NHTSA Complaint #11422196 — 2008 SUBARU FORESTER

I was getting on the highway in Minnesota doing 55-60 mph when the car started violently shaking and I lost steering with cars whizzing by me at 65-70+ mph. I was finally able to get the car just off the road and called for roadside assist. Once the car was left at my house I examined the right front wheel which was cockeyed to discover the lower control arm steel body had disintegrated (see photos). Looking online I discovered there had been a recall on these arms 9 years ago. I sent a message to Subaru Customer Care and received no reply. I sent a tweet on twitter to Subaru of America and received no reply. I finally called their 800 number and was told the recall had been completed on this vehicle in 2012 by putting some "rust-proofing" on the arms. They did not go through the effort to replace with the upgraded replacement part. SOA said they would not cover any repair or replacement of the lower control arms. There have to be 10s of thousands of these vehicles on the roads with arms rotting from the inside out because SOA did the recall on the cheap. The bushings and balljoint was still intact and no clunking or judder prior to the catastrophic failure. Is it going to take a death(s) to get this corrected. SOA know they should have replaced these arms and will sell you the upgraded one for around $300. No aftermarket companies are making these arms as far as I can find. Subaru admits on their own parts site the arms "do not often fail" i.e the body and instead the bushings wear out. The body of the car has very minimal rust and no signs the arm(s) would have deteriorated. I have asked SOA to replace the arms with ones that are structurally sound but think a second recall on cars that didn't get new arms may be required.