If You Need Your Subaru Fixed Fast, Don’t Be Surprised If Longer Waits Are Ahead

Subaru is suffering from its own success. Not a bad place to be. I love my '11 Outback and would replace it with another one if I needed a vehicle. However, with 101K on the clock and almost nothing spent beyond routine maintenance, this OB is hanging around for at least another 101K. I'm giving all the new owners a break!

Another reason there's a shortage of tech is that techs are leaving the business. I am a 37 year master certified tech and left the business in April of this year. In part I left because Subaru's goodwill warranty policy was killing my paycheck. Goodwill Warranty is good for the customer but it means a pay cut of 1/3-1/2 to a tech. Techs in the United States are paid by the job not the hour. Until manufactures start to pay techs what they are worth, tech will continue to leave the business.

No kidding. I have a recall that needs to be performed. And the issue is causing me problems. 6 weeks to get an appointment. Not good.

Out of warranty repairs for Subarus are quite costly but if you can do things yourself, they are cheap and easy to maintain. A dealer will get you for almost $500 for a wheel bearing replacement...you can buy the part for less than $50 and it takes about an hour to do...which is less time than it takes to bring your car in and go home to wait. Similarly, CV boot repairs are in the same category and what puzzles me is that they have not made improvements to these common failure points in over 20 years.

Easy fix, purchase the service manual and YouTube whenever there's a problem. I've learned to change the transmission fluid, change my own oil, flush my brakes, change differential fluid, replace suspension struts and shocks, replace wheel bearing, replace rotors and brakes on my 2010 subaru outback. I started off slow gaining confidence and started doing bigger jobs. Subarus are extremely easy to work on you can take it to any other mechanic. The only time you ever need to take it to a dealership if you have electrical or computer problems that can only be diagnosed by a Subaru certified service tech.

Scheduled an appointment for a squeak/rattle issue on a 2017 Outback. Dropped it off and got a loaner. Over two weeks passed before they were able to get to my car. Only charged 1.5 hours back to Subaru for warranty work.

Hi, I work with Subaru as a Subaru Ambassador. We're currently working a campaign to get folks in for their airbag recalls and at this time I know of no extremely long wait times as you describe in this article. Did you do any other research on that, or are you just arbitrarily saying Subaru is having recall backlog based on a single person's experience?
That's what it appears you are doing.

Phoenix area resident, reasonable wait times, excellent service, dealer has beautiful show room with warm cookies and starbucks coffee... free car wash too. The car is worth the wait.

I use an independent Subaru Repair shop in Anchorage. They do great work and are Subaru certified.

How about the 2005 head gasket recall that never happened

One major reason for this is the recall involving valve springs--a rather lengthy procedure and one requiring more skill than your typical recall.

Some of it is normal--waiting for parts on a airbag recall for example.

Your comment on the airbag recall sounds a bit vindictive. Tell mr editor, if the parts supplier has a backlog, how is ANY dealership, regardless of brand, going to install something they don't have or can't get?

I think this article needs to be retracted. This is based on one person's experience....at one dealer....in one state. Perhaps if the author had done some extra research, he'd learn that this person's bad experience is NOT normal. Parts ARE available for the Takata recall. The man in the article failed to mention that Subaru probably offered him a loaner because that is their policy if you need to transport people in your passenger seat before the recall work is performed. They will also offer to come and tow the vehicle to the dealer to get the work performed if it is broken down.
Subaru will literally bend over backwards to make sure you are accommodated until this repair is performed.
Really shoddy journalism there, Denis. In fact, I'd go as far as to call it irresponsible. I'm passing the link onto Subaru. I hope they demand you retract the article, for spreading misinformation.

I needed 6000 mile maintenance on my leased Impreza.Tried to book it on the web.One place could not schedule it(ie over 30 days).The other place was 3 weeks.
BTW it took literally years to get the airbags replaced in my Mustang.
I miss my Baja!

For the recall, I was in and out in 15 minutes. Otherwise, I have a local repair shop that does fleet repair for several major companies and state organizations, and Subaru service charges WAY too much. $300 for a "tune-up", meaning replace spark plugs. My hubby and I did it for less than $10 in about 30 minutes.

If dealerships would pay the techs right we all would be happier, trust me on that. An average tech with years of experience makes anywhere in the line of 20 to 30 an flat rate hours , not hourly like all of you think. Pay us more or give us an hourly wage and things wont be so hard to do this work . Its all on the dealerships as of right now nothing else , employees are just employees nothing else

The article is quite misleading. There is a huge push to get new technicians trained to take care of all the new cars they're selling (fact). The one customer you quoted anonymously even said the delay is because of a delay for parts, by their manufacturer, not due to the lack of technicians to install it. Completely unrelated to the story!

NJ resident scheduled an appointment fot a 2013 Legacy Takata recall while in FL. I didn't encounter any problems at Schumacher Subuaru, Delray Beach FL

2 month wait in Madison, WI. Airbag recalls are part of it but that's been going on for what, 2-3 years now? The local dealer converted the Mazda dealer next door into Subaru express. They have really bad turnover with customer facing service workers because most of the ones I talk to are clueless.

So wait a minute, people are upset over wait times but not the fact that subaru doesn't pay it's technicians on a regular weekly basis and makes them work for free or pennies an hour under a flat/slave rate system. If you stop buying their cars it solves the problem. It might even force subaru to pay their employees a fair living wage which would attract more employees to take care of the growing number of cars they want to put on the road. Or you could drive around in a couple thousand pound death machine that if you get in an accident could kill you because of a manufacturers defect that they cant correct for you to keep you safe because of the way they pay their employees. Same as all manufacturers take your money for the car and then leave you out to dry because they won't pay a living wage to have people on hand to help you with the product they sold you.

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