NHTSA Complaint #10865586 — 2016 SUBARU OUTBACK

I TOOK MY 2016 OUTBACK IN TO A DEALER PRIMARILY BECAUSE THE PASSENGER SIDE BLIND SPOT DETECTION WAS NOT FUNCTIONING PROPERLY, ACKNOWLEDGING THAT IT DID WORK AT TIMES. I TOOK IN WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION IN THE FORM OF RECORDED OCCURRENCES OF IT MALFUNCTIONING, BASED ON THREE TRIPS ON INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS TOTALING MORE THAN 150 MILES. THE DOCUMENTATION LISTED THE TYPE OF HIGHWAY, SPEED, MILES DRIVEN, WEATHER CONDITIONS (COULDS, SUN, RAIN, ETC), VEHICLE CLEANLINESS AND THE NUMBER OF SUCCESSFUL DETECTIONS OF OTHER VEHICLES IN THE BLIND SPOT AS WELL AS THE NUMBER OF DETECTIONS MISSED. IT WORKED CORRECTLY WELL LESS THAN 50% OF THE TIME ON EACH OF THE THREE TRIPS. DETECTION ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE SEEMS TO BE FINE. ON TWO OF THE TRIPS I HAD A SECOND VEHICLE THAT I OWN FOLLOW ME DIRECTLY. THAT VEHICLE ALSO HAS BLIND SPOT DETECTION. WHILE THE OUTBACK FAILED TO DETECT MORE THAN 50% OF THE TIME, THE OTHER VEHICLE NEVER FAILED TO DETECT ON EITHER TRIP. THE DEALER I TOOK THE CAR TO SAID THEY CHECKED IT OUT AND IT SEEMED TO WORK FINE. I CONSIDERED THAT AN INSULT TO MY INTELLIGENCE. FURTHER, THROUGH RESEARCH ON THE WEB I CAN TELL THAT AT LEAST SEVERAL OTHER OUTBACK OWNERS HAVE EXPERIENCED THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM WITH DETECTION ON THE PASSENGER SIDE OF THE VEHICLE. I BELIEVE THAT A SAFETY SYSTEM THAT IS THAT UNRELIABLE PRESENTS MORE OF A DANGER TO THE DRIVER THAN NOT HAVING ONE AT ALL. WHILE I UNDERSTAND FROM READING THE OWNER'S MANUAL IT CAN'T BE EXPECTED TO BE 100% ACCURATE ALL THE TIME, A DETECTION RATE THAT IS CONSISTENTLY LESS THAN 50% IS VERY POOR PERFORMANCE. THE VEHICLE COST MORE THAN $37,000. I PAID FOR THE ACCESSORY, AND IT SHOULD WORK.