2008 Subaru Outback Body and structure Problems

“I eased into a parking spot, stepped on the brake, and put the gearshift into park. As soon as I shifted the car lunged forward, picked up speed, and drove into the building. I never took my foot off the brake and had to move the gearshift down to reverse (not up) to get out of the building, which verifies that the vehicle was in park when it accelerated. The brake and accelerator are not close enough for me to accidentally have my foot on both.”

“Shortly after purchasing this vehicle (new), the hood latch began to occasionally open by itself while driving. The safety latch does catch the hood before it opens all the way, but it is nevertheless disconcerting, and certainly a safety issue. I currently have approximately 82000 miles on the vehicle, and would estimate that the hood has self-opened while driving at least 20 times. The dealer suggested that I was not closing the hood sufficiently when changing the oil, or when adding washer fluid. …”

“Dashboard has suddenly become very sticky/tacky, and extremely shiny. Attempts to clean or remove apparent residue have had no effect on stickiness, and lint from rags or paper towels tends to stick to dash. In sunlight, moonlight or streetlight, dashboard surface reflects onto windshield and poses a safety hazard. Dashboard plastic appears to be chemically breaking down or melting. A similar issue affected several million toyota vehicles from the same manufacture date (2007-8), particularly in sunnier states with more uv exposure (fl, az, ca) and toyota issued a recall. …”

“On many separate occasions (but reported to Subaru authorized service dealer on 03/28/12, 10/01/11, and 09/21/11), our hood has partly popped open while driving the vehicle at a range of speeds and in a range of temperatures. It is as if the initial hood release latch has been pulled from within the car, but the hood then catches on the manual release under the lid. Once loose, the hood wobbles (with increased violence at high speeds) and is obviously not secure. The Subaru shop tech initially adjusted and realigned the hood latch. On a subsequent visit, the entire hood latch was replaced. …”

“The contact owns a 2008 Subaru Outback. While driving approximately 70 MPH with a kayak strapped to the roof of the vehicle, the kayak flew backwards and detached from the roof. The contact pulled over and retrieved the kayak with the aerial bar still attached. The failure mileage was 176,00. Updated 5/20/08 the carrier that attached to the cross bar of the roof rack broke. Updated 05/20/08”