Dead battery- not driving during Coronavirus

[Gozierdt]

So I have a brand new (1100 miles) 2020 Outback XT. Because of the social distancing mandates I haven’t driven the car in 10 days. Went to take the cat to the vet today and the battery is totally dead. Nothing lights up, not even small led’s. Luckily it was in the garage and not locked. I understand about parasitic drains, and I assume this is why the battery is dead. What if I was in an airport with the car locked? Has anyone else experienced a similar problem? Is there a way to unlock the car or at least release the hood if the battery is dead.

 

[SageCoyote_wrx]

If you press in the little metallic button on the back of the fob it will release the actual key part which can be used to manually unlock the door, allowing access to the car and subsequently, the ability to pop the hood and jump the battery.

This video pretty much explains that although it is about the key battery dying not the car battery but same idea.

 

[langenc]

Key batt on a 2020 should never be dead.

10 days on car batt neither unless something draining?? Seems I read about system shutting off after a while to prevent car batt dying.. When Im in Outback waiting for wife radio only stays on about 10-12 min for it shuts off.

 

[Bentetzner]

So I have a brand new (1100 miles) 2020 Outback XT. Because of the social distancing mandates I haven’t driven the car in 10 days. Went to take the cat to the vet today and the battery is totally dead. Nothing lights up, not even small led’s. Luckily it was in the garage and not locked. I understand about parasitic drains, and I assume this is why the battery is dead. What if I was in an airport with the car locked? Has anyone else experienced a similar problem? Is there a way to unlock the car or at least release the hood if the battery is dead.

 

[Bentetzner]

My understanding today from subaru rep is that eyesite feature runs all the time, thus draining the battery! There is apparently no way to turn off this shit useless feature! If someone knows how , I would certainly appreciate it!

 

[langenc]

I would like to think that 10 days would never kill the batt. One could wonder when in that 10 days it went dead. day 6, 8 or 9??

Someone noted that the radio shuts off at 10-12 min. This week I waited in Outback, while wife shopped. It was no more than 5 min and my radio shut off!!

 

[raynoble321]

I have a 2020 Outback with 4000 miles. Last night my wife and I were leaving a restaurant (20 degrees outside). The Outback would not start. Seems the battery was dead. Got a ride home. Called service to have it towed to dealer. Service rep jumped started the vehicle and told us to drive it to the dealer. He said he has been seeing a lot of Subura’s doing this. Said he jumped started a ladies Outback 6 times and dealer tells her the battery is fine.

 

[Gozierdt]

OP here. Our dealer would do nothing about replacing a battery that had drained to where it would not even light up the dash 4 times. They claimed it tested good, so there was nothing they could do. I’m an engineer, and these batteries are badly affected by discharging to zero.

My wife escalated our complaint to the Subaru CEO’s office. We were quickly in touch with a rep from that office. He finally agreed to replace the battery, and even followed up with us that the dealer had replaced it. The dealer said that a directive from Corporate is what it takes to replace a battery at no cost. This is our first Subaru, and we’re not impressed with the service on what seems to be an ongoing problem...

 

[Outback19Suxs]

This happened to my wife's 2019 Outback this morning. Dead battery, she drove it yesterday. So I go to Autozone and buy a replacement battery, she had to get to work and I didn't have time for the dealership hassle.

Then I start researching, as her auto roll up feature on all windows won't work, and the driver side switch no longer will operate the passenger front window. Haven't tested the tailgate yet, but there's a reported issue with it as well. Subaru has a known issue with their electrical systems, and it's causing people problems. Maybe others don't, but my fear is once it starts, it won't stop as there's no fix and no solution from Subaru.

https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2020/subaru-dead-battery-problems-lawsuit.shtml

https://www.torquenews.com/1084/upd...nt-battery-drain-lawsuit-what-you-should-know

There was a list on the NTSB of running complaints, but I can't seem to find it at this posting. Anyway, there's an issue, make sure it's documented when you bring your vehicle in. We're debating just trading this vehicle in and going away from Subaru. I can't have my wife stranded somewhere with a dead battery.

The only other thing I read was to turn off any items that may vampire the battery, make sure seat heaters and defrost are off before you turn the car off.

 

[LevelUP]

All, this may or may not be part of the problem but if your key fob is stored within a short distance of your car, it is reported to keep your car active and can cause increased battery drain. I used to keep my key inside our laundry room which is about 15 feet from my car. Now I keep the fob in my bedroom which is the farthest room from the garage.