If you own a 2018 or 2019 Subaru, either the Outback or Legacy, with the Harmon Kardon radio, it’s likely you have experienced the head unit failure. The radio had already been swapped once by the dealer while under warranty, but this time the warranty had expired. Not only was the dealer replacement going to be ridiculously expensive, but the deluge of customers with the problem meant that wait times were indefinite.

The next option we considered was an after market radio, but the units I looked at, priced at around $1200 and up, all seemed to require some compromise… back up camera differences, steering wheel control glitches, etc. Then, luckily, I stumbled upon the information that this was just an issue with the touch screen. That’s why the screen appeared to have finger prints all over it and why the radio had a mind of it’s own, the head unit failure meant nothing was working.

Kinetic Vehicles solved everything.

This video from Kinetic Vehicles shows how…

I should add this about our ’18 Outback… it’s been a great car. We loved the ML diesel but the Outback is the better car because of technology eleven years advanced from the Mercedes. The ML diesel was torquey and you felt a nice surge with the turbo. But the Subaru 3.6 flat six has 270 horsepower and is probably a bit faster. My favorite feature, by far, is the adaptive cruise control. For me it’s a much more relaxed way of driving. And I also appreciate cameras warning me about cars alongside, the bright yellow warning lights on the mirrors are hard to miss.

Now that the head unit is repaired, it’s good as new.