Home · 2024 Subaru Solterra Bev · Complaints

What 13 owners told NHTSA about the 2024 Subaru Solterra Bev

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (13)Crash / fire / injury (1)Electrical system (5)Driver assistance (4)Lane Departure (3)Speed control (3)Visibility & wipers (2)Backup camera & sensors (1)Body & structure (1)Transmission & drivetrain (1)

4 of 13 complaints match · Driver assistance · clear filters

Sep 9, 2025Electrical systemSpeed controlDriver assistance

This car has been having issues with the facial recognition. It consistently cannot see my face when I am looking forward, and always manages to give me an alert when looking in my mirrors or doing a lane change. I am concerned that due to the a out of highway driving I do, that the car will Stop on the Interstate, causing a major accident

NHTSA ODI 11685945

Jul 7, 2025Driver assistance

2 Items: 1st is the facial recognition camera, which causes the vehicle to stop if it can't see the driver. The recognition camera has often indicated an inability to see my face or my wife's face when she has been driving. On June 30th when returning home from work I had the driver's window open with bright sunlight, which fell fully on the camera, which totally failed to see my face, stopping the vehicle in traffic suddenly. (Fortunately, it was near a traffic light which had just turned red, so traffic had already slowed down.) I then noticed, in the bright light on the camera surface a streak of multiple fine scratches across the whole face of the camera screen. I shut the window, which reduced the light hitting the camera, and it recognized me again, allowing me to drive again. Other than in bright light, the scratches are hardly apparent. Now that I know they are there, I can see a very subtle shade difference where they are. 2nd Item: The forward collision warning occasionally brakes, showing a vehicle ahead when there is no vehicle ahead, and conversely, when set to speed control assist, it sometimes does not see a vehicle ahead or show one on the screen when there is one, sometimes speeding up to within a dangerous closeness of the vehicle ahead. It seems to be happening at a frequency of about 2 to 3 times every 100 miles, slightly more often with the braking and showing a car image on the screen when there is no vehicle ahead.

NHTSA ODI 11671498

Nov 12, 2024Lane DepartureDriver assistance

I purchased the 2024 Subaru Solterra in May of 2024, had no issues with the vehicle. In late June my cell phone was hacked, and malicious malware was installed, confirmed by my phone provided. Soon after that the vehicle started displaying signs of possibly being infected as well. Safety setting were changed, the vehicle was doing things I had not experienced and was difficult to control. I contacted Subaru after an incident that occurred on [XXX], Albany NY, where the vehicle facial recognition was activated without my knowledge and began displaying warning signs, beeps and demanding I sit up. The vehicle was fighting with me to stay in my lane and was slowing down on its own. When I brought the vehicle to Subaru in Albany NY, I was met with a group of people to include an engineer, Brendan spent over an hour trying to figure out two suspicious accounts connected to the vehicle, he called them 'the hackers". I was also told by one of the women that even know it was a scary situation for me, bringing this to the attention of Subaru, could prevent "future hacking of these vehicles". The technician was unable to figure out the accounts that were link to the vehicle nor could he remove them after multiple attempts, he would remove them and reconnect my account, and then they would pop back up and disconnect my account. I was told I needed to have my phone replaced as it was the source of the malware. I had phone replace with no improvement, just continuing safety issues with no help from Subaru. Over the last few months there has been multiple malfunctions and glitches within the vehicle, vehicle has shut itself off four times while it was running, lights have turned off while driving, warning message to hit brake while on highway, monitor screens go black and not able to see how the vehicle is operating, nor can I see my speed or warning signs. I have video of at least five safety incidents. Subaru has denied any responsibility or solution. DEATHTRAP INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11624732

Aug 6, 2024Driver assistance

Adaptive cruise control gave out, due to air conditioning compressor failure

NHTSA ODI 11606879

Working with the data? Download all 13 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 18, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2024 Subaru Solterra Bev verdict →