2023 Subaru Solterra Reliability Report

The contact owns a 2023 Subaru Solterra. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the heating system became inoperable. The contact stated that the heating system failed to function properly and was blowing out cold air instead of heat. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the failure was duplicated by the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to retrieve a fault code. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 16,000.

I must express my disappointment and concern regarding the actual range performance of the ELECTRIC vehicle 2023 Subaru Solterra. Subaru claims that the Solterra has a range of 228 miles, but I am consistently getting only around 160 miles. This significant discrepancy suggests that Subaru may have falsified the range information, misleading customers about the vehicle's capabilities. Moreover, it is highly frustrating that customers like myself are left at the mercy of retailers who lack the necessary knowledge to properly service Subaru EVs. This situation is unacceptable, and I urge you to address these issues promptly. If you have any further questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

We hit a stationary deer at night. Afterwards, we found an open recall: WRG23-1: Forward recognition camera reprogramming 2023 Subaru Solterra, but Subaru refused to investigate as they claim animals (suddenly appearing) are a carve out on their liability. However, the deer wasn't leaping, it was already frozen in the road. The headlights only illuminated its knees, too late for the driver to stop before impact. It could have just as easily been a person, or other heavy road debris. The incident was on a dark highway bypass, with slight left curve, so poor headlights hampered the driver & automatic systems from stopping in time. The headlights angle down (tilts & dims from brights automatically for oncoming cars) instead of illuminating the road properly, neither the driver nor the braking system can detect an object. The regular lights have an abnormally short distance. Only the brights setting illuminates a sufficient braking distance, & those can't be used with oncoming traffic. The headlights have a hard limit on the top, instead of 2 circles of light. The driver, also an engineer, said that the camera needs a certain level of lighting to detect objects, & they probably didn't test these systems together on a dark country road. Normal illumination could have prevented or lessened the damage/danger, swivel headlights would have been best. A driver needs a certain distance illuminated for braking distance at speed, unless the camera is radar or infrared: it needs light too. The front 1/3 of the car was peeled off, causing over $15k in damages. Several body panels ripped off, the wiring harness was ripped out. There were no warnings before the impact. No automatic braking occured. No airbags were deployed. There is a police report. Road was dark, clear and dry. The driver was sober, attentive and going the speed limit. A camera reprogramming without a headlight fix will not solve this safety issue, & we told Subaru as much. This situation may apply to Toyota.