2020 Subaru Outback Problems

What owners report

Owners of this model year most often describe the windshield cracking on its own, frequently while the car sits parked, and the 12-volt battery going flat and leaving the car unable to start, sometimes within days of taking delivery. Both patterns appear mainly in the first few thousand miles. A smaller group reports that a light stone or road grit produces a much longer crack than they expected.

1. 1
   Visibility (wipers, defrost, mirrors)

   Windshield cracks while parked, no impact

   • 361 complaints (40%)
   • median 5,650 mi at 1.0 yrs old (216 state mileage)
   • 1 mention a crash, fire or injury
   • owner-quoted repair $1,000 (median of 11 quotes)
   • filed 2019–2025

   Owners describe finding a long crack in the windshield after the vehicle sat unused, sometimes overnight in a garage or for a few days in a parking lot, with no stone strike heard or found. Several say the crack began at the base near the wiper trim or along the lower edge and ran upward or across the glass within minutes. Some heard a pop while stationary. Complaints describe dealers attributing the crack to outside impact and declining warranty coverage, leaving owners to pay for replacement through insurance or out of pocket, and a few report the replacement glass cracking again in the same area. Mostly reported under about 15,000 miles, often on vehicles only weeks or months old, and commonly noticed after the car had been parked.

   What to check: Look closely at the lower edge and wiper-base area of the glass for existing cracks or chips, and ask whether the windshield has been replaced and why. Confirm what glass coverage the buyer's insurance would provide, since replacement is often handled outside warranty.

   2 excerpts from owner complaints in NHTSA records

   “Our windshield cracked for no apparent reason. The car is only a few months old and has 4000 miles on it. I noticed the crack while the car was in our garage. I seems to have happened while the car was stationary. This seems like a manufacturing defect. I need to contact the Subaru dealer to see what they say.”

   NHTSA complaint #11326663, filed 2020-05, 4,000 miles

   “Came outside to get into the vehicle and saw that windshield was cracked. Had not driven it the previous day, the nearest house is over an acre away. We have no children. No idea why it would crack because we weren't driving it and there was no one around to damage it and it had been sitting for over 36 hours.”

   NHTSA complaint #11377346, filed 2020-12, 5,000 miles
2. 2
   Electrical system

   Battery drains, engine will not start

   • 190 complaints (21%)
   • median 4,746 mi at 1.1 yrs old (92 state mileage)
   • 1 mention a crash, fire or injury
   • filed 2020–2026

   Owners report coming out to a car that will not start, sometimes after it sat for only a day or two and sometimes right after being driven. Complaints describe interior and exterior lights flashing, a clicking from the dash, doors that will not lock and a tailgate that stops working before the battery is found flat. Roadside assistance jump-starts the car, and owners say dealers tested or recharged the battery, called it good, or replaced it with the same size, while some owners fitted a larger battery themselves. Mostly reported below about 8,000 miles, often within the first months of ownership and after the car sat unused for a day or more.

   1 related service bulletin

   What to check: Ask for the battery's age and part number, whether it has been replaced or upgraded, and whether a parasitic-draw test was ever performed. A service bulletin describes a diagnostic procedure for current drain with the ignition off, so it is worth asking if that test was run.

   2 excerpts from owner complaints in NHTSA records

   “The battery is nearly always dead at startup and I have to jump it with a battery starter. The dealer had said there is nothing wrong with the battery on multiple occasions, yet I have to jump the car in grocery store parking lots. The car only has 5300 miles on it, as we don't drive that much.”

   NHTSA complaint #11363782, filed 2020-10, 5,330 miles

   “My Outback was 2 months old with ~7900 miles on it when it failed to start due to a dead battery. I had last driven the car 2 days prior. I attempted to jump with my other car & could not. Roadside assistance was able to jump start the car. Roadside assistance said it was his 20th Subaru of the day! Given the class-action lawsuit and the ongoing issues of undersized batteries, I elected to install a larger battery in the car.”

   NHTSA complaint #11353980, filed 2020-09, 7,900 miles
3. 3
   Visibility (wipers, defrost, mirrors)

   Chips from road debris spread into long cracks

   • 159 complaints (18%)
   • median 5,395 mi at 0.9 yrs old (88 state mileage)
   • owner-quoted repair $950 (median of 6 quotes)
   • filed 2020–2025

   Owners describe a small pebble or fine road grit producing a sharp noise and then a long crack running across the windshield within minutes or hours, sometimes at low speed. Several had the glass replaced only to have the same thing happen again at the same spot. According to the complaints, dealers typically treated this as outside impact and did not cover it, and repairs were paid for by the owner or through insurance. Reported from a couple of thousand miles up to roughly 20,000 miles, often at highway speed.

   What to check: Check for filled chips, short cracks or a replacement windshield, and ask how the current glass has held up. On a test drive, note whether the wipers or washer leave the glass clear, since visibility through a crack in the driver's line of sight is a common complaint.

   2 excerpts from owner complaints in NHTSA records

   “Today 12-3-20 we were driving on I-95 in florida to see my son for the 1st time in over a year (air force). Small road particles were stirred up from the road, (not anything large, you barely heard it hit the windshield, almost like sand) and then we heard a cracking sound, looked at our windshield and there is about a 9 inch crack all of the way to the bottom toward wipers, up towards the top. I'm 40 years old and have never had a windshield crack, must less like this over such road small particles. …”

   NHTSA complaint #11377787, filed 2020-12, 14,000 miles

   “Windshield has cracked twice within 15 months. Both cracks started as small chips and quickly (within hours) turned into large cracks spanning the majority of the windshield. Both chips occurred while driving on highway.”

   NHTSA complaint #11406484, filed 2021-04, 17,000 miles

Buying note. Give the glass a careful inspection in good light and ask for the windshield's history, since cracking while parked is the most frequent theme here. Also confirm the age of the 12-volt battery and whether any no-start or drain complaints were investigated, as jump-starting is a recurring owner report on this model year.

Summary written with AI from a sample of 60 NHTSA complaints for this model year (picked at random, with complaints that state a mileage and recent ones taken first), then checked automatically against the source records. Where a problem shows a complaint count, every complaint for this model year was matched with fixed keyword rules (written with AI and tested against the sample), and the mileage, age and repair figures are calculated from those complaints; owners' figures are as stated, not verified. Other counts refer to the sample. The excerpts come from NHTSA's public complaint records and are unverified; capitalisation is normalised, NHTSA staff notes are removed, and shortened text ends with “…”. Something wrong? Request a correction.