Thule- Excellent Subaru- Terrible

A couple months ago I had my kayak on my Subaru in a Thule Hull-a-port. The OEM subaru crossbars failed causing the kayak to pop out on the highway.

I've been going round and round with Subaru, and took it to corporate/Subaru National. Final words from them were first, it was Thules fault, then it was my fault for not having the rack professionally installed and that they won't do anything. Not even send me a replacement crossbar for the one of theres that failed while under warranty.


A Thule rep just called me. He was very understanding of the situation, but ultimately said man i'm sorry but this is a Subaru problem not a Thule problem.... Not sure what we can do, would you like me to send you a new free rack set up?

Yeah. Thule willing to throw over 300 bucks at me for Subarus part failing. That says a lot. That's what keeps customers. Meanwhile Subaru wouldn't even send me a new POS Crossbar that costs almost nothing. I told him how much the offer meant to me but I already went out and bought the new Thule rack set up because they make a great product. He told me to save his number and his name in case he could help any further or I thought of something they could do to help.

Anyway, Thule seems like a great company and I will continue to buy from them and recommend them. A+. As for Subaru, piss on them.

End of internet bitch session. 

Always been very happy with my Thule gear (usually bought used on Craigslist). My brother's Subaru has one broken factory bar on it that won't lock already. Lame.

Not sure if you had them on, but I go with bow and stern lines every time I plan to be on a highway. Overkill usually I'm sure, but good for my peace of mind when bombing down the highway.

I have now opted for my Thule crossbars with the kayak laid flat, for extra security, with bow and stern lines for the highway. It feels rock solid.

as a new subaru owner, I'm curious what failed on the factory rack crossbar?

I just put a Yakima basket on my factory Forester rack using Yakima adapters and the factory rails & crossbars seemed like good construction while I was up there.

as a new subaru owner, I'm curious what failed on the factory rack crossbar?

I just put a Yakima basket on my factory Forester rack using Yakima adapters and the factory rails & crossbars seemed like good construction while I was up there.

The front crossbar. Yours may be built solid on the forester.  A friend came up with a forester and I compared bars. Forester bars were thicker steel while the Crosstrek bars were thin aluminum.

I'm laughing pretty hard. They may have terrible customer service and business ethics but  at least they're funny. I sent the required small claims notification and they replied with this "Love" collage. The most polite PC way of telling me to get bent I imagine haha.

That sucks.  Most of the OEM crossbars on cars are so flimsy, I don't even know what I would trust to put on them....maybe a bike.   Never had a problem with Thule products.

sounds like a pain.  guessing subaru must be making parts cheaper, i've lugged around a 60# yak on the roof of my outback for years & never had a problem.

sounds like a pain.  guessing subaru must be making parts cheaper, i've lugged around a 60# yak on the roof of my outback for years & never had a problem.

Nothing beats a good aftermarket system. But my thoughts are they tried to save money at the expense of the consumer by skimping on their new bars. After it broke and I saw how pathetic the new ones are (even compared to old Subaru ones) I was pretty disgusted. Like a tin can.... one of their multiple finger pointing responses was that I collapsed the bar by tightening the wing nut too much and I should have had a professional install it....Yeaaaah.... It was hand tightened and it collapsed away from the wing nut. "Professionally installed" I'm sure your high speed mechanics can hand tighten a wing nut much better than my common peon self. I haven't had the proper wing nut training 

Thanks for the info. I'll remember it next time I'm in the market for a car or a roof rack.

What a crock of shit,fuk subaru.thats one of the reason why I get a giggle when these corporations get fined.on the down side these fines gets passed down to the consumers.i would never get factory bars.ill buy aftermarket ones anytime