I have posted before on this problem for those who may remember. It began in December.

Anyway, I was wondering how many of you 1999 Legacy owners had to have their speedometer replaced?

My local dealer has been charging me a ton to fix this, so Im giving up on them. The dealer here at school tells me that they replace them all the time. SOA told me that they had no clue about this problem, which I find hard to believe.

 

Feeling: Frustrated

Fairly common problem. I've replaced 4 or 5 of them.

I have a complete gauge cluster FS. Reasonable offer accepted. Lmdew@hotmail.com It has about 55K on it.

Fairly common problem. I've replaced 4 or 5 of them.

 

Im assuming you mean in different Legacies, not the same one.

Ah, Subaru repair tech, makes sense.

Im assuming you mean in different Legacies, not the same one.

 

Different cars, all 1999 MY.

The dealer here at school tells me that they replace them all the time. SOA told me that they had no clue about this problem, which I find hard to believe.

 

I'd heard it was a common problem also, but I can't remember where. I just had the speedo head in my 99 Forester changed out by a dealer. (Needle stuck at 42 mph from time to time, funky fluctuations between 60-70 mph) I commented that it seems like a lot of these were going out, and he seemed genuinely surprised - no reason for him to lie. Maybe it's just a rumor.

 

-Kurt

I'd heard it was a common problem also, but I can't remember where. I just had the speedo head in my 99 Forester changed out by a dealer. (Needle stuck at 42 mph from time to time, funky fluctuations between 60-70 mph) I commented that it seems like a lot of these were going out, and he seemed genuinely surprised - no reason for him to lie. Maybe it's just a rumor.

 

-Kurt

 

im seeing alot of them come up on other lists too, but may not be enough to raise a red flag anywhere.

Hmmmm, but if it is occuring more and more often that cant be good. Its definately a matter of safety.

Hmmmm, but if it is occuring more and more often that cant be good. Its definately a matter of safety.

 

Safety? Hmmm... I think you'd be hard pressed to get any regulating agency on board with you on that one. Granted, you don't really know how fast you're going when it's on the fritz, but I drove with mine like that for over a year, probably close to two years. And I can't say that I never knew *about* how fast I was going. Plus if I pounded on the dash just above the instrument cluster, it'd usually pop back to life. (However, this usually seemed to concern the folks driving in the car next to me!)

 

-Kurt

Well mine just stops for no reasons and starts up again spuratically. It seems like a safety issue to me if you dont know how fast you are going and perhaps are going too fast and cant stop in time. What I dont understand is why this problem is happening to the '99s. My '96 didnt have any problems, but my '99 is a piece of crap.

probably not driving the limit anyways....since i've had the GPS i'm suprised to see most speedos are off...5 to 10 mph, and all of them showing faster than actual. i bought it while i had my Accord, thought i was getting great mileage driving 68...then found out i was only driving 62

Mine is doing the same thing. Did you ever find out what it was?

 

 

 

Well mine just stops for no reasons and starts up again spuratically. It seems like a safety issue to me if you dont know how fast you are going and perhaps are going too fast and cant stop in time. What I dont understand is why this problem is happening to the '99s. My '96 didnt have any problems, but my '99 is a piece of crap.

Is this just in the Legacy L models? Mine is working fine at 111,000 miles but it's an Outback - don't know why that should make a difference, though.

 

What is the mileage point where these speedos are failing? I'd always thought that apart from the HG issue, these cars were pretty bulletproof up to about 200,000 miles.

This affects all of the Legacies and Outbacks from 1999. The problem is the speedometer unit itself. It must be replaced. In my case the dealer didnt know this and I spent alot more than I should have and it took 5 attempts to fix.

 

 

Anyone who has or is currently expirincing this problem I ask you to please write a letter of complaint to SOA. Their address is

 

Subaru of America, Inc.

Subaru Plaza

P.O. Box 6000

Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-6000

Attn: Customer/Dealer Services

 

I called and SOA said this is not a reported problem. However I spoke to multiple dealers who said that they do this repair often. A new speedo costs $150 + 2 hours of labor. We shouldnt have to pay for this on a car this young. So please complain. I asked that they inform their service centers too so that people dont waste money like I did. I never heard back from them.

This affects all of the Legacies and Outbacks from 1999. The problem is the speedometer unit itself. It must be replaced. In my case the dealer didnt know this and I spent alot more than I should have and it took 5 attempts to fix.

 

 

Anyone who has or is currently expirincing this problem I ask you to please write a letter of complaint to SOA. Their address is

 

Subaru of America, Inc.

Subaru Plaza

P.O. Box 6000

Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-6000

Attn: Customer/Dealer Services

 

I called and SOA said this is not a reported problem. However I spoke to multiple dealers who said that they do this repair often. A new speedo costs $150 + 2 hours of labor. We shouldnt have to pay for this on a car this young. So please complain. I asked that they inform their service centers too so that people dont waste money like I did. I never heard back from them.

 

I'm on my 3rd Subaru. Love them for the most part. But SOA seems to be getting pretty bad at responding to customer complaints. My speedo head (99 Forester) went at about 72,000 miles. That's just wrong. I just had it replaced earlier this year. No response from SOA. I had my A/C compressor go on that same Forester right around 60,000 miles. And I just had two front wheel bearings go out on my NEW 06 Outback at 2900 miles! While I did get an initial response from SOA on my wheel bearing inquiry, additional questions have gone into a black hole.

 

I bought my 06 Outback without even blinking an eye at other cars. This latest round of quality/customer service may cause me to look at other brands when it comes time to replace the 99 Forester. I hate to do it, but I'm just not too happy about cars that need dumb things (speedo, AC compressors, wheel bearings) replaced that in the past have been designed to last waaaaaaay longer. It's not like these cars are cheap to start with, so why do they seem to be cutting corners?

Knelson you are my new best friend. That is exactly how I feel. And people say to me, "you are being illogical. Of course things are gonna go wrong a car with 80000 miles." But my car was 6 years old at the time and that is just shotty quality. It would seem to me that you would try an appease people and I told them in my letter their service issues are a huge deterent to me buying another Subaru.

Ok everyone go to the nhtsa web site and report it. it seems there are a lot of 99's out there with this issue, and yes a broken spedo is a safty item.

Even if you dont thnk it is a saftey item, let the nhtsa make that decision not you.

 

nipper

and yes a broken spedo is a safty item.

 

nipper

 

Thanks for agreeing with me there. Some people dont think that it is.

 

Like, yeah, you dont need a windshield. Flying rocks, pshhhhhhhhhh.

I think in every state you can get a ticket for driving with a broken spedometer. There are these bizzare things called speed limits. They are there for a reason so im told. Something called saftey. Without a spedo you cant safely tell your speed, especially when the usuall limit has been reduced.

 

Then there is the other side, you cant tell when the car is maxed

 

 

nipper