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

DATE: 01/03/19
REVISED: 05/12/20

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

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

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: 05/12/20

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 15

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:
If the vehicle presents with a black or blank screen which prevents completing the reprogramming
procedure, Head Unit replacement will be required. Secure an exchange Head Unit following the
normal Harman Exchange Program procedure through United Radio. NOTE: Although all Harman
exchange units shipped after 1/4/2019 have the latest software version already installed, the Version
Check procedure must still be performed after the exchange unit is installed. In order to close the
recall/ campaign, the customer must have a fully functional head unit which is running on the latest
software.

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WUA-86R; Revised: 05/12/20

Page 2 of 15

Affected Vehicles / Audio Units:

Vehicle Model

Audio Unit Type (High, Mid, Base)

Audio Unit
Part Number

NAVIGATION (HIGH)
86271FL60A
The following information addresses
86201FL62A
reprogramming file availability and a
8-Inch Display Audio (MID)
2017-18MY Impreza &
86201FL63A
2018MY Crosstrek
software update installation procedure
86201FL60A
6.5-Inch Display Audio (BASE)
to provide optimization to Harman Gen
86201FL61A
3 Audio and Navigation head units
86471AL65A
NAVIGATION (HIGH)
utilized in the models as listed above.
86471AL66A
2018MY Legacy /
86431AL65A
The procedure will involve either
Outback
8-Inch Display Audio (MID)
86431AL66A
downloading the software update files
6.5-Inch Display Audio (BASE)
86431AL61A
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:

Continued...
Bulletin Number: WUA-86R; Revised: 05/12/20

Page 3 of 15

MATERIALS REQUIRED:
Three (3) 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: 05/12/20

Page 4 of 15

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_ A1_19_12_20
or Rel_A1_19_45_20, STOP as the latest update has already been installed. Otherwise,
proceed to Step 2 below. Refer to TSB 15-211-17R to see the latest software version
information as well as a history of prior updates. Software versions Rel_U0.18.43.20 (or
later) are acceptable to complete and close this recall.

Rel_A1_19_45_20

Rel_ A1_19_12_20

(EXAMPLE photos)

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: 05/12/20

Page 5 of 15

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>> Gen 3/Harman for Audio/Navi then click on the applicable
Hyperlink to download the file(s) to your SDS Notebook or PC:
“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”**
** NOTE: See TSB 15-211 for more information
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: 05/12/20

Page 6 of 15

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.

•

Once the USB flash drive is located and ready for use, proceed to next step.

•

From the SDS GUI (Desktop) click / open My Documents.

•

Navigate to the USB flash drive (Removable Disk) and double click on it to access the drive.

•

Right Click on the drive and select Format.

•

Change the File System to NTFS.

•

Check the box for Quick Format and then press Start. This will erase any existing files.

•

When the warning dialog box opens, click “OK”.

•

Once formatting is complete, click “OK” then click “Close” to exit the format dialog box.

Follow “A” when using files downloaded from Subarunet.
Follow “B” when using the files sent directly to the SDS notebook from Nuspire.
“A” When using update files downloaded from Subarunet:
• Go to Downloads.
•