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You can drive with your sun roof open at 60 mph and barely get a drop of rain in the car. Aerodynamics is cool like that.
yeah we've been caught with the top down and had rain hit, and stayed dry while we were moving. Not so much when we had to pull over and put the top back up lol.
here's a thought, ask to take a different 14 Outback for a test drive, right thru the closest pressure wash. If that one also leaks, then maybe there is an issue with the seal on that model/year. If not, get the service manager to dig deeper on your own car. I have never had a sunroof leak, in decades of different cars with them. And never had one leak when i sold cars and we ran them thru the wash to clean them up.
Not saying it cant happen, just never saw it happen.
SPLENDID idea! If it doesn't leak you are covered inder warranty OP. Stand firm.
High pressure car washes act on the seals in such ways that are not observed when a car travels down the highway...even at 100MPH. Usually at that speed, airflow is traveling in a known direction and the seals are usually tucked in a place that received only passive water flow, not under pressure like from a pressure washer or a high speed drying fan in a car wash.. In the car wash, you can get 60-70MPH winds coming from pretty much any angle depending on the design of the car wash. So 60MPH winds and water blown perpendicular to car's natural direction of travel could cause a leak. Key word there...could.
I have known a few cars to have their roofs, and/or side windows and door seals leak in car washes. Most new cars faired pretty well. The leaky ones were usually older, or had damaged or dried out seals.
Would I be happy about it? No, especially on a brand new car.
I'm sorry that his is happening. I'm not sure about the details of the Lemon Law, but you should look into it.
Lemon Law details do vary somewhat from one state to another, but all of these statutes tend to have wording along the lines of, "defects that materially affect the safety or drivability of the vehicle". That wording is placed there to prevent the mfr from having to buy back a vehicle with a defective radio, or crooked seams on the upholstery, or...perhaps...a minor water leak. As a result, I REALLY doubt if Lemon Law protection is applicable.
That being said, I am always amazed at how many people allow themselves to be stonewalled by intransigent dealer service departments. More than likely, the problem is the result of a sunroof that is misaligned and needs to be adjusted. So, the OP needs to "kick it up a notch" by contacting the mfr. Contact info can be found in the Owner's Manual.
If you file a complaint with the mfr, in most cases a regional service supervisor will arrange to inspect the vehicle at his/her next visit to the dealership. These folks usually have the knack of motivating service departments to do the right thing and to actually perform a repair. In some cases, they actually provide some technical knowledge that the mechanics at the dealership might not be aware of. Either way, contacting Subaru of America via their toll-free phone number, and then following-up with written communication should yield the desired results.
And, all of that being said, none of my 3 Subarus--including my 2011 Outback 3.6R Limited, which is the same design as the OP's vehicle--ever had a sunroof leak under any circumstances.
Do you have a disability that makes washing your own car difficult or impossible?
If you care about your car, you won't take it to a car wash AT ALL!!! Forcing soapy water into the crevices of your car is doing all kinds of damage. The detergent car washes use will degrade your paint, your metals, your 'rubber' elements...
We've always wiped the rain or dew off our cars with soft rags, or used chlorine-free water (rain water, distilled, buckets of tap water that have been allowed to sit for 24 hours to lose their chlorine...), and NEVER USED SOAP OR DETERGENT.
Detergents degrade fatty acids - components of the built-in waxes in the polymer coatings of cars. They're best avoided.
And most of the magic in a good washing of a car is in the gentle buffing-dry with soft rags.
I understand why someone with disabilities would be forced to go to a car wash. But for the able-bodied....
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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That is not normal. We recently got rid of a 2002 Jeep Liberty, and despite all it's other problems the sunroof never leaked a drop, car wash or otherwise. Find another dealer, or contact their ombudsman.
If you care about your car, you won't take it to a car wash AT ALL!!! Forcing soapy water into the crevices of your car is doing all kinds of damage. The detergent car washes use will degrade your paint, your metals, your 'rubber' elements...
I understand why someone with disabilities would be forced to go to a car wash. But for the able-bodied....
While the OP lives in Florida, and I have no idea regarding his possible disabilities and/or his personal time constraints, I can tell you that there are 10s of millions of people in other states who cannot wash their own cars for months at a time, due to...wait for it............................................freezing temperatures.
During the warm months, I wash my car myself, and aside from the reality that I do a more thorough job than a carwash, my own actions are surely less damaging to the paint than a commercial carwash. However, during the winter, given the damage that is done by accumulations of road salt on the car, I do patronize commercial carwashes.
Or, would you suggest that I avoid washing my car for several months during the winter?
No, car washers should not make the sunroof leak. If that was the case, what do you think would happen if it's raining heavily and you are driving over 60MPH?
The water pressure of most car washes is around 1000 PSI. Not sure what the pressure of a hard rain at 60MPH is, but I'm guessing it's at least 950 PSI less than that.
I don't think I've ever had a car with a sunroof, but I have had several that would leak around the window or door seals in a high-pressure car wash but never leak any other time.
Dealer appears to be offering up some "please go away" BS. On a new car especially that shouldn't happen. I sprayed mine at very close range with a high pressure wand just a couple weeks ago. It's 14 years old. It doesn't leak. I think one of my windows seeped a hair once a few years ago, but it was never the sunroof.
I get all that stuff about how high pressure water reacting in different ways. Certainly one can create some truly unnatural conditions with a high pressure water stream.
But think about it, if car washes routinely caused sunroofs to leak they would have a big problem on their hands. No, something is wrong with the car here. It should be able to keep out the water even in a high pressure car wash.
If you want to dig a little you can ask the car wash how many complaints they've had about leaking sunroofs, and take that back to the dealer. But regardless I'd be pushing for a better answer than "That's just what it does".
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