NHTSA Complaint #11421603 — 2019 SUBARU ASCENT

Driving from Tehachapi, CA toward Las Vegas towing our camper at about 45-50 mph, we started hearing a knocking that sounded like valve flutter. We drove for about 1 minute looking for a safe place to pull over, but then the knocking grew louder and the oil temp started to rise, so we immediately braked and pulled into the sand (no shoulder). There were no warning lights at any point until we actually pulled over (oil light). After the tow to Subaru Las Vegas, we noted that the battery was dead. On 6-14, Subaru of America told us on a recorded line that the two investigations had concluded and the cause was towing excessive weight. We shared our camper registration and specs with them, showing a dry weight of 4130 pounds, 100 less than the airstream used in Subaru's marketing materials (we tow with empty tanks and less than 100 lbs. of cargo. We also indicated to Subaru of Las Vegas and SOA that on our few previous trips with the camper, we noticed the Ascent revving hard on slight inclines and that it sounded like it struggled to find a gear towing. SOA has not shared a copy of either report. We are asking SOF to repair under the warranty (car has 39K miles). We will asked for the defective engine whenever we are able to pick up the vehicle. We spent over $1000 between towing, flights home from Vegas, renting a substitute vehicle, etc.. Most importantly, this sudden catastrophic failure could have killed us-the failure was so swift (the time from hearing the noise to being stationary was less than a minute and a half) and without warning that we didn't have time to react well and had to pull off into deep sand with no shoulder- a semi truck almost rear-ended us as we pulled over. Then we had to wait in the Mojave heat, arm's length away from traffic whizzing by with my toddler and puppy while the tow truck arrived. The Ascent is the vehicle we purchased to be able to evacuate our family from our wildfire-prone home, so every day we are without it poses risk.