Jules3rd Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 OK...I am just now going through this HG thing, after 7 years of faithfull service. My question is," How many people out there have had success in getting SOA to pay for "out of warranty HG failures"?" This whole thing reminds me of a problem I had a few years ago dealing with Ducati North America. In the mid-ninties, Ducati had a problem with bad welds, stress cracks forming on the frames of a certain run of bike. Each incident was treated as it was the only one, leaving owners with out of warranty bikes stuck for frame replacement. After alot of research and a well written letter to DNA ( with enough proof to let them know that "I" know this was an epidemic and not an isolated case) they agreed to pay 100% of the expenses. With enough information now available at one's finger tips, and PROOF that this is a MAJOR problem for phase1 2.5's ,is it a shot in the dark to get SOA to pay for the repair's on a car pushing ten years old? Anybody with a positive outcome? Thanks for reading. 1997 Legacy Outback Wagon 147,419 miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Well, your logic is right on, Jules3rd. And by any standards a sense of fair play says that Subaru should stand behind their product and try to make things right. A significant number of post-'96 Subie owners wish that were the case. But this is corporate America. There's a lot of money involved. It appears that SOA weighed their credibility and reputation against the liability and decided to play ostrich. Don't mean to discourage you at all. I say go for it--be a squeaky wheel. And if you pull it off you'll certainly be a hero here! Good luck and keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Well, your logic is right on, Jules3rd. And by any standards a sense of fair play says that Subaru should stand behind their product and try to make things right. A significant number of post-'96 Subie owners wish that were the case. But this is corporate America. There's a lot of money involved. It appears that SOA weighed their credibility and reputation against the liability and decided to play ostrich. Don't mean to discourage you at all. I say go for it--be a squeaky wheel. And if you pull it off you'll certainly be a hero here! Good luck and keep us posted. This is just my opinion and it probably doesn't mean much, but I have found that Japanese car manufacturers don't like to admit fault. My only experience has been with Subaru and Toyota though. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 I imagine they have to commit hari-kari if found at fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 This is just my opinion and it probably doesn't mean much, but I have found that Japanese car manufacturers don't like to admit fault. My only experience has been with Subaru and Toyota though.Mike Interesting observation, Megell. And by the way, your opinion means a lot. It's a Japanese cultural trait--one does not bring disgrace upon family/company/country. Designing and installing a weak component (like a failure-prone head gasket) is a disgrace. That leaves just two choices: Do the honorable thing and try to rectify the problem for everyone affected . . . or stonewall it. I still think this is a "Corporate America" problem however. SOA, I believe, saw the magnitude (and potential cost) of the problem and chose to act like it doesn't exist. That's my take on it anyway. Brings up an interesting question--have JDM Subarus suffered the same head gasket problems? Have Japanese consumers raised the same questions we have? How about other parts of the world? Anyone know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 On the other hand Honda, Toyota, and Nissian have done the right thing in the past by having voluntary recalls for their customers. Last time I checked they were still Japanese companies. No, when the 2.5L DOHC engine problem hit Subaru was pretty much no where to be seen. Anyway, if Subaru ever forces the engineering team that designed the 2.5L DOHC engine to commit sepa ku, and I think they should, I have a suggestion. They should do the whole thing on pay-for-view. Worldwide there's gotta be thousands of 2.5L DOHC engine owners who would just love the chance to see those goobers slit their bellies. And another thing. If you have ever seen sepa ku on TV there's always a guy with a sword standing over the poor sap commiting sepa ku. He's there to cut the head off the guy commiting sep ku before he dishonors himself by crapping his kimono. Anyway, you could have a lottery for 2.5L DOHC owners who have replaced their head gaskets three or more times to be the guy with the sword. That would probably smooth a few ruffled feathers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Interesting observation, Megell. And by the way, your opinion means a lot. It's a Japanese cultural trait--one does not bring disgrace upon family/company/country. Designing and installing a weak component (like a failure-prone head gasket) is a disgrace. That leaves just two choices: Do the honorable thing and try to rectify the problem for everyone affected . . . or stonewall it. I still think this is a "Corporate America" problem however. SOA, I believe, saw the magnitude (and potential cost) of the problem and chose to act like it doesn't exist. That's my take on it anyway. Brings up an interesting question--have JDM Subarus suffered the same head gasket problems? Have Japanese consumers raised the same questions we have? How about other parts of the world? Anyone know? It sure would be nice, for once, if "the honorable thing" to do was the choice, instead of...umm...the other one that seems so dominant so much in todays world. I have much more repect for someone standing behind their mistake (?) than someone avoiding it. If Japanese culture, is about respect and honor. They are the same meaning to me. So much for the past. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunered Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 OK...I am just now going through this HG thing, after 7 years of faithfull service. My question is," How many people out there have had success in getting SOA to pay for "out of warranty HG failures"?" This whole thing reminds me of a problem I had a few years ago dealing with Ducati North America. In the mid-ninties, Ducati had a problem with bad welds, stress cracks forming on the frames of a certain run of bike. Each incident was treated as it was the only one, leaving owners with out of warranty bikes stuck for frame replacement. After alot of research and a well written letter to DNA ( with enough proof to let them know that "I" know this was an epidemic and not an isolated case) they agreed to pay 100% of the expenses. With enough information now available at one's finger tips, and PROOF that this is a MAJOR problem for phase1 2.5's ,is it a shot in the dark to get SOA to pay for the repair's on a car pushing ten years old? Anybody with a positive outcome? Thanks for reading. 1997 Legacy Outback Wagon 147,419 miles holy cow never heard of a headgasket problem with a subaru,if you can get them to fix it i will suggest it be put into a sticky on this forum so everybody else can learn how to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules3rd Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 Well, I didn't think this was going to be easy, nothing ever is. I came across this site while doing some "Homework". It may have been posted here before, but I'm new here so... It may be of help to owners of 99 and later. Here's the link http://www.subaruproblems.com/ So I take it from my original question that SOA hasn't helped ANYONE with pre 99 production HG failures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megell Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Well, I didn't think this was going to be easy, nothing ever is. I came across this site while doing some "Homework". It may have been posted here before, but I'm new here so... It may be of help to owners of 99 and later. Here's the link http://www.subaruproblems.com/ So I take it from my original question that SOA hasn't helped ANYONE with pre 99 production HG failures? So then, Subaru does admit problems with the head gaskets, and their "fix" is adding a can of "stop leak" or so called "cooling system conditioner" to prevent this from happening even if it's already leaking? Wow! what a nice offering. I smell the faint odor of a class action law suit. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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