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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SERVICE PROGRAM BULLETIN
APPLICABILITY:

SUBJECT:

NUMBER: WUA-86R

2018 MY Legacy
2018 MY Outback
2017-2018 MY Impreza
2018 MY Crosstrek
2018 MY BRZ*

DATE: 01/03/19
REVISED: 01/22/19

Harman Kardon Head Unit Reprogramming

INTRODUCTION:
In the interest of customer satisfaction, Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is initiating a service
program to update the Harman Kardon head unit on certain vehicles with the latest version of
software.
AFFECTED VEHICLES:
Vehicles included in this service campaign are equipped with certain levels of head unit hardware
and software. Coverage for all affected vehicles must be confirmed by using the Vehicle Coverage
Inquiry function on subarunet.com. This information is now available
Model Year

Carline

2018

Legacy

2018

Outback

2017-18

Impreza

2018

Crosstrek

2018

BRZ*

Affected Units
Refer to Vehicle Coverage
Inquiry for WUA-86 Service
Program Applicability

*HIGH / Navigation - equipped head units only.

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 REPAIR:
Subaru Retailers will reprogram the head unit software on affected vehicles with the latest version at
no charge to the customer.
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: WUA-86R; 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 14

RETAILER RESPONSIBILITY:
Retailers are to promptly perform this update on all affected vehicles in their inventory. Additionally,
whenever a vehicle subject to this service program is taken into inventory or in for service, necessary
steps should be taken to ensure the update has been made before selling or releasing the vehicle.
Any vehicles listed in a service program 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.

•

Updated in accordance with the repair procedures outlined in this Service Program Bulletin.

OWNER NOTIFICATION:
Subaru is in the process of acquiring registration data and will notify affected vehicle owners by first
class mail 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. 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 service
program. 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 service program.
SERVICE PROCEDURE:
Affected Vehicles / Audio Units:

Vehicle Model

2017-18MY Impreza &
2018MY Crosstrek

Audio Unit Type (High, Mid, Base)

Audio Unit
Part Number

NAVIGATION (HIGH)

86271FL60A

8-Inch Display Audio (MID)
6.5-Inch Display Audio (BASE)
NAVIGATION (HIGH)

2018MY Legacy /
Outback

2018MY BRZ

8-Inch Display Audio (MID)

86201FL62A
86201FL63A
86201FL60A
86201FL61A
86471AL65A
86471AL66A
86431AL65A
86431AL66A

6.5-Inch Display Audio (BASE)

86431AL61A

NAVIGATION (HIGH ONLY)

86271CA670

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WUA-86R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 2 of 14

The following information addresses reprogramming file availability and a software update
installation procedure to provide optimization to Harman Gen 3 Audio and 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
units:
Multimedia System Type

Descriptive Features

6.5 Inch Display Audio System (Base)

No CD slot / Eject Button

8.0 Inch Display Audio System (Mid)

Phone Button in Top Row Center

8.0 Inch Audio / Navigation System (High)

Map Button in Top Row Center

2017-18MY Impreza and 2018MY Crosstrek:

2018MY Legacy / Outback and BRZ:

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WUA-86R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 3 of 14

MATERIALS REQUIRED:
TSix (6) 6GB (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

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.

IMPORTANT:
•

This new update includes all the previously released WTN-74 enhancements (Impreza).
Therefore, if the WTN-74 is still open, only the WUA-86 should be performed. SOA will
handle closing out the open WTN-74 coverage as necessary.

•

This new update also includes corrections to the map data related to Subaru Retailer
locations.

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WUA-86R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 4 of 14

Step1- 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”.

•

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.

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WUA-86R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 5 of 14

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:
“BASE-17-18 Impreza-18 Crosstrek-18-Legacy-Outback-18-BRZ-HARMAN AUDIO UPDATENOVEMBER 2018”
“MID-17-18 Impreza-18 Crosstrek-18-Legacy-Outback-18-BRZ-HARMAN AUDIO UPDATENOVEMBER 2018”
“HIGH-17-18 Impreza-18 Crosstrek-18-Legacy-Outback-18-BRZ-HARMAN AUDIO UPDATENOVEMBER 2018”
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.

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WUA-86R; Revised: 01/22/19

Page 6 of 14

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.