Lawsuit Investigation Looks into Subaru Unintended Acceleration Issue

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org have opened an investigation into whether a class action lawsuit can be filed on behalf of owners and lessees of 2012-2018 Subaru Forester, 2015-2019 Subaru Outback and 2015-2019 Subaru Legacy vehicles.

They are looking into whether a defect may be causing sudden and unintended acceleration in the vehicles.

What Are Drivers Saying About the Problem?  

A number of complaints have surfaced online from drivers who say their cars suddenly accelerated even when their foot was on the brake pedal. A sample of these complaints can be read below [sic throughout]:

While driving the car in a parking lot, I turned to park on a spot and as I was parking with my foot on the gas pedal, the car accelerated on its own. I ended up on the sidewalk close to the window of a dentist office. A very scary situation that could have hurt someone…The Subaru Dealer did not found any issue, the computer indicates everything is working ok…In other words, there was nothing they could do to fix the problem…”
— CarProblemZoo.com

I stopped my Subaru in order to back into a parking space. The car was in drive and my foot was on the brake. While my foot was still on the brake and I was changing gears from drive to reverse, the engine started accelerating full-throttle. I had to press the brake pedal very hard to prevent the car from going down the hillside behind the parking lot...Today, my car was parked in my driveway in front of my garage. When I started the car everything seemed fine until, with my foot on the brake, I attempted to change gears from park to drive. Again the engine immediately and unexpectedly accelerated full-throttle. As I was moving the gear shifter from park to reverse to neutral to drive, I again had to press the brake pedal very hard to prevent the car from backing into my garage door.”
— CarProblemZoo.com

I drove into garage at about 1 M.P.H. and put the car in park. After idling for about 3 seconds the engine accelerated to 2,800 R.P.M. and stayed there, I couldn't get it to slow down. I pressed on the accelerator many times, it wouldn't slow down or speed up. It just stayed at the same speed. Pressing the brake pedal didn't do anything. I got it stopped by turning off the ignition. When this happened the check engine light came on. I got code P2138. I am replacing the accelerator pedal position sensor as I am afraid to drive it.the car is exactly 5 years old, I bought it new. It has 16,552 miles on it now. I was very lucky it was in park when it did this.”
— Yankton, South Dakota, CarComplaints.com

The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Legacy. While parking the vehicle, the contact released her foot from the accelerator pedal and the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The failure occurred without warning. As a result, the vehicle accelerated up a hill and crashed into a wall. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, but the failure could not be replicated.”— CarProblemZoo.com

Some drivers claim they reported the issue, only to have the dealership claim it could not recreate the problem and therefore could not offer a fix.

How Can a Class Action Lawsuit Help?

A class action lawsuit, if filed and successful, could force Subaru to recall the cars and offer a fix for the acceleration issue. Drivers may also be able to get back some of the money they spent trying to fix their cars, as well as for a loss of their vehicle’s value.

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