service said to turn off the "auto" function for the headlights as they sometimes drain the battery. Which I had done. This is despicable. I do not trust that this car will start, don't trust it to take on a trip, and am paying nearly $500/month for a big ornament for my driveway. I would NEVER get another Subaru after this. Never.

Bought a 2017 Outback Limited in August 2016. Had to jump several times. Open tailgate ran the battery down, Alos could not play the radio for 15minutes. The dealer updated the charging to the ecu. No help. Finally, after the dealer telling me the battery was fine. I replace the factory battery with an Autozone Duralast with more power it has worked ok. I am still leery of opening the tailgate or playing the radio. I carry a jump box in the car because of this issue.

I also had my battery die at 13,000 miles and 17 months old. Battery replace under warranty. From what I read, it will hsppen again.

There have been multiple tech service bulletins for Forester and Outback tailgate modules draining batteries, so replacing your battery without addressing that will certainly get you in the same situation again. It should be no surprise that the batteries the manufacturer purchases are cost effective for them and provide marginal performance for you, so I would submit that getting the same battery is a waste of time and money.

I have both a Forester and Outback each with under 8,000 miles and both batteries died within weeks of each other. I chose to get NorthStar AGM batteries which are quite a bit more expensive than the original technology, but -- you get what you pay for. Even without any tailgate TSBs being addressed, I haven't had any battery issues.

Also, you may find that writing a nicely-worded letter to Subaru explaining your situation and suggesting it would be nice if they would help out with a partial reimbursement of your new battery costs, may just get you more than you would expect.

Bought a 2020 Outback in June 2020. Within 2 week, we had a battery drain and dead cell. Now, 10 months later, the same problem happened. On the 3 rd battery in 10 months, leaves us with no confidence in our new car.

I have a 2020 outback with only 5,000 miles and my battery is dead after leaving it for 6-7 days

We have a 2015 Outback that only lately the battery has been drained and had to get it jumped twice and my husband had to add water to the cells. We also have a 2020 Outback and with only 500 miles the battery went dead. My husband put a battery charger on it and charged it up. We now have about 2000 miles on it and we haven’t had anymore problems.

I have a 2020 Crosstrek plug-in hybrid. Just jumping in here to say.... although this is not an Outback, I have 2100 miles on the car and it has died over 20 times in less than a year. Customer support told me that you must drive the car every 2 days for 30, preferably 45 mins, so that the 12v battery doesn't die, and suggested I use a trickle charger. "Because there are so many computers running on these cars."