Subaru recalls Solterra EV again over more loose bolts

Last June, Toyota recalled the battery-electric bZ4X and its badge-engineered twin, the Subaru Solterra, which Toyota builds. An issue with hub bolts on a potential population of 661 vehicles allowed the bolts to loosen and the wheel to detach, obviously not an ideal situation when driving. The fix for owners was a trip to the dealer to have the hub bolts and the wheels replaced. To fix Solterras in U.S. ports that hadn't reached dealers, Subaru contracted third parties to visit the ports and get everything torqued down properly; at least, that was the plan. 

"A third-party contractor was engaged to perform the repair work," Subaru's new defect notice said. "A certain contractor team did not properly complete the repair procedure resulting in the potential for significantly under-torqued bolts."

According to the Safety Recall Report that Subaru filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Solterras seen to by one of the contractor teams were, ahem, found to have a few screws loose. An in-house investigation found "the potentially affected vehicle population is limited to repairs completed by a certain contractor team at two port locations." Wanting to get this right the second time, however, Subaru is recalling all the crossovers visited by all third parties at all the ports — a population of 1,182 units.

This time, the Toyota bZ4X is not part of the recall. Since this recall deals with a different set of Solterras, owners who got the first recall addressed shouldn't need to see the dealer twice. New owners who avoided the first recall will need to join the club, meaning a trip to the storefront for the laying on of torque wrench.

Subaru plans to begin sending notification letters on March 1. Until then, owners can contact the automaker at 844-373-6614 and refer to internal recall number WRE-23. Or they can get in touch with the NHTSA at 888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) and refer to campaign number 23V064. 

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