2006 SUBARU OUTBACK Owners Manual

3-30 Instruments and controls
U.S.-spec. vehicles
Canada-spec. vehicles
If the driving range is shown as “ ”,
there is only a tiny amount of fuel left in the tank. You must refuel the vehicle immedi-
ately.
NOTE The driving range on remaining fuel is
only a guide. The indicated value may
differ from the actu al driving range on
remaining fuel, so you must immedi-
ately fill the tank when the low fuel
warning light comes on.
„ Journey time
The journey time shows the time that has
elapsed since the ignition switch was
turned to the “START” position. The journey time indication flashes each
time a complete hour has elapsed. If the
display is giving an indication other than
the journey time, the display switches to
the journey time, flashes for five seconds,
and returns to its original indication each
time a complete hour has elapsed.
NOTE The journey time is reset when the igni-
tion switch is turned to the “OFF” posi-
tion. It is also reset if the ignition
switch is turned to the “LOCK” or
“ACC” position prio r to restarting of
the engine.300275
400265 400266 400267

Instruments and controls
3-31
– CONTINUED –Light control switch
The light switch operates only when the
ignition switch is in the “ON” position. „ Headlights
To turn on the headlights, turn the knob on
the end of the turn signal lever.
first position
Parking lights, instrument panel illumina-
tion, tail lights and license plate light are
on.
second position
Headlights, parking li ghts, instrument pan-
el illumination, tail lights, and license plate
light are on. „ High/low beam change (dim-
mer)
To change from low beam to high beam,
push the turn signal lever forward. When
the headlights are on high beam, the high
beam indicator light “ ” on the instru-
ment panel is also on.
To switch back to low beam, pull the lever
back to the detent position.To prevent battery discharge result-
ing from accidentally leaving your
lights on when your vehicle is
parked, the light switch operates
only when the ignition switch is in
the “ON” position. In any other posi-
tion, the vehicle’s lights will be out.
If you park your vehicle on a road-
side at night, use the hazard warn-
ing flasher to alert the other drivers. 300506
300507

3-32 Instruments and controls
„ Headlight flasher
To flash the headlights, pull the lever to-
ward you and then release it. The high
beam will stay on for as long as you hold
the lever. The headlight flasher works
even though the lighting switch is in the
“OFF” position.
When the headlights are on high beam,
the high beam indicator light “ ” on
the instrument panel also comes on. „ Daytime running light system
The low beam headlights will automatical-
ly come on at reduced brightness when
the engine has started, under the follow-
ing conditions:
y The parking brake is fully released.
y The light switch is in the “OFF” or
“ ” position. Turn signal lever
To activate the right turn signal, push the
turn signal lever up. To activate the left
turn signal, push the turn signal lever
down. When the turn is finished, the lever
will return automatically. If the lever does
not return after corner ing, return the lever
to the neutral position by hand.
To signal a lane change, push the turn sig-
nal lever up or down slightly and hold it
during the lane change. The turn signal in-
dicator lights will flash in the direction of
the turn or lane change. The lever will re-
turn automatically to the neutral position
when you release it.Do not hold the le ver in the flashing
position for more than just a few
seconds. 300508
The tail lights, parking lights, and
side marker lights are not turned on
by the daytime running light system.
The light switch must always be
turned to the “ ” position when
it is dark outside. 300509

Instruments and controls
3-33
Illumination brightness con-
trol
The brightness of clock display, audio, air
conditioner, information display and in-
strument panel illumination dims when the
light switch is in the “ ” or “ ” po-
sitions. You can adjust brightness of the
instrument panel illumination for better
visibility.
In turbo models, you can also adjust the
brightness of the instrument panel illumi-
nation when the lighting switch is in the
OFF position.
To brighten, turn the control dial upward.
To darken, turn the control dial downward.
NOTE
When the control dial is turned fully up- ward, the illumination brightness be-
comes the maximum and the automatic
dimming function does not work at all.
Parking light switch
The parking light switch operates regard-
less of the ignition switch position.
By pushing the front end of this switch, fol-
lowing lights will come on.
– Parking lights
– Front and rear side marker lights
– Tail lights
– License plate lights
To turn off, push the rear end of the park-
ing light switch.
Avoid leaving these lights on for a long
time because that will run down the bat-
tery.300510 300178

3-34 Instruments and controls
Front fog light switch (if
equipped)
The front fog lights operate only when the
light switch is in the “ ” position.
However, the front fog lights turn off when
the headlights are switched to high beam.
To turn on the front fog lights, turn the front
fog light switch on the turn signal lever up-
ward to the “ ” position. To turn off the
front fog lights, turn the switch back down
to the “OFF” position. The indicator light located on the combi-
nation meter will illuminate when the front
fog lights are on. Wiper and washer300512 300282
In freezing weather, do not use the
windshield washer until the wind-
shield is sufficien tly warmed by the
defroster.
Otherwise the washer fluid can
freeze on the windshield, blocking
your view.
y Do not operate the washer contin-
uously for more than ten seconds,
or when the washer fluid tank is
empty. This may cause overheat-
ing of the washer motor. Check
the washer fluid level frequently,
such as at fuel stops.
y Do not operate the wipers when
the windshield or rear window is
dry. This may scratch the glass,
damage the wiper blades and
cause the wiper mo tor to burn out.
Before operating the wiper on a
dry windshield or rear window, al-
ways use the windshield washer.

Instruments and controls
3-35
– CONTINUED –NOTE y The front wiper mo tor is protected
against overloads by a circuit breaker.
If the motor operates continuously un-
der an unusually heavy load, the circuit
breaker may trip to stop the motor tem-
porarily. If this happens, park your ve-
hicle in a safe place, turn off the wiper
switch, and wait for approximately 10
minutes. The circuit breaker will reset
itself, and the wipers will again operate
normally.
y Clean your wiper blades and window
glass periodically with a washer solu-
tion to prevent streaking, and to re- move accumulations of road salt or
road film. Keep th e washer button de-
pressed at least for 1 second so that
washer solution will be sprinkled all
over the windshield or rear window.
y Grease, wax, insects or other materi-
al on the windshield or the wiper
blades results in jerky wiper operation
and streaking on the glass. If you can-
not remove those streaks after operat-
ing the washer or if the wiper operation
is jerky, clean the outer surface of the
windshield or rear window and the wip-
er blades using a sponge or soft cloth
with a neutral dete rgent or mild-abra-
sive cleaner. After cleaning, rinse the
window glass and wiper blades with
clean water. The glass is clean if no
beads form on the glass when you
rinse with water.
y If you cannot eliminate the streaking
even after following this procedure, re-
place the wiper blades with new ones.
Refer to the “Replacement of wiper
blades” section (chapter 11) for re-
placement instructions.
„ Windshield wiper and washer
switches The wiper operates only when the ignition
switch is in the “ON” or “ACC” position.y In freezing weather, be sure that
the wiper blades are not frozen to
the windshield or rear window be-
fore switching on the wipers. At-
tempting to oper ate the wiper with
the blades frozen to the window
glass could cause not only the
wiper blades to be damaged but
also the wiper moto r to burn out. If
the wiper blades ar e frozen to the
window glass, be sure to operate
the defroster, wip er deicer (if
equipped) or rear window defog-
ger before turning on the wiper.
y If the wipers stop during opera-
tion because of ice or some other
obstruction on the window, the
wiper motor could burn out even if
the wiper switch is turned off. If
this occurs, promptly stop the ve-
hicle in a safe place, turn the igni-
tion switch to the “LOCK” posi-
tion and clean the window glass
to allow proper wiper operation. y Use clean water if windshield
washer fluid is unavailable. In ar-
eas where water freezes in winter,
use SUBARU Windshield Washer
Fluid or the equivalent. (See
“Windshield washer fluid” section
in chapter 11.)
Also, when driving the vehicle
when there are freezing tempera-
tures, use non-freezing type wiper
blades.
y Do not clean the wiper blades with
gasoline or a solvent, such as
paint thinner or benzene. This will
cause deterioration of the wiper
blades.

3-36 Instruments and controls
T Windshield wipers
OFF: Park
: Intermittent
LO: Low speed
HI: High speed
To turn the wipers on, push the wiper con-
trol lever down.
To turn the wipers off, return the lever to
the “OFF” position. T Mist (for a single wipe)
For a single wipe of the wipers, pull the le-
ver toward you. The wipers operate until
you release the lever. T Wiper intermittent time control (if
equipped)
When the wiper switch is in the “ ” po-
sition, turn the dial to adjust the operating
interval of the wiper.
The operating interval can be adjusted
continuously from the shortest interval to
the longest.
Two click stop positi ons of the dial may
help you to aim at your desired interval.
The operating interval can be adjusted in
nine steps.300286 300288
300287

Instruments and controls
3-37T Washer
To wash the windshield, push the washer
button at the end of the wiper control le-
ver. The washer fluid sprays until you re-
lease the washer button. The wipers oper-
ate while you push the button. „ Rear window wiper and wash-
er switch (Station wagon)
: Washer (accompanied by wiper opera-
tion)
ON: Continuous
INT: Intermittent
OFF: Park
: Washer
T Rear wiper
To turn the rear wiper on, turn the knob on
the end of the wiper control lever upward
to the “INT” or “ON” position.
To turn the wiper off, return the knob on
the end of the lever to the “OFF” position.
With the switch turned to the “INT” posi-
tion, the rear wiper will operate intermit-
tently at intervals corresponding to the ve-
hicle speed (longer when the vehicle speed is low; shorter when the vehicle
speed is high).
When you subsequently move the selec-
tor lever of the auto matic transmission to
the “R” position, the rear wiper will switch
to continuous operation. When you move
the selector lever fr om the “R” position to
some other position, the rear wiper will re-
turn to intermittent operation.
T Washer
To wash the rear window while the rear
wiper is operating, turn the knob on the
end of the wiper control lever upward to
the “ ” position. The washer fluid
sprays until you release the knob.
To wash the rear window when the rear
wiper is not in use, turn the knob on the
end of the wiper control lever downward to
the “ ” position. The washer fluid
sprays and the wiper operates until you
release the knob.300289
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