Leaky sunroof 2014 Suby Outback

Mr. Leary

Adventurist
Founding Member
Not a long story. A short story.
My wife drives a 2014 Subaru Outback with a sunroof.
It rains hard in Texas, apparently hard enough to leak badly through said sunroof (and yes it was in the fully closed position).
The headliner is smelling of mildew badly after being soaked. Wife took it to the dealership, who wants $1000 to replace the headliner.
I said "you guys are crazy! This is a 2 year old car!"
They said "Subaru doesn't recognize it as a defect"
I said "So these sunroofs just leak and they don't take steps to help customers?"
They said "Not all of them leak"
I said "I'm going to call Subaru and talk to them about it before I pay you $1000"
Click.

So Subaru said they would talk to the dealership, look into the matter, and get back to me. No word yet.

I'm getting grumpy. This doesn't seem right.

Discuss.


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My 1990 Subaru Domingo sunroof never leaked and it went through dozens and dozens of Typhoons on a regular basis. Maybe your wife just doesn't remember leaving it open? :stir

subaru-domingo-car-luxurycarwallpapers-net_9.jpg
 
:spartans

Cry havoc....

For a two year old vehicle to already be leaking from the sunroof? Seems like a defect to me. That's like saying your door's fallen off after a year of use and the dealer saying 'Not all of them fall off.' Talk about unaccountability. Then again, you or they have no proof that it was completely closed at the time, other than your word.
 
If my 25 year old Cruiser sunroof doesn't leak a drop with the original seal... I would say that Subaru has a problem. 2 years is well below par.
 
Yeah, I'm calling BS on Subaru. No damn reason it should leak at all especially at the 2 year mark...

Call corporate or take it to a different service department.
 
Check the sunroof drains. Not sure on Subaru's, but on GM products there are tubes at the two front corners that drain water out of the sunroof trough. If those get plugged with leaves/debris...sun roof leaks.

I'm going to second this. The drains clogging are a common problem in BMW's too and I regularly have to clean them out on ours. Might be an easy fix.
 
Third on the drains. My '03 Jetta had a VW recall to fix the drains clogging as Bob said. On mine, there is a little rubber nipple at the drain outlet that can clog. Maybe a little compressed air down the drain tubes would clear it. And squeeze the nipples!
 
So it was the tubes, going to go ahead and fork over the cash to get the headliner replaced. :-(

Having avoided sunroofs in the past, I didn't know about the tubes, which sounds like a terrible idea to the engineer side of me. When the opportunity comes along, I'm going to trade in the wife's car for one without a sunroof. Might move away from Subaru over this crap. We will see if I get over it in the coming months. This option that we never wanted to begin with is turning into a headache, and I'm not happy with Subaru about failing to include this in their regular maintenance routine. WTF. This vehicle has been serviced by the dealership at all prescribed intervals since we bought the car.


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Well if they have debris in them you've clearly not been doing your job.

:D
 
Well if they have debris in them you've clearly not been doing your job.

:D
Ouch!

Next you'll be saying something like, "preventive maintenance is your friend," or "don't you take care of your vehicles?"

Mois would not say that but @Dave would. :D :stir
 
Am I wrong to make a issue of this with Subaru / the dealership? This car has 20k miles on it, and has never missed a prescribed service visit to the dealership, yet here I am, forking over $1000 for a preventative maintenance item?

I'm still pretty pissed about this whole thing. The reason I bought 2 new cars and pay dealership rates for service is so I don't have to put up with headaches like this. If I wanted to spend my time keeping up with maintenance items, I wouldn't have bought new.


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Am I wrong to make a issue of this with Subaru / the dealership? This car has 20k miles on it, and has never missed a prescribed service visit to the dealership, yet here I am, forking over $1000 for a preventative maintenance item?

I'm still pretty pissed about this whole thing. The reason I bought 2 new cars and pay dealership rates for service is so I don't have to put up with headaches like this. If I wanted to spend my time keeping up with maintenance items, I wouldn't have bought new.


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I don't think you're out of line here Mike.. I would start raising hell with Subaru corporate personally...

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Like I said, contact Corporate directly or get a second opinion from another servic dept/dealership
 
I don't know Mark, and pardon the teasing - it is in good spirit - but I'd have to review your owner's manual to see if it is recommended preventive maintenance. If it's not there, manufacturers should caution owners that this is a necessary task to be performed to ensure trouble-free operation. If they don't include that information it could be contested that the company was negligent for omitting this information to owners.

Almost all vehicles equipped with a factory sunroof have a drain engineered into the design of the vehicle. It isn't uncommon here at the shop to see an FZJ80 or UZJ100 owner complaining of leaking sunroofs. The most common culprit is leaving them outside, since they are generally older recreation vehicles, where pollen, dust, vegetative debris all conspire to clog the gutters and drains. We quite simply run a thin gauge wire down the track to dislodge any debris.

Before rendering that figurative throat punch I would review the information provided customers at the time or purchase and vehicle delivery. Then present your carefully crafted concern to corporate officers, not dealership level staff. At a minimum you will have expressed your concern, and optimally, you will be reimbursed and may have spared future owners your experience - if Subaru makes changes to their manuals.
 
Pardon me @Mr. Leary, I wrote Mark when I full intended Mike. @Dave just texted me that I was in error and that my zipper was down. Again. It happens a lot more frequently these days, Morris.
 
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