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Old 07-12-2019, 02:28 PM   #1
banyan
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News New Subaru Outback and Legacy Recall, Poor-Quality Welds May Compromise Body Strength


Subaru is hit with another recall. See what’s wrong now with some 2019 Subaru Outback and Legacy models and check if your vehicle is affected.

Subaru of America has issued another recall for certain new 2019 Outback SUV and 2019 Legacy sedan models built at the U.S. plant in Lafayette, Indiana. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says spot welds located on the duct below the cowl panel may have been improperly applied, impacting the vehicle's body strength. In the event of a crash, the reduced strength of the vehicle body may increase the risk of injury.

There are a total of 2,107 vehicles affected with most of them being new 2019 Outback models. The number of affected Outback vehicles is 1,965. The recall population includes certain 2019 model year Legacy vehicles. The number of affected Legacy vehicles is 142. Affected vehicles will need to be returned to the U.S. factory for repair and customers will have the option of getting a new vehicle. This now raises new concerns with the quality of the new 2020 Outback model change.

The problem
The NHTSA says during the manufacturing process at Subaru’s Indiana factory where the Outback, Legacy, Ascent, and Impreza are manufactured, the spot-welder tip on the body assembly line, is supposed to be cleaned and re-shaped by a dresser (grinding machine). During the production of some Outback and Legacy models, the grinding machine may have been blocked by excess metal chips/powder, thus reducing the effectiveness of the welder.

The remedy
Subaru dealers will be required to inspect the duct for the “B” line identification mark. If the part was produced on the affected line, the spot-welds will be inspected by a Subaru manufacturer’s representative. If certain spot-welds are improperly applied, the vehicle will be returned to the Subaru Indiana Automotive factory for repair. If a customer vehicle is confirmed as containing an affected part, the customer will have the option of “exchanging the vehicle, repurchase or having the vehicle returned to the manufacturing facility for repair at no cost,” according to the recent recall report by NHTSA.

What should customers do?
Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the 2019 Outback and Legacy models and repair or repurchase the vehicle, as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on July 26, 2019. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WUH-93.

https://www.torquenews.com/1084/new-...y-strength/amp
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Old 07-12-2019, 09:16 PM   #2
VarmintCong
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Ouch.

I thought robots are better than humans at quality? Oops.
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Old 07-13-2019, 07:24 AM   #3
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very surprised by another Subaru recall.



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Old 07-13-2019, 10:09 AM   #4
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93K Outbacks sold soo far and 2200 "possibly" affected cars. Sucks there is ANOTHER recall; but, the internet will famously over rate this like usual. Everyone freaked out at the Ascent "recall" and absolutely ZERO of them were affected. I have a feeling this will be very similar.



Sure would be nice, though, for them to get their act back together.
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Old 07-13-2019, 02:19 PM   #5
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At least they didn't just brush it under the rug to "save face". They're not quite THAT big yet.
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Old 07-13-2019, 03:39 PM   #6
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10 year 100k mile bumper to bumper should cover it.
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Old 07-13-2019, 07:04 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SVX WRX View Post
very surprised by another Subaru recall.



Better than old school Subaru who wouldn’t do anything. Cough headgaskets. Issuing recalls is the right thing to do. I just wish they’d get their engine design and production under control. Too many engine issues in recent years.
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Old 07-13-2019, 10:07 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pre View Post
Better than old school Subaru who wouldn’t do anything. Cough headgaskets. Issuing recalls is the right thing to do. I just wish they’d get their engine design and production under control. Too many engine issues in recent years.
This. Absolutely.
Their focus on these recalls is always safety-based, as it should be, but there’s a boatload of other crap that more falls into the reliability bucket that doesn’t get recalled.
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Old 07-14-2019, 08:04 PM   #9
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Don’t make ‘em like they use to.
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Old 07-14-2019, 08:10 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by WRX4US View Post
Don’t make ‘em like they use to.
That's literally true of most things in life. Move on, brother.
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Old 07-14-2019, 11:01 PM   #11
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Well, we're working our way back to flip phones, so I guess what goes around does come around!
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Old 07-15-2019, 01:23 PM   #12
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So is Subaru going to do one of these "oops we missed some welds" things each time a new model is launched?
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Old 07-15-2019, 01:32 PM   #13
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Skynet is active! The machines are rising, one Subaru defect at a time!
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Old 07-15-2019, 02:03 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T-37 View Post
So is Subaru going to do one of these "oops we missed some welds" things each time a new model is launched?
Eliminating the clutch pedal didn’t fix it.
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Old 07-16-2019, 06:29 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WRX4US View Post
Don’t make ‘em like they use to.
Probably previous cars had worst problems with spot welds, but they either didn't care or didn't know. So.. Maybe they make them even better than they use to. Who knows..
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Old 07-16-2019, 05:06 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pre View Post
Better than old school Subaru who wouldn’t do anything. Cough headgaskets. Issuing recalls is the right thing to do. I just wish they’d get their engine design and production under control. Too many engine issues in recent years.
This is a NHTSA driven recall, not a voluntary recall by Subaru. This recall in no way reflects positively on Subaru.

99% chance our next vehicle will NOT be a Subaru at this point.
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Old 07-16-2019, 07:56 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dwf137 View Post
This is a NHTSA driven recall, not a voluntary recall by Subaru. This recall in no way reflects positively on Subaru.

99% chance our next vehicle will NOT be a Subaru at this point.

Wrong

Page 3


https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/201...9V493-9653.PDF
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Old 07-16-2019, 11:58 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by JustyWRC View Post
Fair enough. The article is worded in a way that made it seem otherwise to me.

Glad they caught it.
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Old 07-17-2019, 08:37 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by dwf137 View Post
Fair enough. The article is worded in a way that made it seem otherwise to me.

Glad they caught it.

At only 2200 cars, I figured it was an internal catch; but, that miles to empty reprogramming fiasco? That one irked me.
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Old 07-17-2019, 09:14 AM   #20
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So, more news on it is that it's a supplier issue, not a Subaru issue. If it really is a supplier issue, then Subaru may be able to skirt this one.

Also, due to where they are, these cars are going to the scrapper and not back on the road.

Quote:
The problem was discovered within a week, limiting the extent of the problem, nonetheless, the automaker plans to recall 142 of the Legacy sedans and 1,965 of the Outback SUVs. According to Subaru, the majority of those models had yet to be delivered, but at least 20 are currently in the hands of U.S. buyers.
Sure, the initial headline of the number of cars was "oh crap", but when you find out only 20 made it into customers hands... that's not THAT bad as far as a recall goes.

Thing is, I think the supplier being on the hook for the failure is going to be tapping their insurance for this one as they may have to foot the bill for the cars. What I'm curious about now is, how did they find it?

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/aut...scrap-n1030316

--kC

Last edited by KC; 07-17-2019 at 09:22 AM.
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Old 07-17-2019, 11:48 AM   #21
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Maybe someone checked the logs of the maintenance of the machine and the cleaning wasn't logged? Of maybe SIA does their own inspections periodically as well and someone noticed something wrong with the welder?

What happened to the "inspections" first? We have a rep here today, I'll ask. Also, they made mention of the "same" problem with the Ascent last year; but, failed to mention that NONE of them ended up having any issue. Of course, the Ascent issue was said to be a "missing" weld and not a "bad" weld. Wonder if they are just going to scrap them since how do you check a weld? Would it be something that can be seen visually? X-ray? Doubt they'd go to THAT extent.
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Old 07-17-2019, 04:39 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JustyWRC View Post
Maybe someone checked the logs of the maintenance of the machine and the cleaning wasn't logged? Of maybe SIA does their own inspections periodically as well and someone noticed something wrong with the welder?

What happened to the "inspections" first? We have a rep here today, I'll ask. Also, they made mention of the "same" problem with the Ascent last year; but, failed to mention that NONE of them ended up having any issue. Of course, the Ascent issue was said to be a "missing" weld and not a "bad" weld. Wonder if they are just going to scrap them since how do you check a weld? Would it be something that can be seen visually? X-ray? Doubt they'd go to THAT extent.
maybe they will pull a jeep and have a guy re weld it at the dealer and spray paint over it?

https://jalopnik.com/heres-how-jeep-...y-f-1829815170
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Old 07-17-2019, 05:43 PM   #23
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Originally Posted by KC View Post
Thing is, I think the supplier being on the hook for the failure is going to be tapping their insurance for this one as they may have to foot the bill for the cars. What I'm curious about now is, how did they find it?

--kC
The link Justy provided above spelled it out:

Quote:
June 6, 2019 - During the installation process of the duct into vehicle body at Subaru's U.S. production plant, a
body shop employee heard an abnormal noise from the duct area. Upon closer examination, it was observed
that certain spot welds, located on the duct below the cowl panel, may not have been properly applied. The
issue was escalated within Subaru, and the supplier was informed of the condition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by n2oiroc View Post
maybe they will pull a jeep and have a guy re weld it at the dealer and spray paint over it?

https://jalopnik.com/heres-how-jeep-...y-f-1829815170
Quote:
For all the affected vehicles, Subaru dealers will inspect the duct for the "B"
line identification mark. If the part was produced on the affected line, the
spot-welds will be inspected by a Subaru manufacturer's representative. If
certain spot-welds are improperly applied, the vehicle will be returned to
the vehicle manufacturing facility for repair. If a customer vehicle is
confirmed as containing an affected part, the customer will have the option
of exchanging the vehicle, repurchase, or having the vehicle returned to
the manufacturing facility for repair at no cost.
If my vehicle were affected, I'd absolutely exchange the vehicle. No way I'd want a re-constructed vehicle, even if it was done at the factory.


This sounds like it's in the same place as the spot welds that infamously failed on the 2008-2014 WRX's?
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