Subaru Brakes Problems

Brakes issues make up roughly 3% of all Subaru owner complaints. The majority of the issues have been reported by Outback owners.

The complaint we hear about most often is premature brake wear in the 2010 Forester.

Common Subaru Brakes Problems

  1. Brake Light Switch Defect

    A build-up of chemicals from scented cleaning products containing silicone can disable the brake light switch in millions of Subaru vehicles. This can prevent the brake lights from turning on when pressing the pedal, among other things, and…

    Continue reading article "Brake Light Switch Defect" Close-up of a brake light with a red lens on top, clear lens on bottom.

  2. What Are We Missing?

    We know there's more problems than this. Let us know which one you'd like to see us cover next.

    Continue Close-up of a brake light with a red lens on top, clear lens on bottom.

Where Brakes Complaints Happen

Sometimes it helps just to tally up the complaints and see where the biggest stacks are. Use this information to learn about troublespots or to run for the hills.

Worst Issues

Worst Models

Recent Brakes News

There's a lot of news out there, but not all of it matters. We try to boil down it to the most important bits about things that actually help you with your car problem. Interested in getting these stories in an email? Signup for free email alerts over at CarComplaints.com.

  2. Subaru is recalling 27,000 model year 2010-2014 Legacy and Outback vehicles because the electronic parking brake might not engage. All the recalled cars have manual transmissions.

    The automaker found a capacitor on the circuit board and/or the actuator stroke sensor magnetic ring located in the control unit of electronic parking brake may crack over time.

    Anyone else remember when parking brakes weren’t fancy and just worked? Those were good times.

    keep reading article "Subaru Recalls Electronic Parking Brake That Might Not Engage"