2005 Subaru Outback Exterior Lighting Problems
- 13
- Owner complaint records in our dataset
Records are owner complaints, not a measured failure rate.
Owner complaint recordsComplaint records reflect reports in our dataset and do not measure how frequently the problem occurs across all vehicles.
What owners report
- license plate · 6 records
- plate lights · 4 records
Mileage in stored records
| Band | Records |
|---|---|
| 60–100k mi | 7 |
| 150–400k mi | 3 |
| 1–30k mi | 1 |
| 100–150k mi | 1 |
Complaint records
Owner-submitted complaint content, presented as stored.
Electrical System · Exterior Lighting · Visibility/Wiper
Rear hatch harness wires are broken/ frayed. Backup lights do not work, and the rear wiper works intermittently. Every now and them rear defroster doesn't work. Hazard a lot of 2005-2009 outbacks have.
ODI 10883796
Electrical System · Exterior Lighting
The wiring for the license plate lights failed in the upper right hatch hinge boot causing the license plate lights to not operate. The purple wire had broken inside the boot area. The purple wire is extremely small gauge for a location that is opened and closed often. *tr
ODI 10683449
Electrical System · Exterior Lighting
Wiring located on the rear passenger side between the hatch door and body (in the protective boot) was severed as a result of poor quality wiring and design. Wires were stress-severed and nearly severed by normal operation of opening/closing the wagon rear door. Apparently this is a common issue as discovered by visiting online forums. *tr
ODI 10682597
Exterior Lighting
My wife and i recently purchased a used 2005 subaru outback. The headlights on this vehicle are what i consider to be dangerously dim, barely lighting up the road. Both the fog lamps and also the high beams work well, but the low beam light (which is produced from a different bulb than the high beam) is very inadequate. I have replaced the bulbs with higher intensity bulbs. This offered little if any increase in…
ODI 10659373
Electrical System · Exterior Lighting · Service Brakes
Subaru outback 2005: the wire harness to the rear tailgate failed and shorted out the brake lights and reverse lights, creating a safety hazard while driving. *tr
ODI 10610243
Electrical System · Exterior Lighting
My back up lights and license plate lights were not working. Found the wires between the light gate and body of car were breaking one by one. Also my antenna wires were broken on other side same location. Was surprised to see this. Wires usually don't wear out like this i wouldn't think. *tr
ODI 10508946
Electrical System · Exterior Lighting
Low beams replace several time, replaced both recently and both went out at the same time in the dark on they way to work. Lights in dashboard constantly flashing on and off, abs, battery, brake. Speedometer jumping all over the place. Been happening over a month or so. Very upset can't figure out what it is. *tr
ODI 10574154
Electrical System · Exterior Lighting
Without any accident, under normal usage, the vehicle's license plate lights failed. The problem was traced to a break in a conductor (wire) contained in a wiring harness that connects the vehicle to the rear hatch through a rubber bellows. Once the bellows was retracted, the broken wire was found along with twelve (12) other wires that were all nearly broken: their insulation was cracked and several wires…
ODI 10511568
Electrical System · Exterior Lighting · Visibility/Wiper
Rear wiper failure was first noticed followed by failure of the license plate light, the wiring harness in the rear lift gate has multiple broken wires where the door hinges. Appears that the wiring insulation becomes hardened and brittle, and will break instead of flexing. There are several other wires in the harness that are showing bare wire but have not yet broken. This is what all the harness enables and will…
ODI 10554733
Exterior Lighting
Driving at night. Stopped to get gas. Went to start car and turn on lights. Both headlights out-just like that. Had to drive home on running lights; luckily less than 5 miles. Headlight issues started about 10k miles ago where individual lights have gone out; have replaced ind low beam lights 4x in the last 10k miles. Never had 2 go out at once like this-at night. Did a search on internet and found numerous reports…
ODI 10486776
Exterior Lighting
We purchased a used 2005 subaru outback ltd. Wagon in august of 2008 and almost immediately had to replace the left front driver's low beam headlight bulb. Since that time, we have replaced 3 more left side headlight low beam bulbs and 2 right side low beam headlight bulbs. Subaru tells us there are no issues with their electrical system, yet they claim that they have redesigned the low beam headlight bulbs 3 times…
ODI 10290730
Exterior Lighting
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 subaru outback. The contact stated that both headlights failed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for repair. The vehicle was not diagnosed and the manufacturer was not notified of the incident. The approximate failure mileage was 20000. The vin was unavailable.
ODI 10537768
Exterior Lighting
Dt: when the daytime running light are on the taillight are off. The brake lights are not connected to the running lights and as a result the consuemr did not remember to turn lights on when it was dusk outside. This almost caused the consumer's vehicle to be rear ended on several different occasions. The consuemr feels that htis may be a saftey issue therefore contacted teh manufacturer. *ak ipdated 3/9/2006 - *nm
ODI 10146134
Catalog parts for this system
Catalog year/make/model rows for 2005 Subaru Outback.
Catalog fitment does not by itself prove OEM-equivalent compatibility.