My Subaru Outback 2016 less than a year old has a right turn signal that works intermittently. I can’t come up with a Rhyme or Reason why it works or not. From what people have told me the fog light is doing the same thing. The Subaru mechanics are baffled and can’t replicate the problem. Any suggestions or comments would be welcome
When a dealer’s service department is unable or unwilling to fix a problem for a customer whose car is under warranty, it is time to contact the manufacturer. Your Owner’s Manual has contact info (both toll-free phone number and mailing address) for Subaru of America in Cherry Hill, NJ. If you phone them and register a complaint, they usually have ways of…convincing…the dealer’s service department to…try harder.
Try to keep the conversation civil, but do point out that a problem with a turn signal “materially affects the safety” of the vehicle. Since that is part of the usual “legalese” contained in most Lemon Laws, that should be a clue to them that you plan on going the Lemon Law route if all else fails. In the meantime, you need to research the exact details of your state’s Lemon Laws. Most of these statutes make you eligible for relief after three failed repair attempts on the part of the dealership, but this can vary somewhat from state to state.
When all is said and done, if the service department can’t seem to resolve the problem, then you can ask the folks at SOA to set up an appointment for you with the regional service manager the next time that he/she visits the dealership. That is what Toyota did regarding my friend’s problematic Rav-4, and they sent both the regional service rep and a Toyota engineer to the dealership because I sent a registered letter informing them of an imminent Lemon Law claim if they could not fix the vehicle. Within about 2 hours of their arrival at the dealership, they fixed a problem that had eluded the Toyota mechanics on the 3 previous repair attempts.
Contact SOA!
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Thanks. Much appreciated
If the temperamental fog light is also on the right, I’m guessing that a ground that is shared with the turn signal is loose. But I fully agree with @VDCdriver . The dealer needs to figure this out.
Not only did VDC give you good advice, as he always does, but attempts to repair it yourself may invalidate your warranty for any related problems… and they may even use it as an excuse not to pursue this one.
Thanks to all for your input. The dealer, after having the car off and on for most of a month, finally found the motherboard was not working properly. That was replaced. (We did have a loaner car the whole time) now the driver’s side window doesn’t work right.
Looks like time to call Subaru.
Those Subarus are shy, timid creatures that don’t deal well with stress. Overly demanding drivers should find another brand. Remember, LOVE. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru.
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After disconnecting the power supply in order to install the new motherboard, the mechanic failed to “initialize” the power window controls. If you can’t figure out the very simple initialization procedure that is listed in the Owner’s Manual, they should be able to rectify the matter within 5 minutes at the dealership.
You can probably save yourself a lot of wasted time and inconvenience by simply referring to the Owner’s Manual.
I agree with VDC, except that you may have to get the “initialization procedure” from the dealer. Or have them do it, since it’s brand new. Mine aren’t in my owner’s manual for my car.
The “initialization procedures” are protocols that the dealer prep guys go through to set the Body Control Module protocols to baseline before delivery. Often when the battery is disconnected for service the repair guys don’t properly reset them all.