NHTSA Complaint #10310946 — 2005 SUBARU OUTBACK

THIS COMPLAINT CONCERNS THE INTERMITTENT REFUSAL OF THE CRUISE CONTROL ON MY 2005 SUBARU LEGACY OUTBACK TO GIVE UP CONTROL OF THE ENGINE WHEN THE CRUISE CONTROL HANDLE IS PULLED DOWN TO THE COAST POSITION AND TO CAUSE AN UNEXPECTED, DRAMATIC INCREASE IN CAR SPEED WHEN THE INTENT IS TO DISENGAGE THE CRUISE CONTROL AND SLOW CAR SPEED (?THE PROBLEM?). THE PROBLEM HAS EXISTED SINCE PURCHASING MY SUBARU AS NEW IN 2005. THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN INTERMITTENT, OCCURRING "OUT-OF-THE-BLUE" AND WHEN LEAST EXPECTED. ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION WHEN I WANTED TO SLOW BUT NOT BREAK THE CAR BY PULLING THE CRUISE CONTROL HANDLE TO THE COAST POSITION, THE CRUISE CONTROL WOULD REFUSE TO GIVE UP CONTROL OF THE ENGINE AND, IN SOME INSTANCES, THE ENGINE WOULD ADVANCE TO GREATER SPEED, ALMOST CAUSING A COLLISION WITH TRAFFIC I WAS FOLLOWING. IN ONE TEST I CONDUCTED AFTER ALMOST SLAMMING INTO THE REAR END OF CAR BEING DRIVEN IN FRONT OF ME, NOT ONLY DID THE CRUISE CONTROL NOT GIVE UP CONTROL OF THE ENGINE WHEN I PULLED THE CRUISE CONTROL LEVER TO THE COAST POSITION, THE ENGINE CONTINUED ADVANCING FROM A SPEED OF 65 MPH TO 80 MPH DURING THE ENTIRE TIME THAT I HELD THE CRUISE CONTROL LEVER WAS IN THE COAST POSITION. THE ONLY WAS I WAS ABLE STOP THE CRUISE CONTROL FROM CONTROLLING THE ENGINE WAS BY BREAKING THE CAR. THE PROBLEM HAS OCCURRED REGULARLY AND CONTINUOUSLY ON AN INTERMITTENT BASIS SINCE MY PURCHASE OF THE CAR ON 5/14/2005 FROM LITHIA SUBARU IN RENO, NEVADA. ALTHOUGH CAUSES APPEAR TO DIFFER, THE PROBLEM IS SIMILAR IN NATURE TO TOYOTA CARS EXPERIENCING UNEXPECTED SPEED INCREASE DUE TO DEFECTIVE ACCELERATOR PEDALS AS NOW BEING DESCRIBED IN THE NEWS MEDIA. *TR