Same problem with brand new
Same problem with brand new 2019 Outback. Leave the gate open and within 3 hours the battery is dead. We discovered this the hard way while camping. 1800 miles on this brand new car, and the battery was totally dead because I left the gate open for three hours while we slowly packed up to come home. Fortunately our camping companions had jumper cables. Not since the 70's have I had to worry about leaving a car door open and killing the battery. SoA customer service tells me this is a characteristic of the power liftgate system and cannot be changed. Their recommended solution is to not leave the liftgate open for extended periods.This is crazy. Subaru owners are outdoor people. They take their cars into remote areas. There are even tents that utilize the open gate of the Outback for camping. A "designed in" battery drain is dumb design and a safety issue. I would happily give up the power liftgate. I don't need it and no one else does either, but you can't get up-level versions of the car without it. I am a first time Subaru owner and I have completely fallen out of love with this vehicle, which sounds petty, I know. But this issue, which apparently has existed for several model years and the extremely non-helpful response form SoA has me very disenchanted. "Subies" would tell me to get used to it: It's a Subaru.
I can't do that. I think it can be fixed. Easily. In my simple mind, this is a software issue. Instruct the computer to shut off the power to the liftgate after a few minutes.... same as it already does for the interior lights.
Step up Subaru. This is a flaw. Fix it.