1999 Subaru Outback Suspension Problems

“Front right coil spring broke which and caused the front tire to become shredded. The car was undriveable and needed to be towed to our mechanic. We discovered that a recall had been issued for this exact problem (NHTSA campaign id number : 01v216000). However, Subaru refussed to pay for the repair because the car was not included in the batch of cars involved in the recall. We therefore had our mechanic repair the vehicle.”

“We experienced an incident in which a front suspension coil spring failed. Parking our 1999 Subaru legacy Outback, the vehicle was perfectly fine. In the morning the vehicle had a flat driver's side tire. Jacking the car, it was difficult to remove the flat tire and wheel. The reason it was hard to remove was that a sharp long piece of the front coil spring has broken away, and punctured the sidewall of the tire. When the tire and wheel were finally removed, the broken coil spring could be seen sitting atop the front strut. …”

“I bought a 1999 Subaru Outback 30th anniversary limited edition in june of 1999. Within six months, the car began to exhibit clutch and transmission problems. I brought this to the immediate attention of the Subaru dealer. For three years they denied that there was anything wrong with the vehicle, always saying they were unable to duplicate the problems. Finally in june of 2002, I was able to get a regional service supervisor to admit that the car definitely had problems. His first solution was to suggest that I trade the car in on a new one. …”

“Front coil spring broke in half while vehicle was stationary - almost puncturing tire, and rendering vehicle immobile - the broken end of the coil was wedged into the tire sidewall. If this had happened while vehicle was moving, it would have caused a blowout and possible accident. Subaru has a recall for coil springs, but said the vehicle was not covered because it was outside the VIN range - but was clearly still affected by the problem.”

“I was quite hurt (to the degree of having to go on ssd) in a rear end collision in a 1998 Subaru legacy wagon. In trying to recover the original head rest of this car I learned it is no longer available and can only be replaced with a much safer model. In doing a recent crash analysis with this new head rest I realized the significant differences and how much safer the new head rest is. I learned on your car safety web site of the national caution on the whole seat of this model seats and head rest. …”