2013 crosstrek- what is this problem?

i purchased my 13 crosstrek certified with about 20k on it in oct of 14. It currently has just over 60k
It has been an amazing car the first 2 yrs. came with winter tires, drove like it was on rails winter of 14 and 15 the dealer said the all season tires were included, but not at the dealership. When the original owner brought them in Subaru would not give them to me because they were trashed. Dealer didn't know why they'd be bald so fast.

This summer on a trip it ate off all the tread in the rear tires (totally smooth) luckily there was a Walmart open we threw on a cheap set to make it home.

Subaru claimed the alignment was off (rear pass side), they fixed it. Even comped the alignment due to it being certified/customer satisfaction (and that first seat of all seasons) that was August of this year

First snow fall the car feels loose and like it's sliding all over the road, I attribute it to the cheap Walmart tires and go to have my winters out on.

Winters on (same set as last year, with 9mm tread depth) and a light snow fall the car is just loose and feels like it fish tails all over. Feeals uncontrollable near 40 mph. Considered it just the road but got blown past by every car on the road, including old ladies in RWD crown Vic's.

Took car back to Subaru, they claim the alignment is off again (front pass side) they also say a steering sensor for the stability control was not properly zeroed and they fixed it. That was like a week ago.

Last night we go to head out of town for the holidays. Load up the Subaru. Didn't make it 50 feet before we were turning around because the car was sliding (feeling) back and forth again. Went home. Wife took her Prius out on the exact same road conditions and road, and was abler to navigate at a faster speed, and the old Prius stuck and handled as it should. So we moved everything to the Prius and took that.

Anybody have any thoughts on what is causing this? Wife is pissed and wants to dump the car.
I am equally pissed. We purchased the crosstrek for the AWD handling. Wife has a 40 minute commute, and works all hours at a job that never closes. We wanted a safe AWD because winter in MN. And now the Prius with 209,ooo miles is the realizable safe car....

 

Is the stability control defeatable on this car? Just to see how it responds, I'm just thinking out loud here.

 

I'll have to try that. I guess that would rule out that system versus another issue. I saw a video where you pull a fuse to do this, but that apparently disables the abs and locks the gearshift (where you need the screwdriver to get it out of park)

 

Someone has to ask...any warning lights on?

Are all four winter tires at the proper pressure?

 

No lights.
All 4 tires match (brand and size and tread depth)
All are at correct pressure.

 

I'd continue to take this back to Subaru. There's record of this issue, and it's obviously not remedied. They'll work with you. If not, contact SOA.

 

There have been no accidents as long as I owned it. I believe it was supposed to have a clean car fax when I purchased it. (I never received a copy, I'll have to check my email from when I purchased to be sure)

Obviously not remedied for sure.
The concern I have is they keep treating it as a "new" issue instead of something that's been going on for a while.

 

I'd get SOA involved ASAP.

 

A Carfax is by no means definitive. For one thing, it will only show what's reported. The previous owner could have smacked a curb and went on their merry way oblivious to potential damage. The dealer could easily miss something like that as well.

I agree with Idget. Jeff the Alignment Guy would be a great person to have look at the suspension components. I'd trust his expertise over any dealer.

 

Now I am thinking out loud but could the rear wheels be binding? Something with the diff? I'd recommend Jeff too. I drive from Wisconsin to have him do work. Something is fubar, dump it or not you should figure that out.

 

I'm aware carefax isn't always the best.

My thought process is that the alignment was set to "tire eating bad" because that gave the car proper handling. And now that it is set to "on paper correct" it feels like junk.

I don't think something is binding in the rear amber the diff, but the wheels don't feel like they are.

I've sent an email to the head of service, I've called it straight out that I feel this car is bad. I've put 222 miles on it since the last Alignment and sensor reset.
At this point I don't feel safe driving it around the block. Depending on what the say I may have it towed down to see Jeff. (Or driven down)

 

Well. They got back to me today (this morning actually) and, basically because of all the trouble, they offered me a pretty good deal on a 2015 CPO outback.

We checked it out this evening, and it was a bit shocking how much better it handled than the crosstrek (even on the dry pavement)

So we went for it. I guess that's the end to my crosstrek saga. Sure wish they would have had the outback in orange. This one is silver.

Thanks for all the help and advise on the issue!

 

Glad to hear you got a resolution you are happy with.

I wonder if the Crosstrek goes back on their lot or gets sent to auction.

 

Well they did say a tangerine crosstrek looks good on the used lot.
But they also said some specialist from Subaru was coming to look at it.

They did seem pretty concerned by the steering and safety issue. Hopefully they wouldn't willingly put it back on the road with out taking care of it.

 

Hopefully that's true. I don't usually trust dealerships to do the right thing.

 

Ugh. Yes that's it. I'm a bit surprised it's already online and marked as CPO.