I have an '03 2.5TS with 20k miles. The fuel door release is all rusty right under the carpet. Subaru wont fix it because its only surface rust. From my experience with rust of any kind, it doesn't stay surface rust for long. Anyone have this experience and is it terminal or did you get the warantee to cover it?

Thanks,
Matt

If you could post a picture, that would be helpful.
My '95 Miata started its life on the East Coast, and if you look under the dash the various steel items like shafts, brackets, etc have a bit of sparse surface rust on them. It's not getting any worse, so I don't worry about it. If it gets major, you might want to look into a coating/paint like Por-15, which is amazing stuff. (http://www.por15.com/)
In your case, is the rust from getting water/salt in the driver's side foot area? If so, I'd buy some rubber mats to protect the floor. The Subaru rust warranty only covers perforation (rusting all the way through something).

Even with the floor mats, this will still be a problem. I've got some surface rust in the same spot and I use the floor mats religiously in the winter (as well as cleaning my shoes off before getting in the car.) I've even found salt deposits on some of the metal under the seat from running with the heater/defrost on my feet. I honestly think the best thing to do would be to clean it, using the above mentioned coating, then trying to reclean the area every spring.