Impreza hatch/wagon - lower control arm issue re SU31)
 

2005 Impreza 2.0 - was subject of safety recall SU31 in late March 2012. Took it to nearest authorised dealer and it was "passed" as OK..i.e. no replacement of part(s) was deemed necessary.

Fast forward to late afternoon 23/12/14. Did a round trip of 24 miles on main trunk road..60 mph all the way there and back....nothing much on the road. Pull into driveway of house to park up..seconds from stopping a nasty noise from the front end...back and forth a bit..noises...didn't sound good but it was dark & raining so left it parked up until next day .

Next day reversed the car to get a better look..lower control arm in 2 pieces..rusted right through (& the attached tie-rod snapped too)..half shaft began to extract from gearbox..nice small of hypoid (leaking out). Never seen anything like it. Thank God it had not happened at 60 mph!

Have just now opened a case with Subaru support..they've been on a skeleton crew until today (or so I was told by them on Tuesday).

I've done just less than 10,000 miles since the Subaru recall test but its 33 months ago. Had 3 MOT tests in between the recall test and the latest "incident", last one in June this year. In each passed first time with no advisory re the state of the arms (i.e rust).

Scarily the car was "driving" perfectly with no symptoms of wear ..until the moment it all fell apart. Wife's Impreza was also part of same recall..also "passed"!...bit concerned about that one too..gonna be an expensive January methinks!!

Anyone care to comment...anyone had a similar experience. Are Subaru likely to do anything positive?

Hi mate funny enough I was out in my wrx hatch 08 and mine has started to make some horrible noises from undernieth it's either suspension or roll bars/bushes ect it's crecks like an old mans bones. All the back of mine bushes roll bar drop links have all been changed but still makes a squeak when we get out of the car I was thinking it's because of the salt on the rd.

I'd get it checked asap..esp re the "wishbones". ...think the recall was only for 2002 to 2007 Imprezas though.