There are 4 owner-reported speed control & cruise complaints for the 2012 Subaru Outbackin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
The last incident? I couldn't recover my intentions. (Incidents of random acceleration seem to only happen when I am turning). The last incident occurred in my mall parking lot.. I was about to turn and suddenly the car shot forward. I could have fought to maintain my turn but that would have been aggressive maneuvering. Nothing, thankfully, was in front of me, so this was the first time I was deviated off course. 1 - random acceleration 2 - if my reflexes were not quick enough, there would have been vehicular accident and/or pedestrian being struck 3 - no... not able to duplicate. 4 - no check engine lights prior. One instance, as I avoided a collision, that threw a code (CEL) but scanner didn't see any codes. CEL went away 3 days later. NOTE: I am in North Bay, Ontario, Canada
The vehicle will accelerate all on its own I was pulling into a parking spot and the vehicle just accelerated thank god there was not another car in from of me or I would have hit them. Then later that same day with the cruise on the vehicle just started speeding up. I had to hit the brakes to turn cruise off or who knows how fast it would have taken me
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 SUBARU OUTBACK. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE CRUISE CONTROL SWITCH MALFUNCTIONED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHERE THE TECHNICIAN WAS UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 10 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 21,000. UPDATED 10/7/14*CN THE CONSUMER STATED WHEN THE CRUISE CONTROL IS SET AND THE VEHICLE IS TRAVELING FASTER THAN THE SET POINT, UPON SELECTING RESUME THE VEHICLE WILL RESET TO THE CURRENT SPEED. THE DRIVER EXPECTED THE VEHICLE TO DECELERATE TO THE ORIGINALLY SET SPEED. UPDATED 3/25/2015 *JS
VEHICLE STOPPED CRUISE CONTROL & FLASHED BRAKES & NO TRACTION CONTROL UNEXPECTEDLY. CAME CLOSE TO A WRECK SHUTTING THE VEHICLE DOWN ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD HITTING VARIOUS TIRE RECAPS & DEBRIS ON THE SIDE. OF THE ROAD. NOT TOLD THAT THIS IS A REGULAR OCCURRENCE WITH THIS VEHICLE. *TR
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 26, 2026