NHTSA Complaint #11451826 — 2014 SUBARU XV CROSSTREK

The vehicle had 51666 miles on it when I last serviced it for an oil change in Oct. of 2021. The owner puts very few miles on the vehicle. The vehicle would be available for inspection by your agency. At this time, no specific component has been identified in the intermittent failure. 2016 and newer Subaru's have recalls on similar symptoms. Owner complaint is that the power steering intermittently stops working and the steering wheel is very hard to turn if it can be turned at all due to the fact the owner is 80+ years old. Subaru vehicles from 2016 and up have had this issue and recalls have been issued on them, but not on this model year. Owner stated today that the problem has only occurred so far on initial start-up, and one time, once the key was cycled start, then off and back to start again then the power steering worked. She said the p/s warning light came on, and then went off, but I cannot verify that at this point. Warning lamps on IP's do come on during the key on to start on the ignition switch start process, so this may be part of normal IP function. I am an auto repair shop owner and have grave concerns that this failure may happen while the customer is driving down the road, and if approaching a turn and the power steering locks up, they could die due to the inability to safely maneuver out of traffic and get off the road or miss a bend in the highway. The customer brought the car in once, and I could not re-create the problem cold or warm. I am currently waiting for the dealer in Green Bay to call me back with more information as the nearest dealer from the customer's residence is a 170 mile round trip. At this point, it has not been back to the dealer for inspection for the p/s system, and I am awaiting call back today from Bergstrom Subaru in Green Bay. Bergstrom did confirm the recall for a brake light switch was completed previously by them, and there were no other campaigns or recalls listed in their computer records.