legume

^^ had my frame replaced under warranty, now it's actually worse than ever. Prior to that they tried putting in damping material. Nothing works, it's a design flaw of the seat, and very dissheartening that it's still ongoing. Makes me think twice about buying another Suby; it's incredibly annoying. It also depends on how you're shaped and how your weight is distributed. Some guys at the shop could not get it to duplicate at all, others could. I unfortunately am among those who just aren't shaped "right".

^^^ If they're like my dealership you won't have to show them this thread. My service center was actually very accommodating; on all 5 times I brought it in for this problem. The last time was after my entire frame was replaced. It started squeaking almost immediately after (although the seat is nice and stiff now). I had only a few hundred miles left on the factory warranty, but they still looked at it again and shuttled me to work free of charge. The only thing they could do was lube it again (making my car reek like oil for a week). After replacing the frame, there really isn't anything they can do short of swapping the entire seat (but replacing the frame is almost like doing that anyway). The service manager was very apologetic, and we had a conversation about how I've heard online about this being an issue, about people having the issue after only 5,000 miles, etc. and he listened attentively, sort of shaking his head in disappointment. It's a design flaw with how the seat is put together apparently. Some people are shaped just so and weigh the right amount in the right (or wrong) places to make it happen relatively consistently (btw I'm 6'2" and 180 lbs, so it's not an overweight issue, probably more of a shape and distribution issue). For example, some of the techs in the shop could make it happen almost on command, while others never heard it at all, no matter how hard they tried. You may get lucky and a new frame will help, but my guess is it will be temporary. I've been thinking about writing SOA a letter in how I love their cars, but how disappointed I am with their interior quality, and that if they don't fix this issue I may think twice about buying a sub again (it's incredible irritating and embarrassing, though in the big picture it is a small issue and I probably shouldn't let it bother me so much).

*sigh* New seat frame, and it' s nice and stiff now, but the same squeak creeped up about 2 miles down the road right out of the shop. Will probably bring it again next week. It's actually louder now, always when I turn left, shifting my weight right. My seat is always on the lowest setting becuase I'm 6'2". Doesn't help me unfortunately.

Interesting, the service manager at my dealer says he's never heard of this problem (or at least hasn't seen it himself on the Legacy's that come through his door).

My seat frame is now on order. With 32,600 miles, I wonder if my warranty will expire before it starts again?

Bringing it in for 3rd time now. It keeps coming back after a week or two. This time the service manager seemed really annoyed with me, telling me this is normal with power seats. Not acceptable as far as I'm concerned.

Just had mine fixed under warranty. I bought my Legacy at 30,000 miles, so I can't say when it started exactly, but it is consistent with low mileage '08 models. Of course I didn't notice it during the test drive, but it began to drive me mad by the next day. Googled the problem and found this forum (what did we ever do before Google anyway?). Hopefully with all these warranty claims, Subaru will correct this design flaw if it hasn't been already. According to the tech, they found a piece of plastic rubbing against the frame, so they insulated it with foam. They also took the seat apart and added lubrication, as apparently the foam didn't solve the problem completely. It took them most of the day to find the source, so this would have been an expensive fix if not covered. Now I'm anxiously waiting for the problem to resurface at about 36,000 miles!