Subaru Ascent

"The vehicle is very fussy when connecting with AppleCar Play. It usually takes multiple attempts to work. Other customers online seem to reporting the same issue."

"Just a terrible backup screen. Brightness controlled by dash light knob and very hard to see at night. Okay in day light."

"This letter is to provide you with a description of how on our long trip from Winnipeg, Manitoba (our home) to Parksville British Columbia for our winter vacation has been utterly disappointing and has made us question the purchase of our 2023 Cosmic Blue Subaru Ascent. The vehicle was purchased on December 6th, 2022 and delivered in February of 2023. The main purpose of buying a Subaru was the safety features and reliability of the brand. Timeline: We left Winnipeg on January 6 and on January 7/2024 we had a major failure of the 11.6 inch infotainment screen. As you are aware, the screen controls multiple major functions in the vehicle. The second day of our winter trip driving through the prairies, the screen stopped working. The RAB and Eyesight (which were major considerations when purchasing the vehicle) also either stopped or intermittently worked. The driver information screen between the tachometer and the speedometer stopped shortly after the infotainment screen failed. This created a challenge with the cruise control as we were unable to know when it was set or what speed the cruise was set at. This created an unsafe situation and hence incurred greater gas useage during the trip. The HVAC system is completely controlled by the 11.6 inch screen which meant that we had no control over the heating system, fan speed or the heated seats. We were able to find a work around online during the trip so that we were able to have some heat when the temperatures plummeted to -30C range over the mountains. At this point, we also lost front and rear defrost capabilities as the physical buttons became inoperable. The loss of the system meant that we also did not have access to maps, radio and rear heating for the dogs travelling with us. Summary of factors that affected the safety of our trip: 1. Inability to control heat (front & rear temperature, front & rear defrost, fan speed, heated seats) 2. No Xmode if in a situation needing it 3. Back-up camera not functioning 4. No bluetooth 5. No charging for phones (dangerous when driving through mountatins in winter) 6. Unknown if emergency SOS was still functional 7. No radio Basically, every single feature built into this infotainment system was not functioning. The vehicle was diagnosed in Calgary at Centaur Subaru and since the part was backordered, we were told it could be months before it could be fixed. This is an unacceptable timeline. We contacted the dealership in Winnipeg where we purchased the vehicle and were connected to the dealership in Victoria British Columbia. The service manager has ordered the part based on the diagnosis completed in Calgary. As of January 18, 2024 we are waiting for the part to be delivered to Jim Pattison Subaru in Victoria BC."

"GPS is slow to provide guidance and we often relay on a separate phone to give us better advice. e.g., upcoming turns are announced faster via a phone service that is better than the car's GPS. also, we are often unable to input addresses that are out of state, e.g., when we start a long road trip, we search for an out of state destination but "nothing found" to match our destination, so we use a separate phone with google maps."

"the microphone cuts out during calls, requiring i call the other party again. there is a technical bulletin from subaru with a fix that hasnt been rolled out for OTA update"

"We consistently have issues seamlessly connecting our iphones (even with Apple CarPlay). It seems to be very fussy. We contacted the dealership and they said this is an issue other customers have encountered. They told us to do a system reset, which we did, but it still remains very fussy when connecting."

"The 2023 Ascent is very fussy with connecting our iphones. It takes multiple attempts to get the phone connected. Other customers seem to be having the same issue. This also includes Apple CarPlay connection."

"It consistently does no recognize the correct account and must be manually set to the correct phone if there are multiple drivers with accounts and multiple phones with Bluetooth in the car."