Under the Hood where the Bells and Whistles Live
Thanks to a bright-eyed FaceBook friend who read my blog yesterday, we have discovered that the reason for our dead battery here at the hospital lies not in our stars and not in any weird effects of the eclipse. At fault is a design flaw in the Subaru, itself.
Apparently, because of all the electronic bells and whistles, the battery drains rapidly and continuously, even when the car is ‘parked and everything is off’. In an article I read about the problem, the writer had found her 2015 Subaru totally dead after not driving it for two weeks. We hadn’t driven ours for three DAYS and we have the same problem. I am so angry on so many levels, it’s hard to be coherent.
Looks Good on Paper
Number One: Why didn’t the Bud Clary dealership in Longview alert us to this problem before we ever bought the car? Not a word. Nor were we given a hint of this peculiarity in any of the promotional materials supplied to us. And, wonder of wonders, not that we’ve seen in the various Owner’s Manuals clotting up the glove compartment.
Number Two: As I’ve been researching, I find that one of the suggestions is to make sure, as owners of a new Subaru, that we drive it every day. Say what???? We replaced our dual fuel Prius with a Forester for safety reasons but we certainly haven’t given up our desire to use fewer fossil fuels. Our resolve is to drive less, not more, with this vehicle – and certainly not every day. As old, retired folks, we have the luxury of not driving every day if we so choose.
Number Three: Not that this was a selling point for us, but we were told and we have read that, in addition to its superior performance on the highway, the Forester is a good off-road vehicle. So, I can’t help but wonder about the folks who drive into the outback to their favorite, isolated camping spot to get away from it all for a week or so. Sounds like Trouble with a capital ‘T’ to me. And they’re capital ‘F’d for sure.
Car Charger, Bud Clary???
Number Four: Which brings me right back to now. I wonder how busy AAA is right now charging batteries here in Oregon for all those eclipse-watchers who’ve been hanging out at their campsites for the last few days. We may have some competition in the “start your engines” department if Nyel is released anytime soon.
Thanks a lot (NOT!) Subaru for the heads up. And, no, I don’t want to buy an after-market ‘trickle charger’ for my garage… With this three-day battery life failure, I think Subaru should be supplying trickle chargers at no cost for the life of the Forester! Plus, compensation for mental stress and emotional anguish..
Sydney, this is an issue with other make of vehicles, too. Had to ditch my little Dodge Dart for the same reason.