Subaru Customer Service

Our 2016 Forester is our third Subaru vehicle. We have always been happy with Subaru. When we bought our last car we unexpectedly received an impressive overnight luggage piece - thanking us for buying another Subaru. Because of all the automated systems on any new car, we have a Starlink subscription for vehicle health reporting that costs $99 per year. It tells you every month when a new report is released and gives you a status report in the key functions. It actually staved off a potential issue when it warned us our tires needed air. However, over the last several months I’ve been having back and forth email communications with Kelly informing her that we no longer receive email updates, and also that the report is erroneous - the check engine light and eyesight systems require attention - which they don’t. It meant several back and forth visits to the Subaru shop - and nothing seemed to help. Finally I said it wasn’t fair to pay for a subscription that didn’t provide us with correct information for the last year. And they listened. In spite of the fact that the report finally was corrected a month or so ago, Kelly sent a check to reimburse us for the last year subscription. On top of that, Subaru also provided free access to our Carfax report for as long as we own the car - a $99 per year value. So, in the end we really appreciate Subaru customer service. Thanks Kelly for all your help!

Faulty Starlink Subaru Reporting

With our new 2016 Subaru Forester came Starlink vehicle health reports. We would get an email notice that the month report was available for review. It showed the status of all the main components - whether they were “ok” or required attention. For whatever reason I noticed we weren’t getting notifications anymore. When I checked the actual reports they were stuck on the “eyesight and check engine light requiring attention.” But, we had those items corrected a long time ago. I reported the issue to Subaru and have had an ongoing back and forth discussion and several emails saying the issue would be investigated, etc. Last week we had a routine car check at the Subaru dealer and specifically asked that the DCM (data control module) be analyzed. They assured us it was. Did the health report change this month? No. Now they say it may be a timing issue. Seeing that the Starlink reporting is a subscription service I finally requested a refund for all the months the reporting was inaccurate. I haven’t heard back yet. I’m disappointed because we really like Subaru. I hope this ends on a positive note. 

Subaru Starlink and My Blog

In September 2016 I posted a blog about our Subaru Forester. I remember the day because I was called to jury duty - again - and my husband picked me up for a lunch break. While driving home we noticed that the starlink safety light was on for low tire pressure. So we went to the gas station down the street from where we live and had the guy check the pressure. It was low, but after getting filled, the light went off. Also at this time we received an email notification that the tire pressure was low. Every month we get a check up report for all the “systems” in the car to inform us if anything needs attention. Everything has always been good, so this was the first time we actually got a warning light. So last week I got a notice that someone from Subaru noticed the blog entry and made a nice comment

. It tickles me when someone pays attention to something like this and then makes a comment. Whenever I post photos of the Capitol building on instagram it isn’t unusual to get a “like” from the architect of the Capitol. The same for the Hirshhorn museum, and the us botanic garden. Anyway, I always respond to the comment and make mention that I appreciate that the observation was noticed, but also to thank that person for the comment. As for the Subaru Forester? We are glad to have a vehicle with all the safety features in it. It makes you wonder how you lived without them. 

Subaru Starlink TPMS -Tire Pressure Monitoring System - Works

When my husband came to pick me up at the courthouse yesterday (I escaped having to serve on a jury), he noticed that a warning light was shining yellow on the dashboard. It's been almost a year since we got our 2016 Subaru Forester that replaced our eleven year old Forester. This car has a lot of new safety and technical features that the old one didn't, and this was one of them. Of course, we have a check up scheduled in two weeks and this problem couldn't have waited until then. Anyway, we have a subscription for Starlink, and had just received a safety check report for August. So I looked up the report again and saw that this symbol meant a problem with the TPMS - tire pressure monitoring system. None of the tires were flat, thank goodness - but we didn't know if this meant a real problem or a technical glitch. We read in the manual it could be either, but it was not flashing yellow - just a constant signal. Since we never experienced it before, we drove to the gas station a couple blocks away and asked the guy to check the pressure. Apparently, all the tires needed a bit of air. And within a few minutes, the yellow warning light went out. What was also interesting was that we received an email from Starlink notifying us that the TPMS light was on along with instructions on what to do. When I looked up the report again, there was a red exclamation point next to this line item instead of a green check mark. But since I already knew the issue existed, was checked, and resolved, we both felt better - not only about the fact that it was resolved, but that it's nice to also get notifications about these types of things in case you didn't notice. So now we know it works, and are glad it happened before we were on a trip somewhere. It's always nice to know something before it causes bigger problems - especially anything to do with a vehicle that you depend on.