Subaru Crosstrek

"Won't connect. Have to reboot dash unit to get it to connect"

"The Android Auto has not worked since purchase. There have been two software updates since I've purchased the car. Neither has fixed the issue. VERY DISAPPOINTING! This feature was a major reason I purchased this car. It continually disconnects rendering it useless. When it disconnects while using Google Maps I can't even see the mapping on my phone. I have to pull over and restart the navigation on my phone."

"Often doesn't recognize when iPhone is connected."

"There are a ton of problems with CarPlay on this car. They are intermittent and don't occur at the dealership, but occur for me several times a week. Here are just a few: - Car won't recognize iPhone plugged in through USB port (CarPlay port) unless engine is already started. - System non-responsive for several seconds after starting. Meanwhile I have to listen to the audio blaring away at me first thing in the morning with no way to turn it off. - System seems to select random audio sources from the available apps running on my phone. Sometimes it chooses NPR One, sometimes Podcasts, sometimes Spotify. Totally random as far as I can tell. - System automatically plays audio from one the random apps it chooses when I start the car. It doesn't wait for me to start an app, ask me which one I want, or otherwise do anything reasonable. - Sometimes my iPhone isn't recognized at all even when plugged in after the engine is started - Random problems with the user interface for several apps including NPR, Spotify, Podcasts: U/I buttons don't appear at all, have no labels, or are inoperative, screen goes blank - Volume control is blasting loud for some audio inputs and barely audible for others. - Backup display went blank and system rebooted once when the car was put into Reverse - Touch screen is non-functional for several seconds after the system is turned on, or any time you adjust the volume controls on the steering wheel or infotainment system - Sometimes apps will freeze and the U/I controls will become non-functional. - Sometimes app will start but then just stop running. - Touch screen button targets are far too small to press quickly I can get my eyes back onto the road. - And probably a lot more I'm not thinking of right now! NOTE: these problems occur with several different apps, so I doubt it is an app-specific issue. The dealer acknowledged other owners have similar problems but no fix is available from Subaru. This means it is not just my vehicle that has the problems. This 1) makes the infotainment system a huge driving distraction, 2) is just really annoying because I never know which parts of the system are going to work or if they will fail without warning. Please lean on Subaru for me to fix these problems!"

"It occasionally stops working often by losing synch. Sometimes trivial but often distracting. Particularly bad when it leads to loss of map function from iPhone"

"Phone just stops working and will not connect, but Waze will continue to work. You have to stop and restart and hope for the best. Software has been updated several times."

"Apple CarPlay would randomly disconnect. Took 4 trips to the dealer for them to finally resolve by replacing the head unit."

"When my iPhone 7 is plugged in it will not display any image (like maps), only the audio."

"Sometimes when using a music service other than Apple Music (like Amazon Music or Pandora) the music plays only on the front speaker. Also the voice commands are sometimes not heard by the system."

"The sound system clicks and pops while listening to anything using CarPlay. Occasionally after plugging in the phone, the CarPlay display won’t come up on the head unit in the car."

"This is apparently a problem with apple car play. System will refuse to recognize any device, locking us out of music and phone connection. Only solution we have been able to find online and by asking professionals is to power-cycle the car. We need to stop, turn off the car, and turn it back on again. It is a bit ridiculous. Could probably be fixed if the app wern't self launching; from what my wife and I gather (we both have a background in software and tech) apple car play isn't triggering its own launch when it detects a compatible phone. If we could manually launch the app that theoretically would solve it. Happens once every few months; nuance rather than safety issue."

"If you are listening to an audiobook, and you want to go back to listen to a part again, then when you attempt to continue listening to the story after that, it jumps around from track to track and will not stay on track for the remainder of the CD . So annoying"

"CD player randomly stops working, screen freezes up, and sometimes goes out completely. Since the dealership was not able to replicate the issues, they were unable to fix the issues. This continues to happen randomly and never when I take it in for service. The car has a lot of wind noise, is uncomfortable, sometimes it has a jerk in the transmission when you start the car and put it in drive. There have been a handful of times when the car does nothing when I engage the start button and takes a few seconds to start and idles very rough when first starting the car. I had an Outback years ago and absolutely loved the car. That is the reason that I decided to buy the Crosstrek since it is a small SUV since it is just the two of us in the household. I am dissatisfied with the purchase of the Crosstrek and would not purchase this car again. Overall, I am disappointed in the car's quality and dealership/service department that continues to tell me they can't do anything about an issues if they can't replicate them. My daughter bought the same vehicle and she has more issues than I do with her Crosstrek. She was actually one of the first individual's that had a recall and identified the issue before the recall was even public. She too is dissatisfied with the purchase of her vehicle. We both will be trading our vehicles once the economy starts to pick back up."

"these are all related problems, the starlink screen freezes or goes blank rendering the system unusable or the cd player required removing and reinserting the disc at each start up. they have done a software update witch mostly fixed all this except I have still had one freeze after the fix...it is a know problem since the 17 model year in the Impreza, it should have been completely mitigated by now...very frustrating"

"Resolved when GOS was resolved."

"app, weather, shows unable to access screen just froze had couple updates, and reprogrammed and worked But could not check weather for most of 45 min"

"These problems were all interconnected and Subaru fixed it."

"There was some updates by Subaru that seems to have corrected this problem."

"this was a recall at some point. i believe subaru updated software. It has continued to happen and they either blame it on my phone (i actually bought a new expensive phone to prove it was not the phone); and now they blame it on my using an aftermarket connection from the phone to my vehicle. I recently moved and not having the gps working all the time is a real problem. screen freezing, going blank, or refusing to pair w my phone is a major major problem when i am on an unfamiliar highway or even local road."

"I’ve owed the vehicle for 24 months. The infotainment system has failed about 6 times"

"I personally did not have a issue. Subaru recalled pior to screen goes black and radio and assy's will not operate. I went to local dealer and with in 1/2 Hr. problem resolved. No charge."

"It ended up being a recall item"

"several times while driving the display screen froze up and the volume of the radio went very low but you could not change the channel or turn off the radio. When the car was turned off, then on the problem was still there. If the car was off overnight it would resolve itself only to happen randomly again. Zfirst subaru dealer could not find anything wrong. Second dealer advised that there was several software updates necessary and car had to be left for the day at dealer no charge under warranty."

"Dealer replaced car because computer needed to be replaced and might take a couple weeks. Was very surprised and impressed with dealer, Faulkner Subaru in pa"

"Randomly the screen freezes up and goes blank. This causes the CD player to also stop. This has happened several times but can not be replicated by the service department."

"The new electronic unit took care of this"

"While using the on-steering wheel station changer, the screen suddenly went blank, and the audio system shut down. The dealer installed a new module and reprogrammed the system."

"i recently moved so i rely heavily on the display screen (connected to my maps through android auto). the display screen just started going black, no sound either. turns out there was a recall for this very thing. have had it to the dealer twice for the software update or whatever they had to do. It no longer goes black; it goes white. at least w/the white screen i still get sound. this is all very recent, so i haven't advised the dealer yet."

"Only will play music off USB stick in alphabetical order, which is never the way I want to play it."

"Again this is the blue tooth unpairing with the phone. I mainly have to redownload my pandora music monthly, and the mechanics at the dealership are unable to stop this from happening."

"The touch screen usually does not work. One has to stop the car and put it in park (not useful when just pulling over to use the thing) to make any changes. The computer has to boot up every time the car starts but it has to have my phone connected to it to do this. My husband had to get a new phone to use the features in this piece of junk car. Everyone I knew who had Subaru's loved them. Can't figure that out. This car has nice features, and I got it for those, but the entire experience is tainted with radio and computer problems that have nothing to do with safety....just being able to enjoy time in the car listening to what I'd like to listen to or changing the radio channel or volume."

"The Pandora app is regularly dropped when playing through the Bluetooth, and will not reconnect until several hours have elapsed. Possibly related, sometimes the screen goes blank in the middle of playing a song, and sometimes the touchscreen “buttons” do not work. As yet, this problem has not occurred if the Pandora app is playing through Apple CarPlay. My Google Maps app has also dropped out unexpectedly via Bluetooth."

"Software did not read my contacts. I could not call out."

"Two different times I was attempting to update the GPS maps and the entire infotainment system completely shut down and an entirely new system was installed (under warranty)."

"in dash nav does NOT understand anything, voice input is completely worthless, to use it, I have to stop, and use the keypad...basically, a $1,500 upgrade that is ignored in favor of Android Auto/Google maps which does understand voice input."

"Manufacture software glitch. Updated software resolved problem. No additional service required."

"GPS froze and screen. Repaired at dealership."

"On several occasions, the GPS mapping and directions system was inaccurate. It led me to dead ends or wrong ways on one-way roads."

"I had the car a couple of days when the gps system froze up & it was a problem because I had a doctor's appt for the first time in a location I wasn't familiar with."

"The SmartLink display screen will occasionally inform me that it has failed to connect to my phone. My phone also isn't able to keep the car as a trusted device; this could be a problem with the phone. I don't know."

"phone will not stay paired up"

"Could not get messages on the car screen. They had to update the software on the radio"

"I don't know the cause but interface with IPhone for Google Maps and audiobooks is so spotty and unpredictable that we generally don't use it. Just plug in the phone"

"The phone stopped pairing after a multi-recall visit. The dealer fixed it, but it has stopped working again."

"The blue tooth will just drop you and unpair itself. This seems to happen a lot especially when using the phone maps and communicating on the phone."

"It would pair, but would not access my contacts, or those of the mechanic who worked on it. They ordered and installed a new unit."

"Unless my iPhone is plugged into ApplePlay, calling with voice commands via the Bluetooth connection is spotty at best."

"works intermittently. Currently can't find contacts and I can't make outgoing calls."

"Sometimes it doesn't pair up with my phone. It doesn't recognize it."

"The phone is suppose to be hooked to ApplePly to work but frequently it doesn’t seem to matter as long as it’s with me in the car. These electronic systems seem to have minds of their own. I drive rental cars and they can also be finicky."

"Works intermittently"

"Have had a lot of minor problems with StarLink. Most can be traced to phone pairing. Vehicle was recalled to update. Not enough time since to see if this fixed the problems."

"Bluetooth paired to Apple I phone, initially worked fine. then it did not work. Decoupled the phone and tried to reconnect, would not reconnect. Hard wired USB Apple phone to Apple play, worked fine, now it does not. Entire in dash system freezes up. Notified of a possible software update but have not been to the dealer since I got the notice,"

"Sometimes the car does not “recognize” that it’s paired with my phone, although the phone recognizes that it’s paired with the car. I’ve had to unpair and re-pair the phone more than a few times."

"The radio is always on, even if the stereo system is turned off. This seems to be a common problem with the Starlink system. The only solution is to turn the volume all the way down, so that the radio is still playing but can't be heard."

"The AM radio emits clicks and sound changes from normal to sounding like it is coming from a garbage can"

"Regular but intermittent loud popping sounds from the radio, sometimes 5-10 times per minute, sometimes none for days."

"Sometimes loses station presets for HD radio stations and XM radio stations."

"Radio comes on when car starts no matter what. It often comes on much louder than it was set or turned off at. Volume can increase and decrease on its own. Service personnel say this is a common"

"The touch screen responds slowly so often you have to tap a selection more than once. When you first start the car, the radio comes on automatically and the volume button doesn't respond for some seconds. At times it takes a very long time to load an MP3 CD."

"Annoying to turn off and on - long delay"

"When the car starts the radio goes on loud and can't be turned off while we are backing up. Can only adjust once car is in drive. Dealer said they can't fix it."

"Radio would not shut off manually - took 3 software updates to correct"

"Started constantly changing channels on its own"

"I am unable to change any function incl. station, volume or input ie FM/AM/satellite"

"The radio has ruined the otherwise excellent safety aspects of this car. It was supposed to have a CD player. It does not. It's systems all run from my telephone and that requires apps for which my phone does not have space. The radio comes on as soon as the car starts. LOUDLY. It can't be turned off or turned down until the car has been on and driven (backed up or something) and by then I'm ready to trash the car. The radio dials do not work. The dealer can't fix them. All radio controls must come from the steering wheel. This is not the sound system that I was told was in this car. I have a huge collection of CDs and no time or space to put them on my computer and/or phone to play in the car. There are no options to add a CD player to this car. I would never buy another car from this dealership. The radio is awful."

"Did not notice, but responded to a recall notice from the dealer"

"presets were lost. recall service fixed it."

"The stations that were programmed in the shortcut buttons would periodically get erased requiring the stations to be reset."

"Radio volume comes on at same level as when I turn it off, and this cannot be lowered for about 5-10 seconds (presumably while system is activating). It's very irritating to have it blasting at 6:00 am when I leave for work after I've forgotten to lower volume when I got home the day before. There was recall work done on the radio that I believed was going to fix this, but I was wrong."

"Both times that I was notified that a new map update was available I tried and failed to do the update. The system still is not updated."

"Recall notice"

"Been several updates, last update 'caused the remote start to malfunction. Dealer is over 20 miles one way."

"The 2 software updates still have not fixed the problems with the mp3 player that keeps loosing its place when vehicle is shut off"

"Software update made Infotainment, radio, backup camera inoperable. Subaru replaced head unit because software update was not compatible with my radio. New head unit working fine."

"Subaru recall radio software update. Radio face and assy. screen go black."

"Had varying problems such as windows that wouldn't go up, blank screen, frozen screen, doors that wouldn't unlock. Had several computer resets and software updates to try to resolve these problems. Except for the door locks they were all transient events so don't know if they will re-occur or not."

"Recall but the local Subaru where I didn’t purchase the vehicle will not make an appointment"

"I got a recall from the manufacturer. I thought it was going to be about how whenever I start the car the radio/sound system instantly goes on even if it was OFF when I last parked the car. And it comes on very loudly. I got the recall. I took it in to the dealer to be fixed. They did something, although it didn't cost me anything. And now I notice absolutely no difference!"

"all these problems were related to thdisplay freeze so when that was fixed these problems were resolved"

"No problems. Just was notified that an update was needed."

"Audio quality had been sub-par since I owned the vehicle. Speakers started making a squealing noise intermittently. I was finally able to get it to the dealer when it was making the noise (they refused to look at the problem unless it was happening when I took it in). They replaced the power amp in the stereo system, which apparently had never worked completely up to spec."

"The amp needed to be replaced as there was a humming sound"

"Speakers occasionally cut out briefly. This may be occurring when the steering wheel is moved, so there could be a short, but it occurs infrequently enough that I've not been able to definitively say that is the case."

"Voice control commands problem is related to the previously described Bluetooth problem."

"Left, front, lower body molding fell off. Period. Just fell off. Replaced by dealership."

"The interior trim in this car was initially very nice, with only a few cheap looking hard plastic surfaces. However, after owning this car for a year, it has developed several rattles that I cannot figure out how to quiet down. The dealer declined to fix the rattles even under my extended warranty, as it was their opinion nothing is wrong. I was not particularly upset by that, since none of the trim has broken or failed. The interior of the car just feels a lot cheaper and low rent now, than it did when I purchased the car."

"Paint very thin. Rocker panels has multiple rock chips and we do not drive on dirt roads."

"Paint on hood lip started pealing"

"Paint is extremely weak, multiple rock chips within the first 300 miles and they've only grown since then. I don't follow other drivers closely, either, in an attempt to avoid these rock chips and yet they still occur. This is a known issue on Subaru Crosstrek forums online."

"I have only driven 4500 km in this new car and there are at least 10 significant paint chips, some of which seem to go all the way down to the metal."

"Excessive rock chips, hundreds just driving in paved roads"

"Seems prone to higher than average paint chipping based on my ~40 years of car ownership."

"The paint is fine. Some of the plastic black molding on the car has started to prematurely fade. The black color is noticeably lightening and small white dots are appearing all over it. The dealer has agreed to replace the molding so it appears new again."

"The paint chips when hit by any type or road debris. There are hundreds of small chips in the paint on the front of the car. These have appeared over about 1 year of ownership."

"Excessive rock chips all over - Doors, hood, bumper, roof"

"After one year of ownership, the exterior paint on my car has been chipped, badly, in at least 20-30 places. Most chips are about the size of a pea, and are down to bare metal (clear coat, paint, and primer all lost). I will make it explicit that this paint loss occurred during normal use, i.e. driving in town, commuting, or standard highway/interstate driving. I do have several chips that were caused by driving off road, however I consider that damage entirely separate. I contacted my dealer as well as Subaru of America, and received no long term solution. SoA did offer to send a paint pen to patch the existing chips. Most online Subaru forums seem to agree with my experience, so it is unlikely that I received a lemon with a single case of bad paint."

"paint appears to chip off very easily compared to my past vehicles. Most on the front bumper"

"paint on rear hatchback had small dings in it. had to get entire back repainted."

"In the first few months of having the car I noticed a bunch of chips in the paint on the hood. Now there are a couple spots where the paint looks like it's been scratched off even though the car has never been scratched."

"It chips like crazy. My 2015 equinox has quadruple the miles and 1 chip. We stopped counting on the suburu. You look at it wrong and it chips. Both are driven on the same roads at the same times"

"when the car was about a year old i noticed the hood of the car had literal chips (tiny) out of it which were rusting. The car is garage kept, so i initially blamed it on driving on the turnpike, perhaps i was behind a truck spewing stones or something. i googled the problem and found out this was a real and existing problem w the color (sunshine orange) i had chosen. perhaps the reason subaru had had painted cars this color for a few years. It appears they didn't solve the paint problem in time for the 2018 crosstreks to be sold. I'm a senior citizen and had actually thought this might be my last car i drive it so few miles. Now i can't wait to get rid of it. I would have bought a prius if they had made them 4 wheel drive. i live in the northeast and bought this because o snow. anyway, i contacted subaru, referenced the problem and that they obviously knew this was a problem, and told them i wanted my car re painted. they offered $200 to go towards the cost of 'touching up' the chipped parts of the hood. I did send them photos and the local dealership also sent them photos. This has not yet been resolved. I'm pretty upset about this because i really like the look and feel of the car."

"The drivers side door sometimes doesn't open or lock , especially when it rains or is very cold. Sometimes if you are in the car and doors are locked, you cannot unlock the drivers side door..."

"All doors would lock by themselves and not unlock had to use emergency key"

"A times the door would not unlock with the key phob"

"The 2nd day that we had the vehicle it would NOT start after driving it for some time (30 minute). After sitting for a while it started. It happened twice in a couple days time. Had to take it back to the dealer and it ended up being a faulty remote starting unit. They replaced it and the key fabs."

"Getting fluctuating reading from one of the TPMS sensors. Replaced under warranty"