NHTSA Complaint #11372655 — 2013 SUBARU XV CROSSTREK

ON TWO OCCASIONS WHILE TRAVELING OVER 70 MPH ON I-26 OUTSIDE OF COLUMBIA, SC THE VEHICLE'S ELECTRIC SYSTEM APPEARED TO MALFUNCTION AND VEHICLE DIED IMMEDIATELY. THE CLOCK, FUEL ECONOMY READINGS, AND RADIO SHUT OFF. THE VEHICLE STALLED AND HAD TO BE MANEUVERED TO THE SHOULDER OF THE INTERSTATE WITH NO ACCELERATION CAPABILITY OR POWER STEERING. THE VEHICLE WAS CAPABLE OF BEING RESTARTED. ON THE FIRST OCCASION, I RESTARTED THE VEHICLE AND THERE WERE NO FAULTS, ERRORS OR ANYTHING NOTED SO I CONTINUED TO DRIVE, ASSUMING IT WAS A ONE TIME EVENT. THE SECOND TIME, THE SAME PROBLEM HAPPENED AND THEN A CHECK ENGINE LIGHT APPEARED. FOLLOWING THE SECOND TIME, CHECK ENGINE ILLUMINATED, AS WELL AS THE TRACTION CONTROL LIGHT, AND THE CRUISE CONTROL IMAGE WAS BLINKING. PRIOR TO ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS, I WAS HAVING MAY ISSUES ENGAGING THE CRUISE CONTROL AND TRIED MULTIPLE BUTTON SEQUENCES TO MAKE CRUISE CONTROL WORK. I WAS ABLE TO GET VEHICLE TO AUTOPARTS STORE WHERE CODE READ P0021. TO GET SAFELY HOME, THE AUTOPARTS STORE RECOMMENDED THAT I DO A RESET BY DISCONNECTING BATTERY AND TURNING OFF ALL ELECTRONICS. THIS WORKED AND I HAVE DRIVEN SINCE WITHOUT THE SAME EVENT. THIS COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN FATAL AND MUST BE INVESTIGATED.