Parking brake recall for 6MT Legacy/Outback models

I haven't read the previous 7 pages, but just wanted to poke my head in and comment. I had a Subaru tech in the 5th gen facebook group send me a picture of an internal communication stating that "Vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission are not affected by this recall. However, they will be covered under an extend warranty. Details of the extended warranty coverage will be forthcoming".

I spoke to my local dealership and currently there is nothing applicable to AT cars.

I haven't read the previous 7 pages, but just wanted to poke my head in and comment. I had a Subaru tech in the 5th gen facebook group send me a picture of an internal communication stating that "Vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission are not affected by this recall. However, they will be covered under an extend warranty. Details of the extended warranty coverage will be forthcoming".

 

I spoke to my local dealership and currently there is nothing applicable to AT cars.

Well, that’s some crap. It’d be nice if NHTSA actually had some teeth and could force a recall or dictate the terms of one. The parts on the automatics are the same. So what if people with auto’s use them less? The parts are still defective. You can bet that an extended warranty will have terms like 10yrs/100k, which means the earlier ones will have already aged out. I’m already at 92k, so I’ll be out before this time next year. Frankly, that amounts to an empty gesture.

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I agree with you but without the parking brake the manual car technically has no parking ability. So that fault could be considered a failure of a critical function. On an automatic the gear selector has a park option which would cover that critical function and therefore a failure of the electronic parking break would be a broken luxury item.

I'm not saying it's cool. I'm just playing devil's advocate for why they are not covering it via recall and might be covering it under recall.

I agree with you but without the parking brake the manual car technically has no parking ability. So that fault could be considered a failure of a critical function. On an automatic the gear selector has a park option which would cover that critical function and therefore a failure of the electronic parking break would be a broken luxury item.

 

I'm not saying it's cool. I'm just playing devil's advocate for why they are not covering it via recall and might be covering it under recall.

It’s not a luxury item when it’s required by your state safety inspection. It is in my state.

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It’s not a luxury item when it’s required by your state safety inspection. It is in my state.

 

 

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When/if it fails take it in, at that time it would be covered under the extended warranty.

It’s not a luxury item when it’s required by your state safety inspection. It is in my state.

Recalls are generally only mandated by the NHTSA when it's a primary safety device - for a manual, the parking brake is the primary safety/anti-rolling device when you are parked. For an automatic, it's a secondary safety device. If you feel really strongly about it, I would call SoA and open a case and see if they will take care of it for you. They've always been helpful for me, so I'd give it a try.

(I will say, if you go in guns blazing "this is crap, I want my brake replaced for free, too!" you might meet more resistance than if you call and explain your concern, and request that your car be included in the recall)

Lots of things are required for a state safety inspection - the manufacturer doesn't cover them, either.

Recalls are generally only mandated by the NHTSA when it's a primary safety device - for a manual, the parking brake is the primary safety/anti-rolling device when you are parked. For an automatic, it's a secondary safety device. If you feel really strongly about it, I would call SoA and open a case and see if they will take care of it for you. They've always been helpful for me, so I'd give it a try.

 

(I will say, if you go in guns blazing "this is crap, I want my brake replaced for free, too!" you might meet more resistance than if you call and explain your concern, and request that your car be included in the recall)

 

 

 

Lots of things are required for a state safety inspection - the manufacturer doesn't cover them, either.

I might call them about it if the terms of the warranty aren’t acceptable to me.

And it’s true that lots of things are covered by state inspections but not covered by manufacturers, but normally those things aren’t defective and covered under a partial recall campaign.

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And it’s true that lots of things are covered by state inspections but not covered by manufacturers, but normally those things aren’t defective and covered under a partial recall campaign.

I also don't think the park brake actuator fails all that often. It hasn't been a common problem on this forum.

I also don't think the park brake actuator fails all that often. It hasn't been a common problem on this forum.

If it isn’t a common failure then why do a recall campaign for it? You don’t replace parts that don’t fail for free for no reason.

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If it isn’t a common failure then why do a recall campaign for it? You don’t replace parts that don’t fail for free for no reason.

 

 

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It is all in how the safety regulations are written. Recalls aren't always voluntary and when they are, it is probably just preemptively recalled ahead of a looming mandatory recall. Save face and do what you would have had to anyway.

Dropping my car off tonight after work. I hope they don't scratch it like the airbag recall incident. I'll be taking pictures when I get home just in case.

They should be handling these cars with white gloves.

Made my appointment for Sep the 14th. The dealer said they had one assembly in stock. And it would likely be 3 to 4 hours. Really not looking forward to this, lol.

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Made my appointment for Sep the 14th. The dealer said they had one assembly in stock. And it would likely be 3 to 4 hours. Really not looking forward to this, lol.

 

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They won’t give you a loaner?

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They won’t give you a loaner?

 

 

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Yes, they have loaners. But most likely will just drop it off and then take the kids to the park or something like that. The wife is off, no sense in wasting time getting and returning a loaner.

Yes, they have loaners. But most likely will just drop it off and then take the kids to the park or something like that. The wife is off, no sense in wasting time getting and returning a loaner.

Oh, okay. I got the impression that you’d be stuck at the dealer for all that time. That’s a long while to be stuck in a place that likely doesn’t have anything much more interesting on hand than what you’re coming in with...

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I just got a warranty extension notice in the mail for my 3.6R. It extends the standard warranty (3yr/36k) on the parking brake to 15yr/unlimited.

That’s better than I thought! It’s not the recall I had hoped for, but it should cover those of us with 5th Gen’s and autotragic transmissions for plenty long enough.

I guess I’ll turn my hill-holder back on.

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Number one reason I don't buy brake pads from the dealership, they are ungodly expensive compared to aftermarket. IIRC, my hawk hps were way cheaper.

Anywho, I did finally get my brake actuator changed by the dealer, it took a couple trips, since I didn't realize they needed to take off my wheels and access the parking brakes themselves. And since they are such skilled technicians they couldn't remove my spacers, claiming they were rusted in place. I didn't argue just made a new appointment and spent all of 30 min in my driveway jacking up the car and removing them myself.

In any case it is all done now, I got to drive a new legacy and a new forester. Not sure which I liked better, lol but they both made me appreciate the quietness that I have stolen from my own legacy over the years of modding. The new actuator is in fact quieter and smoother, not quite as quiet as the Ascent's is though.

I got the notice for my 3.6R also. Called the dealer and they mailed me a copy of my invoice from 2015 when I had it replaced. Now to get me some green.

That’s a good point! The notice says you only have until 12/31/19 to get reimbursed for any payments you made to have this fix done. Anybody who did needs to get on it soon.

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