ATTENTION:

CLAIMS PERSONNEL q

IMPORTANT - All
Service Personnel
Should Read and
Initial in the boxes
provided, right.

SERVICE MANAGER

© 2018 Subaru of America, Inc. All rights reserved.

GENERAL MANAGER q
PARTS MANAGER

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PRODUCT CAMPAIGN BULLETIN
APPLICABILITY:

2018 Model Year Legacy, Outback,
and BRZ Vehicles

SUBJECT:

Harman Kardon Head Unit FMVSS 111
Noncompliance Recall

NUMBER:
DATE:
NHTSA ID:
REVISED:

WTZ-85R
01/03/19
TBD
01/22/19

INTRODUCTION:
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling 2018 model year Legacy, Outback, and BRZ vehicles
equipped with a certain combination of head unit hardware and software, due to the possibility of
noncompliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 111 – “Rear Visibility.”
AFFECTED VEHICLES:
Vehicles included in this recall are equipped with a high-grade Harman Kardon head unit with
navigation, and software version 3. This includes vehicles equipped as such in production, and those
that show a warranty history of receiving a software update after the release of version 3.
Model Year

Carline

Affected Units
Refer to Vehicle Coverage
Inquiry for WTZ-85 Recall
Applicability

2018

Legacy

2018

Outback

2018

BRZ

Coverage for all affected vehicles must be confirmed by using the Vehicle Coverage Inquiry function
on subarunet.com. This information is now available.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISSUE AND SAFETY RISK:
Due to a software issue, the head unit memory retrieval and assembly time may exceed the designed
time to begin the boot-up cycle. If this occurs, the head unit display will not boot, causing the
screen to remain blank. In this condition, while backing the vehicle, the rearview image may not be
displayed.
The failure to display the rearview image creates a noncompliance with the requirements of FMVSS
111 – “Rear Visibility,” increasing the risk of a crash.
Continued...
CAUTION: VEHICLE SERVICING PERFORMED BY UNTRAINED PERSONS COULD
RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY TO THOSE PERSONS OR TO OTHERS.
Subaru Service Bulletins are intended for use by professional technicians ONLY. They
are written to inform those technicians of conditions that may occur in some vehicles,
or to provide information that could assist in the proper servicing of the vehicle. Properly
trained technicians have the equipment, tools, safety instructions, and know-how to
do the job correctly and safely. If a condition is described, DO NOT assume that this
Service Bulletin applies to your vehicle, or that your vehicle will have that condition.

Bulletin Number: WTZ-85R; Revised: 01/22/19

Subaru of America, Inc. is
ISO 14001 Compliant
ISO 14001 is the international standard for
excellence in Environmental Management
Systems. Please recycle or dispose of
automotive products in a manner that is friendly
to our environment and in accordance with all
local, state and federal laws and regulations.

Page 1 of 13

DESCRIPTION OF THE REMEDY:
Subaru Retailers will reprogram the head unit software on affected vehicles at no charge to the
customer.
RETAILER RESPONSIBILITY:
Retailers are to promptly perform the applicable service procedures to correct all affected vehicles in
their inventory. Additionally, whenever a vehicle subject to this recall is taken into inventory or in for
service, necessary steps should be taken to ensure the recall correction has been made before selling
or releasing the vehicle.
Any vehicles listed in a recall/campaign that are in the Retailer’s stock must be:
•

Immediately identified.

•

Tagged or otherwise marked to prevent their delivery or use prior to inspection and/or repair.

•

Repaired in accordance with the repair procedures outlined in this Product Campaign
Bulletin.

Please be advised that it is a violation of Federal law for a dealer to deliver a new motor vehicle
covered by a recall under a sale or lease until the defect is remedied. Therefore, any Authorized
Subaru Retailer failing to perform the applicable service procedures to correct all affected vehicles in
their inventory prior to the vehicle being placed in service may be subject to civil penalties of up to
$6,000 per violation (i.e., for each vehicle), as provided in 49 CFR §578.6 and will also be in breach of
the Subaru Dealer Agreement.

OWNER NOTIFICATION:
Subaru will notify affected vehicle owners by first class mail, using internal Subaru owner records,
this month. Subaru is in the process of acquiring registration data and will notify owners again using
that data within the next 60 days. Retailers will be advised when owner renotification begins.
RETAILER AFFECTED VIN LISTS:
Each Subaru Retailer will receive an affected VIN list from their Zone Office. For the first
notification, Retailer assignment will be based on the selling retailer. For the second notification,
vehicles will be assigned to Retailers as follows:
•

Original vehicle owners are assigned to the original selling Retailer when their current
address is within a 100-mile radius of that Retailer.

•

If the original selling Retailer is inactive, the VIN has been assigned to the nearest active
Retailer.

•

For any new owners or when original owners live more than 100 miles from the original
selling Retailer, the VIN has been assigned to the nearest active Retailer.

IMPORTANT: Retailer affected VIN lists include information for vehicles affected by this recall.
This information will enable Retailers to follow up with owners of affected vehicles. The lists contain
owners’ names and phone numbers obtained from State Motor Vehicle Registration Records. The use
of such motor vehicle registration data for any other purpose is unlawful. Accordingly, Retailers are
required to limit the use of these lists for the sole purpose of completing this recall.
Continued...
Bulletin Number: WTZ-85R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 2 of 13

SERVICE PROCEDURE:
Affected Vehicles / Audio Units:
Model Year

Carline

Audio Unit Part Number

2018

Legacy

86474AL65A

2018

Outback

86474AL66A

2018

BRZ

86271CA670

The following information addresses reprogramming file availability and a software update
installation procedure to provide optimization to Harman Gen 3 Audio / Navigation head units
utilized in the models as listed above. The procedure will involve either downloading the software
update files from Subarunet (or using those sent directly from Nuspire) and transferring them
onto a flash drive for head unit installation. It is VERY IMPORTANT to read and understand this
information completely before proceeding.
This procedure and the related reprogramming files
apply to the following audio / navigation head unit:
Multimedia System Type Descriptive Features
8.0 Inch Audio /
Navigation System

Map Button in Top
Row Center

MATERIALS REQUIRED:
Two (2) 16GB (MINIMUM) USB 2.0 or 3.0 flash drives which are readily available at most office
supply retailers will be needed to perform these updates.
Recommended Flash Drives:
•

Kingston®: Data Traveler G3, G4, SE9 or the Hyper-X Series

•

SanDisk®: Cruzer Series, Ultra Flair

•

Transcend®: JetFlash 300, 600 or 790

•

Verbatim®: Store ‘n’ Go

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WTZ-85R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 3 of 13

NOTES:
•

The USB flash drives can be USB 2.0 or 3.0.

•

The USB flash drive MUST be reformatted to NTFS before loading any files to it. NTFS is
not the standard format on most USB flash drives.

•

The update files are not overly large but, during the reprogramming procedure, the head unit
backs up some files to the USB drive. For this reason, sufficient USB drive memory size is
required, especially for the High / Navigation units.

•

The flash drives should be dedicated to storing these reprogramming files only. Do NOT
use any flash drives which contains or requires the use of file management, encryption, file
backup or other software to function properly.

NOTE:
•

This new update also includes an enhancement to the map data for Subaru Retailer locations.

Step 1- Verify the currently installed Software Version ID using the following steps:
•

After starting the engine, from the HOME screen, touch “Settings”.

•

From the Settings > General screen, scroll down to and then touch “System Information”.

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WTZ-85R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 4 of 13

•

Confirm the current Software Version ID. If the Current Version is Rel_UO.18.43.20, STOP
as this latest update has already been installed. Otherwise, proceed to Step 2 below.

(EXAMPLE photo)

Step 2- Prepare the USB:
CAUTION: Do not use any USB flash drive which utilizes file organizing software or an operating
system.
•

Make sure the USB flash drive contains no other files.

•

Right click on the corresponding “Removable Disk”.

•

Select “Format”.

•

From the File System drop-down menu, select “NTFS”

•

Check the “Quick Format” box (if not already done).

•

Click on “Start” to format the USB flash drive.

The new reprogramming files are available for download from Subarunet using the normal audio /
navigation system file update download procedure: Go to Subarunet, select Service Operations and
Technical>>Forms/Downloads>>Downloads for Audio/Navi then click on the applicable Hyperlink
to download the file(s) to your system:
“HIGH-17-18 Impreza-18 Crosstrek-18-Legacy-Outback-18-BRZ-HARMAN AUDIO UPDATENOVEMBER 2018”
Continued...
Bulletin Number: WTZ-85R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 5 of 13

Click Here to Access the Downloads for Audio/Navigation Information on Subarunet
IMPORTANT:
•

If the files are being downloaded from Subarunet, they will be .zip files and must be
unzipped before they can be used. An EXAMPLE image of the Subarunet links page is
provided below.

•

If the files were sent directly from Nuspire, they are ready to use and do not need to be
unzipped before they can be used.

Step 3- Load the downloaded update file onto the USB flash drive:
IMPORTANT NOTES:
•

NEVER change the update file names after downloading them.

•

NEVER save any other files on the same flash drive.

There are various types of USB flash drive available from many suppliers. If the head unit does not
recognize the USB flash drive during the reprogramming process, re-format the flash drive in FAT32
using above process instead of NTFS as previously specified. If the USB flash drive is still not
recognized, use a USB flash drive from different supplier.
•

Insert a USB flash drive (16 GB MINIMUM) to be used for (in this example) updating the
BASE head unit into the PC.