Headlights visibly shake when going over bumps on the road. It is an extreme hazard and impairs visibility when driving. Issue can be replicated when car is parked. Headlight housing seems to not be fully supported and will shake when car is manually shaken.
2026 Subaru Uncharted
Owners filed 40 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the exterior lighting. No safety recall has been issued.
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exterior Lighting | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Electrical System | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Unknown or Other | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Engine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsThe headlights appear loose to the point when you drive over small bumps the lights bounce. This is causing a distraction for me as well as anyone in front of me. This car is 1 day old. I test drove the car twice before buying but unfortunately, I wasn't able to drive it at night or else I wouldn't have purchased it.
Insufficient dampening on front headlight mounting, causing excessive shake/ jitter of headlights at night. This design issue allows the headlight cut-off level to hit the eyeline of oncoming traffic. Aside from the safety issue of occasionally blinding other drivers, the shaking/flickering also causes headaches on long drives at night.
The headlights jitter and shake while driving on normal road conditions, due to poor mounting inside the bumper. You can push on the headlight housing and notice it move. This causes very districting conditions while driving at night, oncoming traffic flashes high beams often thinking that I'm flashing them or something. I took it to the dealership to get it looked at after seeing numerous owner reports online about it, and got a similar result, with the dealership admitting that there is no recall, nor any fix for it, and I'm supposed to just deal with it. It can create unsafe conditions for other motorists due to the potential for flashing them with bright, jittery light. This is unacceptable on a car that is around $40,000+. Here is a video link from the master technician saying there is no fix available: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The contact owns a 2026 Subaru Uncharted. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start. The contact stated that the 12-Volt battery was completely drained, even though the main high-voltage traction battery used to power the electric motor was charged. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, and a new 12-Volt battery was installed; however, two days later, the vehicle failed to start again. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 650.
Vehicle is brand new and when driving at night it is incredibly distracting the way the light from the headlights bounce and shake/jitter all over the place. Other drivers think I'm flashing lights at them because the roads aren't even that bad. These headlights need fixed.
The 12V battery of my brand new 2026 Subaru Uncharted (under 300m) was fully drained after being parked for 2.5 days while traveling. I was unable to use my car to leave the location and needed to have a jump pack brought to the car. The car has been back at the dealer to be inspected for 19 days and counting. The battery has failed a number of times while at the dealer, with no diagnosis from Subaru and no offer to replace.
The headlights in the car shake while driving. Especially noticeable at night, and if the ground is not perfectly smooth, the light beams vibrate/shake in a distracting way that is unlike any other car I've driven.
The headlight jiggle at night producing an inconsistent and distracting beam.
Headlights vibrate/jiggle (as if they are loose within the housing) when going over normal road surfaces at night. This is distracting for the driver and probably for oncoming traffic as well. This is a known issue with this model.
Purchased and took possession of car, a brand new 2026 Subaru Uncharted electric, on May 22, 2026. On July 2, 2026 the car was completely inoperable as the 12 volt battery had died for no reason - the car had not been driven for 3 days. Took to the dealership they ran tests and said the battery was "fine". Reported to Subaru of America. On July 16, 2026 the car was inoperable as the 12 volt battery had died for no reason - the car had not been driven for 2 days. Had it jump started by another vehicle. Reported to Subaru of America. On July 29, 2026, the car was completely inoperable as the 12 volt battery had died for no reason - the car had not been driven for 2.5 days. Towed to dealership who are not finding any issues. I am terrified to now drive this car as I am concerned that this car is going to leave me stranded somewhere unsafe or even worse the battery is going to die while I'm driving it and cause a serious accident.
Headlights seem to shake while driving down the road.
12 v battery has drained 3 times now
When driving in the dark the headlight housing bounces a lot causing the headlight beams to bounce and dance like crazy over any and all little bumps on the road and is very distracting to me the driver and more than likely cars driving towards me and I feel that this could be a safety concern and a manufacturing defect The headlight housing is not rigid on the vehicle you can manually move the housing very easily and I feel they did not secure it to the vehicle properly
On three separate incidents, my 12V battery drained leaving me stranded. The car was purchased [XXX]. I called road service for a jump, then jumped car myself for next two battery drain issues. Took to dealer(subaru chandler superstore) in chandler AZ. The dealer could not reproduce problem, stated battery was good. Also did parasitic draw test which was ok. I have since had to disconnect DCM services which stopped battery drain. There were no warnings to indicate battery was dead/dying. Problem first happened early in July, around [XXX]. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Just bought brand new 2026 Subaru Uncharted GT, noticed the headlights flicker or shake a lot while driving especially when going over slightly bumpy roads. It’s very distracting to me as a driver and I would think to other drivers in front of me or opposing drivers. No specific lights or warnings come on when this happens. I have read online that many drivers have the same issue with their Subaru.
Since 2023 starting with the Subaru Solterra and Toyota Bz4 and now in 2026 both companies have 3 models each. Toyota builds all of them for themselves and Subaru. If you do not drive these cars daily the 12 volt batteries go dead. Subaru and Toyota has continuously denied a problem and advises owners to jump it themselves or connect a battery maintainer hoping to sweep this dangerous problem under a rug. It is dangerous that can leave you stranded or if you need to go somewhere right away you can't. If you do a google search or Reddit search about 12 volt dead batteries on Subaru Solterra, Uncharted and Trailseeker you will see hundreds of complaints and with Toyota the Bz4, Bz, CH-R. Both companies deny there is a problem. My own 2 month old Subaru Uncharted was parked and not driven for 3 days and the 12 volt battery was dead and I called Subaru Roadside Assistance and he jumped it and stated it was at 3 volts, he said he has jumped a lot of Toyota EV's I thenI drove the 35 miles to the dealer and it charged while driving and it passed the test, if it was towed it would have failed but I had no way to get to the dealer. On the invoice the tech wrote "Tested 12v battery. Battery passed. Use of trickle charger if vehicle won't be driven for days is recommended". That is not an answer, it needs to be fixed with ALL Subaru and Toyota EV's. If you park outside then how to connect a trickle charger, you go on a vacation and park in a public lot and come back to a dead battery af
It is an EV, the 12 volt battery went dead after sitting 3 days. Problem is all other EV's charge the 12 volt when the voltage goes below a certain level, while the Subaru only charges the 12 volt while driving and if parked then it is on a timer and only every 20 days. I have attached a copy of the service manual someone posted. This is unsafe. Only have the car purchased new May 24, 2026. Complaints all over the internet especially on its Toyota twin the BZ as more of those sold.
Headlights (high & low beams) bounce as if loose when hitting any sort of uneven road surface. Edges of light almost appear to flicker when this is occurring which is anytime headlights are on and car is moving. Extremely distracting and creates uncertainty when driving in rural areas.
The uncharted and its related models (subaru solterra and trailseeker, Toyota bZ, bZ Woodland, and C-HR, and Lexus RZ) have an issue that bricks the car. It drains the 12V battery. Our car needed a jump because the Toyota app/subaru connect app and connected services kept waking the car up, draining the 12V battery and preventing it from turning on. This car appears to have a DCM issue and exceptionally bad software that causes parasitic drain on the 12V battery. It shares the same connected services, infotainment, and other software with every Toyota and Lexus model except the GR86, and the other two Subaru EVs, the Trailseeker and Solterra. We’ve taken the car to the dealer (Timmons Subaru) who told us to bring it back if it ever happens again. Their check resulted in a good health for the 12V battery, we think that was due to the car being jumped and driven.
20 of 40 complaints, reproduced as filed.
Reading this record
No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.
Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.