My Ascent is currently at the dealer for the 3rd visit on the same problem. First visit, rear struts were “adjusted.” Second visit, rear struts were replaced. After that a second Ascent came into the same dealer with the same issue and Subaru sent their field engineer. They spent a week diagnosing. There is some kind of isolation protection on the bottom of the strut assembly where everything comes together. That protection is supposed to prevent any metal to metal contact. On this particular Ascent, that protection had either been improperly installed, or worked its way out of place. They fixed that and the customer drove for 5 days without repeated incident before the dealer called me to schedule the same fix for mine.
Four days after drop-off (having heard no updates) I called the dealer and learned that mine must have had even more significant of an issue, as the field engineer had been called back, and after inspecting my Ascent, wanted the entire rear suspension assembly removed as a unit and shipped back to the factory.
We also had a door lock that wouldn’t disengage if the vehicle was parked on an incline when we picked up the car (in March)
Needless to say, I’m now pretty worried about what else we might find a year or two down the road. This is not the experience I’m used to with Subarus.
Anyway, I hope the details above help anyone else who might be getting noise from the rear suspension.
