Check engine, disabled vision, disabled RAB, not even 2 weeks old.

1. Gas cap not tightened: The woman did not tighten the gas cap all the way. After filling, she normally drove home that day. Then the next morning I drove it to work as normal. We tried to drive home in the afternoon, I got the full Christmas tree light display with all the steering assist features off and it doesn’t work. After locating and tightening the gas cap, I had to drive a little over 150 miles to clear the error. I was told by Subaru that the cars have to be driven a certain amount for the car’s computer to verify that everything is ok and fix the problem. Note that keeping the car and driving it with the problem active is not recommended. It is a risk and assumes that another problem does not exist. It is certainly a safety concern and can seriously damage the car.

remembers, etc.:

1. Type: Customer Satisfaction| Service Campaign: WUU06| NHTSA Campaign: N/A ECU Reprogramming C1424
2. Type: Security| Remember safety: WUV07| NHTSA Campaign: 19V855000 Ascent CVT Chain Slip
3. Type: Security| Recall safety: WRD20| NHTSA Campaign: 20V218000 19 Ascending Fuel Pump Replacement
4. HC Head Unit / Navigation: Again, after all the pulls are fixed, the HC head unit with navigation continues to go crazy. Some times it is fine and fully functional, then it will lose functions and all settings will disappear. After that, it will slowly gain some functions, then it will start normally again. With this, Rearning Backup/Braking, Navigation, Cruise Control, etc. sometimes do not work. We have it connected to our Wi-Fi to do head unit updates and map updates. They say everything is up to date. The maps are up to date, I think. It will download and install new ones. Maps version says 2017 version, etc… Not sure if it’s current. I turn off WiFi when I don’t manually connect to our home WiFi and update it. I tried downloading the program from the Subaru-maps website and installing the program on my Mac, but I get an error warning that says “Your vehicle configuration in the Portal is incomplete. Please contact your dealer/retailers”. So now going down this rabbit hole.

Other current problems and dislikes we have/had:

1. Got a small chip in the windshield, probably from road debris. It is about half the size of a table top. I recently learned that Subaru Ascent windshields crack frequently. We will close it as soon as possible. You don’t want to deal with securing and deteriorating the sight calibration.
2. The driver’s seat cooling fan is noisy and confusing.
3. The speakers are not powerful. Our 2010 Outback has MUCH more power.
4. When you change the volume, the head unit fades with the speaker icon for a long time. We are unable to view or use any features during that time. This is especially true when trying to get a glimpse of the navigation.
5. When Eye-Sight is turned on, the small upper dash display switches to the Eye-Sight display which is completely useless. It may appear for a few seconds when first engaged and be a screen you can scroll through if you wish.
6. The back compartment does not have enough lighting. The only light is the manual light on the left side. I don’t think there is a “Door” mode. Even if there is, it’s not bright enough for anything.
7. We have internal knocks everywhere.
8. I don’t know if the turbo V4 will be sustainable in the long run.
9. Between the Subaru apps and the main website and the local one, there should be better continuity in registrations.

conclusion:
We have been Subaru fans and owners for a long time. I don’t know if the newer Ascensions have fixed most of these issues. I didn’t start looking until recently. We have had numerous problems with our 2019 climb tourer. We had the transmission replaced early after filing a safety complaint with the NHTSA. The car would rear up and then stall like a bucking horse. This was early, so the entire transmission was sent back to Subaru headquarters for investigation. The HC head unit and/or computers for the car keep going crazy from time to time. I knew that buying a first year car was a gamble. Regardless, we are getting tired of all the malfunctions we have. All driver assistance features are a good thing, if they work. We would never fully rely on them, but being in this state of near control of the car/computer and breaking it is not good nor safe. The local dealer we use is fine. They are extremely busy. Since Subaru has become very popular here, the dealership has expanded, but it’s probably still not big enough. They made it as painless as possible, but it seems we keep having problem after problem. We cannot afford to take the time to make these constant trips.