Problems · by component
2015 Subaru Outback service brakes problems
27 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2015 Subaru Outback cite service brakes, 5% of all 509 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
27
5% of all complaints
Crashes
5
Reported by owners
Fires
0
Reported by owners
Injuries
3
Reported by owners
What owners say about the service brakes
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“January 25th, 2026 13:30 I was coming to a stop at an intersection with my foot on the brake pedal when suddenly my vehicle lurched forward potentially causing rear end collision with the truck in front of me that was stopped at the red light. My vehicle finally came to a stop when I pressed hard on the brake pedal. This problem happened today, so I have not reproduced it. I have not had it checked by a dealer (today is Sunday) I have a Low Tire Pressure light that came on two days ago when the temperatures suddenly dropped here in Tulsa, OK.”
“I was within the town limits so I was driving slowly. When I approached the first stop light in town I saw that it was red. There were of three or four vehicles stopped at that light. At that point I was probably only going 5mph. I took my foot off of the gas pedal and put my foot on the brake to make a slow stop. Instead, the car accelerated rather quickly. I continued to brake but the car seemed to speed up. I was able to avoid hitting the truck in front of me by going around it. No vehicles were coming towards me but there were some stopped at the other side of the light. I drove up on the sidewalk to avoid hitting anyone. At that point the front passenger side of the car hit & snapped a pole. The car did not stop immediately upon impact. It stopped acclerating and came to a stop about 10 feet past the pole. I am not sure how fast the car was moving when it hit the pole but I was only going about 5 mph when I put my foot on the break. I would estimate the distance my car traveled from the moment I put my foot on the break until the car stopped was approximately 100-120 feet. It felt like the car went into the cruise resume mode and was trying to accelerate…”
“While driving the Parking Brake warning light came on and the Subaru Eyesight system shut down. On stopping the car and restarting, the car got harder to drive. I pulled over again immediately as the parking brake was locking the wheels up. I got a tow truck to take the car to the Subaru dealer. By this time the rear wheels were completely locked up. If the car had to stop at a railroad crossing, the immobile car would be in a dangerous spot. The dealer service shop said there was Code C1411, C1194, C1956, C1942 and "Electronic Parking Brake Connector Failure". This was repaired under Warranty Extension Repair indicating that Subaru knew this was a serious problem but refused to do an emergency recall. Instead they intentionally allowed people to drive a dangerously defective vehicle.”
“The contact owns a 2015 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving 67 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle suddenly decelerated to approximately 25-30 MPH while depressing the brake pedal. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled. After pulling over to the side of the roadway, the contact was able to restart the vehicle and drove to the residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the cause of the failure could not be determined. The contact's wife stated that the failure had occurred a year prior while driving approximately 55 MPH. The failure only lasted for several seconds. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,700.”
“The issue below has occurred previously and was addressed by a completed recall "EPB Reprogramming" - WTB63. However, issue has reappeared. Issue: The parking brake engages without engaging parking brake switch while parked and also blinks a red warning while driving. We had an issue a few days ago where brake engaged by itself in parking lot (even though parking brake light never came on). I managed to get the car out of park by turning the car on and off several times and also pressing parking brake switch. The car is scheduled for Subaru service on 5 June, they will be able to do more diagnostics after reading error codes. The dealer told me that parking brake should not engage while driving which is my main concern...but I'm also concerned about possibility of being stranded somewhere because I cannot turn off the parking brake.”
“The electronic parking brake disengages on it's own after being set. After putting the vehicle in park and pulling on the EPB switch, the light comes on for a short time, then turns off. Attempting to re-engage it results in the same thing, it comes on briefly then disengages without being touched.”
Showing 6 of 27 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 3, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.