2020 SUBARU OUTBACK — Complaint #2166042
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS filed January 13, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2166042 (ODI reference 11710788) concerns a 2020 SUBARU OUTBACK and was filed on January 13, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 13, 2026. The vehicle had 37,168 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as electrical system:adas, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same SUBARU OUTBACK cohort independently describe similar electrical system:adas failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2020 SUBARU OUTBACK shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH on the highway, the contact was alerted by the message âEyesight Technology Failureâ, before the battery shut down, causing the steering wheel to seize, forcing the contact to come to a complete stop in the middle of the highway. The check engine, air bags, and oil warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that several other unknown warning lights and alerts were displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was jump-started, and the contact was escorted by a tow truck operator to the nearest dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 37,168. The VIN was invalid.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2166042 |
| ODI Number | 11710788 |
| Date Filed | January 13, 2026 |
| Failure Date | January 13, 2026 |
| VIN | 4S4BTAEC4L3 |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.