NHTSA Complaint #11426614 — 2019 SUBARU IMPREZA

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Impreza equipped with a Thule Bike Carrier Part Number: SOA567B020 as well as Thule roof cross bars . After his first two uses of his roof rack, which were a 10 mile trip and then a 400 mile trip, he noticed one of the two bolts connecting the front of the roof rack to the front roof cross bar had failed . A weld to attach the head of the bolt to the body of the bolt (i.e., Part# 753-0242-06) failed and the head separated from the body of the bolt . This failure of one bolt made the connection by the front roof rack assembly unit to the front roof cross bar loose, which resulted in the entire bike rook rack being only loosely connected to the roof cross bars and unstable. The manufacturer repeatedly failed to address the report of this defect in email exchanges with the contact, although the manufacturer eventually refunded the purchase price to the contact . The contact retained the defective bolt and roof rack.