Consumer Complaint Detail

SUBARU / LEGACY / 2001

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 004256471 Incident Date: Jan, 15 2004
Consumer's City: ELIZAVILLE Consumer's State: NY
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Subaru of America, Inc.
Model Name: LEGACY Model Year: 2001
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: Yes Component's Description: Vehicle speed control
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 4S3BE635017 Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Jan, 27 2004 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Aug, 05 2001
Was Original Owner: Yes Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 4 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: Driving on secondary road - well know to me - at dusk @ 45 mph approaching an intersection with a major road. began to tap gently on brake to ease to my "yield" or stop in case driver on other road did not do so. each time i hit brakes, the engine would rev up & pull forward @ increased speed. after several attempts to brake, i attemted to downshift, put in park and pull up parking brake -- all to no avail, except engine and front end made loud grinding noises. the car would still not stop and when i was about 25' from the intersection, i had no choice but to drive into a "snow bank" which turned out to be several inches of snow over a pile of gravel. there was damage to the front of the car & it was towed. the tow truck driver had a difficult time starting the car so he could winch it onto his flatbed truck. the car was towed to the subaru dealer from whom i purchased the car. the service manager maintains that the problem was caused by "birdseed in the filter" in the air box going to the throttle. (he also said the seed indicated that there may have been a mouse nest, but he found no evidence of a nest at that time.) i told him that i found that hard to believe since my car is in a heated area of the garage and any mice have much warmer places to stay. my own mechanic said the birdseed explanation was implausible and, if anything, the birdseed would have led the car to stall out - not increase acceleration. i checked your web site and found other 2001 legacies with "fuel: throttle linkages & control problems. i printed these out and took them to the dealer. he said he checked the throttle linkages and controls electronically and found them to be fine but would not put this in writing. he stands fast on his birdseed explanation. am an experienced & safe driver - have "platinum" level of safe driver discount. this car is my 6th new subaru in under 20 years. have always found them reliable in the past. am afraid to drive this car.*ak