Dash Melt Down

Still looks/feels great after cleaning it. Even sat in the sun ALL day Saturday and Sunday last weekend at the track.

Rant warning

U have been warned

I love my car even for all her little short comings. But this is unforgivable I hadn't heard anything about this till 2 weeks ago. I was looking at http://www.carcomplaints.com/ and notched something about a class action lawsuit being brought against Subaru, opened the link and read about these people that have been having problems with a sticky dash pad that eventually devolves into a dash that's a safety hazard from glare. WOW sucks for them right, makes a guy wonder what they have been using on the dash right. Well I have had my Subaru in the garage all summer, working on the drivers door pinch seam rust problem and doing what I need to do to finally get my cryotune on. Time h as been tight so I just really started working on the juicy stuff 2 weeks ago. So time comes to mount my wideband and I run my hand over my dash and notice a certain "tacky" feel. So I go to pop out my side vent for my gauge mount and just attempting to slip the pry tool into the crack is damaging the dash pad...

Turns out just siting in my garage the "plastic" on my dash has undergone a change in state. Its no longer a plastic its closer to rubber almost a what you would think un-vulcanized rubber would be crumbly in structure.

I love my car always take the time to keep her sharp and clean. I probably have the low mileage record at 44k. I use McGuire's natural shine because I don't like that boyracer shine. Now it would seem that fate has other plans.

Now what happens if Subaru does decide to do the right thing and replace everyone's dashes like Toyota is doing.. that buys me 9 more years what then. I still plan owning this car in 9 years(probably the only one that's thinking this way) they are not going to retool and crank out 50k dash pads with reformulated plastics so its only a matter of time till we are all back here again but by then there wont be any supply of dashboards. I see there television commercials with dad handing the keys over to his daughter that grew up in that car, its all BS by the time I hand the keys to my son the only thing left will be a pile of environmentally friendly soy goo. I think Subaru got over confident in their new eco friendly plastic and ruined the cars for me and thousands of others. On a side note I noticed that there's already guys on the BRZ forums complaining about sticky dashes, so I guess we are lucky we made it this far.

So in closing join the class action lawsuit they sell these things with a image of longevity lets make them prove it.

I have the same issue. Didn't happen at all for the few years I lived in VA. Moved to FL in 2012 and my dash is completely ruined. Melted from the sin. Sticky nearly all the time and just to clean it, it needs to be at night when it has cooled. Same issue with the windshield sun visor...leaves fibers behind.

Chiming in, 2007 legacy spec B with this issue. Except I didn't notice it until I put a temporary tag on the dash in the window and the tag is now glued to the dash. I work at night so I rarely see her during the day when the shininess would be overly noticeable.

Mine seems to do the exact opposite, gets a weird white powdery buildup on the dash and any other pieces made from what seems to be the same material. Easy to clean off but just seems rather odd. Comes back a few weeks after cleaning

Follow-up... My cleaning lasted until about two weeks ago. The sticky residue has started to come back. I wiped the dash down with just water and a little bit of soap. Seems to have prevented it so far from coming back as bad as it was before. Definitely not resolved completely. Bummer.

Mine seems to do the exact opposite, gets a weird white powdery buildup on the dash and any other pieces made from what seems to be the same material. Easy to clean off but just seems rather odd. Comes back a few weeks after cleaning

 

Same here.

 

I've tried cleaning with soapy water and applying 303 protectant, that lasted a a few weeks but I'm back to that weird matte kinda milky coating which wipes off with a microfibre.

Mine seems to do the exact opposite, gets a weird white powdery buildup on the dash and any other pieces made from what seems to be the same material. Easy to clean off but just seems rather odd. Comes back a few weeks after cleaning

 

Either way this shows the Subaru has made a dashboard that is inherently unstable and they need to fix this problem. the plastic is obviously unstable they're testing would have proven this

My car has never sat for a long period of time in the sun without a collapsible shade. I'm a bit nuts about it, all my cars have them. It does sit outside all the time however so it still gets hot. The only shiny part of my dash is the front part near the defrost vents where the shades don't reach. The rest of the dash is still tacky, just not shiny/slimy like the front.

 

My wife's, which never gets a sunshade, doesn't seem to be affected.

i finally lost my patience and got a dash cover. not the prettiest, but so far so good and no more sticky dash catching tons of dust and dog hair

Interesting, I didn't know they made such a thing. It appears to fit pretty well, is that specifically for a Legacy?

Yes, cover king brand makes specific to fit templates for most cars. Our car is one of them. And it does make the interior look elegant.

i got mine from dashmat.com. it was cheaper than the rest at around 30 bucks (find the one you like on their site, buy it cheaper from amazon lol)

 

the fitment is good, the key is to buy more velcro than they send you and take your time

 

had it for a couple months now, so far so good

I should update, I checked my wife's car the other day and it is in fact getting sticky. The part over the gauge cluster more than the rest at this point.

Still with the same problem. Inside the garage the dash creates a thin white powder-like coat that melts and get sticky under the sunlight.

The best way to control the pest seems to clean it while in the the white powder form, before leaving the garage.

http://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2015/subaru-melting-dashboard-lawsuit.shtml

Just got a letter in the mail today saying Subaru is implementing a Dashboard Warranty extension program for all 2005-2009 Outback & Legacy's. First the passenger airbag recall and now this....awesome.

Just got a letter in the mail today saying Subaru is implementing a Dashboard Warranty extension program for all 2005-2009 Outback & Legacy's. First the passenger airbag recall and now this....awesome.

 

It only applies *if* your dash is sticky. Just have them do it when they do the airbag recall because apparently, the entire dash comes out anyway.

 

I just got the letter today as well.

Only the lower part of the dash comes out, not the whole thing to replace the air bag.

I hope I get the letter soon... I can't stand how dirty the dash is because its so sticky. And it really does glare in the sun. I tried looking on mysubaru.com and its not showing up there yet... anyone willing to post the letter online so I can read it fully?

 

EDIT: nevermind, just found this thread, http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/oh-my-sticky-dashboard-quality-program-250691.html

Letter on Saturday for me. I'm going to make them change it out whether they like it or not.

I'm super excited for this! My experience is that the dash and the door cards get sticky in the summer.

 

 

Edit: Got my letter in the mail today

Edited March 8, 2016 by TheMonaLisa

I got a letter in the mail regarding this today as well.. but the dash in my 07 is still factory like

Only the lower part of the dash comes out, not the whole thing to replace the air bag.

 

For the 05? Well that sucks. So much for my hopes of fixing the dash rattle with this. Not that I wont try.

Has anyone had it done yet?

 

I might be one of the rare leggies that has zero rattles - but i swear, it's such a pleasure. it's an 06 with about 80k miles. I'm noticing the very beginnings of sticky dash syndrome, with isolated islands of glossiness. a good wipe down with 303 will even everything out and knock down the gloss a bit... but its only temporary.

 

pro: get a new dash - no more sticky.

 

con: are they going to screw up my rattle-free life with this car?