Yup, you read the title correctly. Our 2026 Subaru Uncharted GT already has an issue, and it’s not even a year into our ownership. However, it has nothing to do with the powertrain, chassis, or anything revolving around how it drives. It’s the infotainment system! Specifically, the connected services. Yep, the stuff you get the trial of and have to pay for afterwards causes the car to brick. How? Let’s get into it.
The 2026 Uncharted GT and the rest of the Subaru battery-electric lineup were co-developed with Toyota. All of them, including the upcoming Getaway, use the latest Toyota infotainment system. As a result, these EVs feature the same paid connected services. Unfortunately, an active trial or subscription causes the Subaru Connect/Toyota app to constantly talk to the car, draining the 12V battery and preventing the car from going to sleep. It’s happened to our Uncharted several times, and we’ve had to jump-start it. Thanfully, the car was at home in all instances.
So, what’s the fix? A workaround is to turn off the car’s DCM via the Subaru Connect/Toyota app. However, this means you lose access to remote smartphone-related functions, cloud navigation, plug & charge for EVs, and a few others. For most folks, that’ll be fine since a lot of these require you to pay for a subscription after the end of the trial period.
2026 Subaru Uncharted GT: Digging Deeper
After the issue happened multiple times, we booked an appointment with the service department. During the first visit, they tested the 12V battery and found it was fine. The service advisor did let us know to bring it back if it happened again, which it did. Our Uncharted stayed at the service department overnight for observation, and our advisor took note of what EV-related third-party apps we used. All of them are public charging-related and don’t interact with the vehicle unless we start charging.
The next day, the service department cleared our Uncharted for pickup and again told us to keep an eye on it and how the third-party apps affect the car. On the drive, I immediately suspected one connected service feature that could potentially be the culprit: Wi-Fi Connect. The other four services, Safety, Service, Remote, and Drive Connect, are all provided by Toyota. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi Connect is provided by AT&T. That effectively makes it a third party service that directly connects with the vehicle.
Since then, we’ve been sailing smoothly, driving all around Southern California. We’ve turned the DCM back on to finish off our one-year trial of Remote Connect and Drive Connect. However, that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped keeping tabs on the Uncharted. We’re still keeping an eye on the infotainment system and Connected Services just in case they pull any funny business.
Not An Isolated Case
Sadly, this does not appear to be an isolated issue. Every vehicle with Toyota’s latest infotainment system has this issue. Prius, RAV4, EVs, Toyota-adjacent Subarus, gas-powered models…they all use the same interface and connected services. Take a look at Reddit, and you’ll find owners of various vehicles complaining about this issue. From the looks of it, the EV owners are the most vocal since they tend to have more features tied to these extra-cost services.
That said, we’re keeping an eye out for technical service bulletins and potentially a recall with a fix for this oddball quibble. Sometime over the last few months, a software update may have been pushed to all vehicles with Toyota Audio Multimedia system. Per several Reddit threads (link in the previous paragraph), the occurence of the 12V battery drain has dropped. That’s a good sign, but did it truly fix it? Only time will tell.
