Subaru :: 2013 - Windshield Distortion - Cannot Drive The Car In Sunlight
Feb 2, 2013
I recently purchased a new 2013 subaru crosstrek, and noticed an optical variance in the windshield that is giving me migraines ( it feels like my eye is being pulled out through my right ear). I took it back to the dealer and (after several visits trying to convince them it existed) they replaced the windshield. With one that's worse, and now I'm stuck. I can't drive the car in sunlight, only in the dark or on days its precipitating. My husband says he sees it, too. But the Dealer wants nothing to do with me. We tried to find an aftermarket windshield, but apparently, the car is too new.
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When the sun is fairly low but bright on the horizon and in front of the windshield there are thousands of tiny specks visible in the windshield that are fairly evenly distributed. They are very small and almost look metallic and appear to be within the safety glass laminate. It is very annoying even when using the sun visor and restricts visibility noticeably.
We have the same thing with our 2006 Prius with approx 80,000 miles and our 2010 Prius has about 30,000 miles. At first I thought it might be some pitting on the surface of the windshield due to road or dust debris but the glass appears to be perfectly smooth. No matter how well I clean the windshield these small specks still appear. I have researched this a bit and have seen quite a few reports from others with this phenomenon especially with GM and BMW vehicles even with new vehicles or new windshields. The most likely thing I have found so far is that it is caused by a metal flake put between the glass lamination to reduce glare.
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2000 Passat windshield was replaced yesterday by an independent service station after being hit by a rock on Rt 22 in New Jersey. The new windshield is made by XYG (Made in China). The lower half of the windshield has incredible distortion -- looks like a fun house mirror. I've never had any kind of problem like this with any vehicle I've ever owned. I will, of course, call the repair shop tomorrow morning.
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I've had my GTI for 2 months but just tonight I noticed some slight distortion in the passenger side of my windshield glass. It almost makes things like slightly "wavy". It would be hard to notice unless I pointed it out, but it's there. Now here's the funny thing, it can only be seen from the driver's side of the car. I sat in the passenger side and it looked totally fine. I also noticed that only the windshield is made by Vitro based in Mexico, the rest of the glass has Sekurit stamps, based (made?) in Germany. I'm wondering if this is considered normal or at least acceptable.
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I've had my GTI for 2 months but just tonight I noticed some slight distortion in the passenger side of my windshield glass. It almost makes things like slightly "wavy". It would be hard to notice unless I pointed it out, but it's there. Now here's the funny thing, it can only be seen from the driver's side of the car. I sat in the passenger side and it looked totally fine. I also noticed that only the windshield is made by Vitro based in Mexico, the rest of the glass has Sekurit stamps, based (made?) in Germany. I'm wondering if this is considered normal or at least acceptable.
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I have a 2010 Subaru Forester and lately - it has on occasion had moisture on the inside of windshield - at the center and about 6 in. up and about 10 in wide. At first it was just moisture, but now has become something hard to wipe off with just my hand. The dealer has no clue. I had a bad heater core in a car years ago, could this be a similar problem.
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In sunlight my Nav screen is unreadably dim. Is this normal? I just got this 2005 GX, my first, this month and have not had the chance to compare it to others.
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My 2001 Subaru Outback has been having problems dispensing wiper fluid (front windshield) when I push the wiper fluid button on the steering column. Yes, there is wiper fluid in the resivoir. Does it need to be at a certain level? The motor that controls this is working; when I push the button, I can hear it running.
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I was finally told today, after several bouts of no EV on my 2014 Crosstrek Hybrid, lasting,1 to 3 days, that running the front windshield defrost PROHIBITS the use of the fully electronic engine. I came to this conclusion serendipitous on my own, but was not offered this explanation until today.
What is the best method to try to contact other Crosstrek Hybrid owners to gauge the validity of the explanation I was given regarding the operation of my hybrid? I have already posted to the Subaru forum.
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Was just looking under the hood of the 08 R32 I just bought and noticed that a couple of smaller diameter (thumb size) hoses at the windshield had chew marks on it. Took it to my local shop. The mechanic called me a little later and said that there are actually 3 hoses chewed up, a third is down below, and that there is a nationwide back order on all three of these hoses with no estimate of when new hoses will arrive and it is unlikely that any dealer has these in stock. My mechanic said that he's been around long enough to know that when he sees a situation like this, there will likely be a recall on these hoses.
My mechanic said my hoses are pretty chewed up and the car is unsafe to drive, certainly not for long drives in hot weather. I am taking the car to a race shop nearby to install my Milltek exhaust and they have some ability to custom make hoses. I hope they can do it.
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I got a 2011 Camry a couple of months ago with the EX Radio Bluetooth, MP3, Satellite, and more. After I got it I realized you can't see the radio station setting display in the sunlight. I took it in and found out there is no way to adjust the brightness unless it's at night with the lights on. Turning the little odometer knob adjust other things but this radio is an LCD display of whilte letters and numbers on a gray background. When the headlights are on the adjustment just makes the backlight brighter, not the lettering. Don't say turn the odometer knob, that doesn't work as I said above.
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Today while driving form CT to Maine my 2004 Legacy started making a buzzing sound. It was on the right of the dash near the corner of the windshield. It only happened once we went around 75-80 mph (Mass Pike, we were going with the traffic flow). I called the dealer since I got the car only a month ago. They said they'd have a hard time figuring it out since they can't take it up to that speed. My husband thinks it might be the speedometer cable.
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On my 1993 Subaru Legacy wagon, when the ignition switch is turned on to engage the starter, normally the power to the windshield wipers and radio is cut off until the key is released. What is happening is the power to the wipers and radio is occasionally delayed by a couple of seconds up to maybe a minute or two. This is happening sporadically, maybe once every other day or so, unpredictable. What is going on?
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When I drive in the morning , the sun throws a lot of dashboard glare on the windshield ...Its just annoying and bothers me when I see it right in the front of steering wheel on the lower side...Not sure if there is a way to avoid it or "fix" it.
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Yesterday afternoon on my way home I have seen a car driving slowly on 1 flat tire on the side of the road. The driver was about half a mile from the tire store. I do not know for how long he was driving before I saw him. By the way he was driving a Subaru. He might have ended up paying for 4 tires because of the awd?
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Took my 4 week old Santa Fe through the car wash (touchless) this morning for a rinse. Not sure if I'm the first in this forum to experience it, but my windshield started leaking! 6 or 7 streaks of water ran down the inside of the windshield. I was only 2 blocks from the dealership so I went straight over.
Anyway, obviously covered by warranty and I was sent around the corner to an autoglass place so the guy can look at it. Going in tomorrow morning and they will reseal or completely remove and re-install the same windshield. Needless to say, I am NOT impressed by this!
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I bought (in November 2012) a 2009 Subaru Impreza. On a couple of occasions, when I put the car in Drive, it started going in reverse (in a flat parking lot). Each time, I put the car back in Park, turned the ignition off, started up again and it seemed fine - till yesterday. I was in a parking lot again, tried putting the car in drive and it went in reverse! A few times in a row, till I got so close to the vehicle behind me that I had to call roadside assistance... What's going on??
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My 2001 Subaru Outback H6-3.0 is at 215k miles (I bought it for $4k at 201k miles). It overheats only when I drive for a while on a hot day. I was trying to get to Yosemite with my whole family in the car, and rather than do the intelligent thing and go back home and get it repaired, I kept going, stopping when the gauge started going past the middle to let it cool down and replace any water it was missing (after the engine cooled, of course). Amazingly, we managed to use the car almost normally during the trip, as long as we did short-ish trips and kept some water in the car. Having to pull over randomly isn't so bad when you are in Yosemite anyway.
There was a mechanic shop in the little town we stayed in, but they weren't equipped to to do a head gasket job in the little time we were going to be up there, and we needed the car to get around anyway. So I tried putting some of that coolant leak repair gunk in there and it seemed to work. We made it the hundreds of miles home, no problem (but it was downhill, where the trip up there was uphill). Problem solved, right?
Well, about a year later of only driving the thing about 50 miles in any given run, and not terribly hot weather, we decide to go a few hundred miles south. Sure enough, it was a hot day and after about 60 miles I saw the temp gauge go past mid and immediately pulled over. After it cooled a bit, I drove it (in two hops, because it started heating up again quickly) to a shop. They tested it and sure enough it's a head gasket leak. They said it'd be $2500 to fix it.
So far this car has been pretty good to me otherwise. Numerous times, I've taken it up 300+ miles into the snow and ice covered roads to go skiing and LOVE not having to put chains on. I am guessing that all the cold air up there kept it from overheating while I was pushing it pretty hard up some steep inclines without issue. It seems like there is a temperature threshold beyond which it starts to quickly overheat, and below witch, the gasket is holding fine, or something along those lines.
So, given that I like this car, is it worth another $2500 to get her back on the road? Should I just try the leak stopping junk again? Should I have been using "SUBARU cooling system conditioner" this whole time, even though it's not one of the supposed head-gasket-problem engines? Should I just drive it until it finally overheats to death? It's probably still fine to drive in moderate to cool temperatures (winter is coming), but I haven't driven it since the leaking head gasket diagnosis. I don't know if I did permanent damage to it that day, or if it's just its usual self still. It didn't get into the red, heat-wise.
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I recently started getting distortions on my MFD....at least that what I believe it's call. Sometimes is goes totally out and sometimes it gets really pixelated. I've attached a couple images to show some of the distortions that is happening. It doesn't happen all the time.
Is this a common problem?, hard/time consuming fix? I plan on taking it into the dealer very soon. It a new Passat Wagon, bought back in Nov...so I'm assuming this will be covered under warranty??
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The windshield wipers on my 2013 es350 are not stopping on the edge. When I checked on a 2015 es300h, the wipers go all the way to the edge. Is this normal for the es350?
Wiper stops here.....
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I got a crack in my windshield this weekend. The crack is about 15" long and everyone says it needs to be replaced. So far all estimates have come in around $1100 - $1700 to install a new windshield. Does this sound about right?
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