Most common 2004 Subaru Outback problems
Share of the 90 complaints; one complaint can involve more than one system. "~" is the median mileage when the problem started.
Subaru Outback complaints by model year
Best Outback years: 1996, 2004, 2003. Years to avoid: 2019, 2020, 2017, 2018, 2022. Compare all years →
2004 Subaru Outback recalls (10)
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2009-2013 Forester, 2003-2006 Baja, 2004-2011 Impreza, 2004-2014 WRX (STI included), 2003-2014 Legacy and Outback, and 2005-2006 Saab 9-2X vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi,…
Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflators with alternate inflators, free of charge. The recall began January 7, 2020.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2009-2013 Forester, 2003-2006 Baja, 2004-2011 Impreza, 2004-2014 WRX (including STI), 2003-2014 Legacy and Outback, and 2005-2006 Saab 9-2X vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts,…
Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began January 7, 2020.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2009-2013 Forester, 2003-2006 Baja, 2004-2011 Impreza, 2004-2014 WRX (including STI), 2003-2014 Legacy and Outback, and 2006 Saab 9-2X vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,…
Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began January 7, 2020.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Legacy, Outback, 2009-2011 Legacy, Outback, Forester, 2006-2011 Impreza, Tribeca, 2003-2006 Baja, and 2006 Saab 9-2x vehicles originally sold or that have ever been registered in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi,…
Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 26, 2016.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Legacy, Outback, and Baja vehicles originally sold or that have ever been registered in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South…
Remedy: Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 24, 2016. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-856-488-8500.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Legacy, Outback, 2006-2008 Impreza, Tribeca, 2006 Saab 9-2x, and 2003-2006 Baja vehicles originally sold or that have ever been registered in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri,…
Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 24, 2016.
Show 4 more recalls
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Subaru Baja vehicles manufactured January 22, 2003, to July 21, 2004, 2004-2005 Impreza vehicles manufactured January 28, 2003, to May 31, 2005, 2003-2008 Subaru Legacy vehicles manufactured January 22, 2003, to May 2, 2008, 2003-2008 Subaru Outback…
Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners and General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The Subaru recall began on June 17, 2015.
Air bags
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Legacy and Outback vehicles, and 2003-2005 Baja vehicles sold, or ever registered, in geographic locations associated with high absolute humidity. Specifically, vehicles sold, or ever registered, in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the U.S.
Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on January 15, 2015. Owners may contact Subaru at 1-800-782-2783.
Vehicle speed control › Cables
On certain passenger sedans, wagons, and sport utility vehicles, the cruise control cable could come out of its track on the cruise control lever and lodge on the control lever tab when the accelerator pedal is released.
Remedy: Dealers will install a cruise control cable retaining clip to the cruise control lever tab on the throttle shaft in order to prevent the cruise control cable from coming out of its track.
Fuel system, gasoline › Storage › Tank assembly › Filler pipe and cap
Certain passenger or sport utility vehicles May have a loose or out of position fuel filler hose clamp.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect and tighten the clamp on the fuel filler hose. Owner notification began August 27, 2003. Owners should contact Subaru at 1-800-782-2783.
NHTSA defect investigations
Federal safety investigators have looked into 2 possible defects involving the 2004 Subaru Outback:
Air Bag Inflator Rupture
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag…
Air Bag Inflator Rupture
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag…
What 2004 Subaru Outback owners say
Air bags all 25 →
My 2004 Subaru Outback comes equipped with front side airbags. With only 900 miles on my car, I was "t-boned" by a Ford explorer under full acceleration. We were struck on the drivers side with enough impact to cause my wife, in the passenger seat, to hit her head on the passenger side door post causing a concussion. Subaru claims that the side airbags performed correctly by not deploying. Total damage to date including drive train replacement parts is $9000. It is my understanding that the NHTSA has not tested the side impact bags on the Subaru models. If that is true, how can Subaru claim that the bags responded correctly?
I get cards,I call,I get letters ,I call doesn't matter who sends them,you or Subaru dealer ,telling me I need to have an airbag swapped out as being defective,and me telling you I do not have the car anymore,it was picked up by an auction house but it needed alot done to it so they May have scrapped it,I don't know. What I do know is this is the last you will hear from me about this car, and you can waste as many trees sending me notices. From now on they go in the trash,no more calls from me,and don't call me about it,the car was junked,period
Speed control & acceleration all 20 →
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal failed. While driving 35 MPH, the accelerator pedal stuck to the floorboard and caused the speed to increase to 70 MPH. The contact had to crash into a tree to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 230,000.
The automatic gear shift had been locked in park, which never happened previously. It eventually was released by putting the tip of a key into the area of the panel. Advised for this problem in the drivers manual. After driving the vehicle twice more , it was parked again. When the key was put in the ignition, there was a whirring sound and when it started, it surged forward very rapidly and could not be stopped by using the brakes.. The vehicle was out of control. It was off the road and rocks punctured a tire. It stopped. When brought to the Subaru repair shop, the insurance adjustor did not advise repair, because of heavy damage to the engine, transmission etc.
Engine & cooling
The car burst into flames at 2:30 in the morning in my driveway. We last drove the car home at 10:30 the night before, so the car had been sitting for four hours in cold weather (around 20 degrees). The dogs started barking and I woke up to find my car burning in the driveway. Firetruck came around 5 minutes later and put out fire. Fire was burning around entire vehicle. Fireman said that fire appeared to be internal to the car and not caused by human intervention. Police put the fire down as a "routine" engine fire. I am very concerned about the safety of older Subaru vehicles.
My Subaru, forester xt has had numerous problems since it had 5000 miles. The engine performance is inconsistent. The car has an intermittent miss at idle, cruise control that disengages at will, is difficult to start intermittently; spitting and sputter for 30 seconds, acts as if it will stall occasionally while braking, and the clutch does not grip the flywheel properly. While passing on 2 lane roads, I have nearly had numerous head-on accidents; the car does not accelerate consistently. The cruise control defect has nearly caused many other accidents in distinct conditions: 1. While ascending hills, I have nearly been rear-ended by other cars when my car loses speed without warning 2. …
2004 Subaru Outback engines & fuel economy
| Engine | Transmission | Drive | MPG city / hwy / combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.5L 4-cyl | 4-speed automatic | 4WD/AWD | 19 / 26 / 22 |
| 2.5L 4-cyl | 5-speed manual | 4WD/AWD | 19 / 25 / 21 |
| 2.0L 4-cyl turbo | 5-speed manual | 4WD/AWD | 18 / 25 / 20 |
| 3.0L 6-cyl | 4-speed automatic | 4WD/AWD | 17 / 23 / 19 |
| 2.0L 4-cyl turbo | 4-speed automatic | 4WD/AWD | 17 / 23 / 19 |
EPA ratings. Class: Wagon.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2004 Subaru Outback a good car?
Based on 90 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the 2004 Outback rates better than average: 66% fewer complaints than a typical year of the Outback at the same age. It is one of the best Outback years by this measure. Complaint counts don't account for sales volume or individual maintenance, so have any used car inspected before buying.
What is the most common problem with the 2004 Subaru Outback?
The air bags — 25 complaints, 28% of all complaints for this model year, most often about side/window. Next are the speed control & acceleration (20) and engine & cooling (15).
How many recalls does the 2004 Subaru Outback have?
There are 10 recalls for the 2004 Subaru Outback, the most recent from January 2, 2020 (inflator module). Recall repairs are free at any authorized dealer — check whether yours has been done with the VIN recall check.
What are the best and worst years of the Subaru Outback?
The best years by complaints, compared at the same age, are 1996, 2004 and 2003. Years to avoid or approach with caution: 2019, 2020, 2017, 2018 and 2022. See the full Subaru Outback years comparison.
At what mileage do 2004 Subaru Outback problems happen?
The median mileage reported in complaints is about 68,000 miles; 39% of problems with a recorded mileage started before 50,000 miles.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.