2016 Outback Door Panel Removal

[ironmike]

2016 Outback rear driver's side door triangular "vent" glass piece shattered. I have purchased the glass from Subaru, and could use some help with how to proceed.

[gbhrps]

ironmike,

 

Remove the inner door panel.

 

Inside the door handle is a small rectangular cover about a half inch square. Pop it out and undo the screw underneath. In the arm rest recess there is another such creature to deal with. Then slip a flat screw driver under the bottom of the inner door panel and pry the panel straight away from the door. There are clips across the bottom to pop out as well as up both sides of the panel.

 

Then lift the panel straight up about 2 inches and once free of the door, reach in behind and unclip the wiring harness to the power window switch. Pull the panel 6 inches from the door

and unclip the two cables to the door handle assembly for the door handle and the door lock.

 

The window sash comes off next. Its the black channel that the door glass slides up and down in and separates the movable window glass from the stationary piece you want to replace. On the top of the door, right above the sash, is a screw to remove. And at the bottom of that sash is a nut/bolt to remove to remove the sash itself.

 

Beyond that, it would appear that that quarter glass is just wiggled out of the door frame, as the FSM makes no other references to it at all.

 

Good Luck!

Edited March 31, 2016 by gbhrps

[ironmike]

Thanks! It was much easier than I thought - didn't have to remove the aft sash - just removed the top phillips screw and the two 10mm bolts holding the sash to the door panel. That allowed the sash to move just enough to slide the replacement glass/rubber gasket into place. 30 minutes!

However, upon initially removing the gasket, we found the culprit to be poor assembly at the factory. Half of the bottom rubber gasket that is affixed to the door [non-removeable] had been folded over when the glass was originally installed thereby creating a "torque" on the glass piece which likely caused the spontaneous shattering on a day where the temps warmed after a cold night.

I plan to alert Subaru USA to this issue with the hope that in the future their quality control/training can be a bit more stringent.