I remember reading in a previous post that it was an issue with the door lock -- the door won't unlock. It's something that the dealer can fix pretty easily, I think.

 

Yeah I don't remember what the fix was but it was very simple.

 

Good to hear it is an easy fix, but it should not be happening in the first place. So much for the JD Powers initial quality survey.

 

I wonder if mine will have to problem too. I’ll be sure to open it a couple times tomorrow.
OP, Please report back on what the fix is on this.

 

@Carl Abrams to the rescue!

 

Any solution to this yet? Kind of a big deal- although if this is a thing I know which of my sons to put on that side

 

LOL.
Mine is working fine so far.

 

Passenger Rear Door

This past weekend, sometimes the passenger rear door wouldn’t open. Yesterday, I changed 5 things, one or more of which may have something to do with the door now WORKING:

On page 198 of the Manual, I changed the Driver Door Unlock and the Rear Gate Unlock to Unlock all Doors

On page 199 of the Manual, I changed the Auto Door Lock to Vehicle Speed and the Door Unlock to Shift into Park,

At the outside of the passenger rear door, I put my right hand on the door handle and my left hand to the left of the door handle, near the left edge of the door. I pressed IN with moderate pressure with BOTH hands, then opened the door like normal with my right hand.

 

Glad to see that the fix seems to be relatively simple, and probably just the result of something that may need to be re-secured inside the door panel. Wouldn't expect it to be a common problem across all units however.

 

Most units are shipped the same way, so, if the design didn't take into account the vibrations of train shipping, I'd expect there to be a decent number of cases like this.

Fact is, a number of things get jostled during rail shipment, which is why the cars go through an inspection checklist upon arrival at the dealership. So, perhaps this should be added to the checklist?

It's going into my feedback to SoA when I send in my notes - along with some kudos to the dealership's service department who not just fixed it before I could finish signing the final paperwork, but logged it as well, which also generated the automated calls to (a) thank me for using them for service, and (b) ask if I was satisfied. So (the important part for everyone else), it's been logged in the system at least once.

I've heard of similar things (stuff being jostled during rail transit - not specifically door mechanisms) on the Gen 4 Outbacks. I've put 222,000 miles on my 2010 Outback (as of this morning's last drive with it), and a lot of that has been beach driving, crappy road driving (including over ruts that ate a sidewall on a tire creating a dimple and bulge), driving through quarries and trails and sand pits, light rock crawling and more... nothing has ever shaken loose during my adventures.

Crossing my fingers, but, with Subaru hearing from me literally at least once a month, believe me, if I run into anything, or if all of you do and post it in these forums or in the Subaru Ascent Facebook group I help run online, I will definitely be sending it in my monthly reports.

As it is, they're already monitoring the general "problems" thread - which I pointed out to them last week.

 

I can second this exact same issue. Glad I found this forum. Going to take the car in today or tomorrow to see what they can do to correct it.

 

We are having the same issue with our rear passenger door handle. Reporting it to SOA and our dealership.

 

Good news is it's under ten minutes to fix for the service department.

 

I keep hearing this is a very simple fix, but what is the fix? Is this something a normal consumer can do? Or must we take it in to a dealership?

 

I'd like to know this too in case it pops up on mine. I'm all for taking a car under warranty to the dealership but if its that simple it may more convenient to fix myself.

 

I remember someone had this issue on an Integra 4dr and he asked me how to open the door and I told him to get this tool:

 

My only concern with this whole door issue is what happens in a collision...obviously that would be more intense than the train ride. It's scary to think you won't be able to get the door open.

 

I was kidding. If it was the front door, yes you would have to destroy the panel or slim-jim the rod (not applicable for cable type) which I've done before. For the rear door, you have to take off the seat cushion and pry the panel (unscrew first, of course); not a cake-walk though.

 

I was kidding.

I know. :grin: I thought your "suggestion" was quite funny.

If it was the front door, yes you would have to destroy the panel or slim-jim the rod (not applicable for cable type) which I've done before. For the rear door, you have to take off the seat cushion and pry the panel (unscrew first, of course); not a cake-walk though.

Not something I'd want to do on a car under warranty. I've seen a few complaints about this happening to the rear door (not a lot, but a few), and the two consistent things are (a) it's a rear door, and (b) it happened in shipping (not after delivery from normal driving).

So, I'd simply check on delivery and if it's happened, have a service center deal with it.

 

My Touring had this issue upon arrival at the dealership.

I was in the dealership for service on an OB the weekend before delivery, so I grabbed the keys for a preview. It still had protective plastic on the hood so had not been 'checklist-ed' yet. The rear passenger door was sticky. At first I thought I had not unlocked it, but with a bit more effort it came open. This happened repeatedly. I said nothing and figured they would 'catch' it during delivery prep.

I took delivery on 7.3.18 and this has been an intermittent-but-more-frequent-than-not issue. I'm waiting to see if they need me to bring her back to fix Starlink before I setup an appointment just for this.

But yeah - it's either a design flaw or something amiss with transport.
@Robert.Mauro - I am in a Chicago suburb so I figured maybe my Ascent came straight from IN via carrier and no train involved? Perhaps investigate this to see if it's design vs. transportation cause??

 

My Ascent has this issue, intermittently as well. Rear passenger door will not open from the outside when the rest of doors are unlocked. It takes either extreme effort or cycle the doors locked/unlocked several times. If someone has a case documented with a dealer in which my local dealer can somehow reference, that would be great. Just an annoyance at this point. Would want to wait a bit more before driving back down there.

 

Happened on my Touring the 2nd day that I owned it with the rear driver side door this week. Can't remember what I did to fix it, but assuming I locked/unlocked a bunch of times, then it finally would open. Keeping an eye out on this one....

 

Our touring model is having the same issue. It has been just the rear passenger side door but last week it also happened to the rear driver side door. I have not been able to replicate the issue with any consistency and can't get the dealership to fix without being able to show them the issue. Every time it does happen I can't leave it until I go to the dealer I usually have to let the kids in, or the kids are getting out which opening from the inside temporarily fixes the issue. I would love to know what the simple fix is to let our local dealership know so they can fix. Or even the steps to replicate the issue.

 

Rear door wont open - safety issue!

Our family of four took delivery of our Ascent on 7/2. Over the following week the rear passenger door intermittently refused to open from the outside (the side where our 9mo old is sitting), and at times would not open with numerous attempts but then would open, then not open, etc. We had the car back to the dealer by day 4, where they could not replicate it. After that visit we took a video to show/prove the issue happening. There are no clear conditions under which it fails, but the common denominator in my case is that it was always very hot outside (95~100degF), and that side of the car had been baking in the sun for a long time, and I presume heating up the inside of the door cavity. Once the car was started and AC cooled the door the failure resided.


Anyway, this is a serious safety concern, especially when you have your tiny kids and baby in the back seat which you many need to access in a hurry.


Here is a video of the issue:

 

Our family of four took delivery of our Ascent on 7/2. Over the following week the rear passenger door intermittently refused to open from the outside (the side where our 9mo old is sitting), and at times would not open with numerous attempts but then would open, then not open, etc. We had the car back to the dealer by day 4, where they could not replicate it. After that visit we took a video to show/prove the issue happening. There are no clear conditions under which it fails, but the common denominator in my case is that it was always very hot outside (95~100degF), and that side of the car had been baking in the sun for a long time, and I presume heating up the inside of the door cavity. Once the car was started and AC cooled the door the failure resided.


Anyway, this is a serious safety concern, especially when you have your tiny kids and baby in the back seat which you many need to access in a hurry.


Here is a video of the issue:
https://youtu.be/d1b7iWcG9oQ

Agreed, that was my biggest concern when this issue first reared it's ugly head. It's definitely a safety issue especially if there are children in the back.

So it seems like the majority of people are Touring owners from what I can tell.

Tagging @Carl Abrams and @Jason so they can possibly share this video internally and get some movement on a resolution

 

I have experienced the same on my Touring - rear passenger door does not unlock with the others. I believe I cleared it by walking back to the driver's spot and pressing the unlock button on the door - not exactly ideal. I will also attempt to replicate.

 

Under Settings, there's an option to unlock all doors , unlock just front doors, etc..

 

Our Touring has the exact same issue with the passenger rear door. We are taking it in this weekend.

 

Good luck to everyone trying to getting help. We have been battling this for weeks and have gotten nowhere. But please contact Subaru of America as well, I think we need to be heard.



Our car has been in service for a total of 5days since we got it on 7/2 (and is planned to be there for 5 more days), and as of now we are no closer to a resolution than on day 2 when the door first showed this issue. If anyone has any luck with their dealer or Subaru of America, please share ASAP. Thanks!

 

Someone dissect the problem and I wouldn't even send it off to the dealer and be frustrated. It seems like it might be a simple solution.

 

Same here. Noticed it a week after we took delivery because the kids were home. Was ready to take it in to service when it miraculously started working properly. Hadn't had a problem since but will definitely keep an eye on it.

 

Our dealer did take the door apart and conducted various undisclosed “tests” as instructed by the “Ascent Team” of Subaru of America. They apparently didn’t see anything wrong, and couldn’t recreate it, despite not following the high temperature conditions I stated. In any event, I have a video that is unrefutable, or you would think....
Subaru of America banned the dealer from changing the handle, or any other parts (Even though they had ordered them prior to our visit), so the door was reassembled and nothing done. They were told to just give the vehicle back to us and send us on our way like there is nothing wrong. But clearly this forum suggests otherwise and it’s an issue much bigger than just my family. I just hope no one gets hurt...

Note, I’ve Opened a claim with Subaru of America (I urge you all to do that as well) and have been getting very simple replies from customer service. There is no acknowledgment this is an issue or it’s being worked on or anything.

 

But clearly this forum suggests otherwise and it’s an issue much bigger than just my family.

They've been made aware of this thread in this forum, so, hopefully they are monitoring it.

 

Last night I had the wife take a quick video of me demonstrating the problem, similar to the youtube link in previous posts. Now I just need to edit the video to reduce its size so I can email it to Subaru.
Earlier this morning, I called SOA to get Service Request# documented in the system. I suggest others do the same.