NHTSA Complaint #10054321 — 2001 SUBARU LEGACY

CAR AT ISSUE IS A 2001 SUBARU LEGACY GT LIMITED. ON TWO OCCASIONS IN THE PAST MONTH, A STRONG RAW GAS SMELL FILLED THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT AND PASSENGER COMPARTMENT OF THE CAR. ON BOTH OCCASIONS, THE TEMPERATURE OUTSIDE WAS BELOW 10 DEGREES. AFTER THE FIRST OCCURRENCE, CAR WAS LEFT AT DEALER WHO FOUND NOTHING WRONG. THE CAR WAS FINE FOR NEXT 5 DAYS (WEATHER WAS 10 TO 30 DEGREES). ON DAY 6, WEATHER DROPPED TO ABOUT 8 DEGREES AND GAS SMELL RETURNED. CAR WAS LEFT IN GARAGE AFTER DRIVING AND GARAGE FILLED WITH VERY STRONG GAS SMELL. THERE IS AN OBVIOUS CORRELATION BETWEEN EXTREME COLD (10 DEGREES OR LESS) AND THIS PROBLEM. WILL RETURN CAR TO DEALER FOR SECOND ATTEMPT AT REPAIR BUT SINCE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO BE OVER 10 DEGREES FOR NEXT 2 WEEKS AM NOT SURE WILL BE ABLE TO REPLICATE PROBLEM. SEEMS LIKELY THAT THE PROBLEM IS A GAS LEAK AT COLD TEMPERATURES, WHICH MAY WELL BE A SAFETY HAZARD AND FIRE/EXPLOSION DANGER. *CB