2006 Subaru Outback electrical system problems

42 owner complaints filed with NHTSA name the electrical system on the 2006 Subaru Outback — 15% of all complaints for this model year.

Electrical System complaints

15%

share of all complaints

100,000 mi

median reported incident mileage

0 / 1

crash / fire reports

What owners report

“The accelerator pedal position sensor is faulty. It is prone to wear in these vehicles based on my research. This caused my car to go into limp-mode on the highway, rapidly cutting my speed in half. The accelerator provides no response until vehicle was restarted. The ECU put out the code P2138 for…”
filed Jan 1, 2022
“OBD Code P2138 (Throttle/ Pedal Position Sensor/ Switch D / E voltage correlation). This code pops up intermittently resulting in the car going into "limp mode". Truly dangerous, if this occurs when traveling at speed in traffic or when pulling away from a stop light. It is hard to pin down; but…”
filed Oct 14, 2021

Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.

This bulletin announces the new procedure and Warranty Fail Code for FirstTime air conditioning (A/C) performance concerns possibly resulting from an undetected A/C refrigerant leak.
10-105-25R · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 26, 2026
This bulletin contains information to help when attempting to complete the STARLINK Telematics subscription process, an Error Code 202 and / or 204 may occur preventing the process from completing successfully
15-219-18R · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 16, 2026