20 Best Hitch For Subaru Outback (2023 Updated)

I bought this a few months ago. The add said it was a 45 minute install. It requires lowering the exhaust system and removing heat shields. It required major drilling to create large holes in the sub frame in order to snake the large bolts into the sub frame.

Poor instructions.

The hitch is a very good product and looks really great on my Subaru. It took me longer than 45 min. to put on as I don’t do it as a job. The instructions were complete and the wire pulls to install the bolts were great to have them supplied in the kit.

The hitch installs and looks very neat on the car. Not being very adept at mechanics it took me longer than normal but it go in. Also I put a toggle bolt with a large rubber and metal washer to cover the hole in the frame and then sprayed it with undercoating.

Overall the hitch is great. Also good service from AutoAnything.

Be aware that this takes a while to install and requires some special tools. I was able to enlarge the hole in the car frame rail using a cobalt bit and corded drill, but it took a while of grinding on it before it was large enough to pass the carriage bolt heads through.

A die grinder would have been a much better tool for the job. I also had to buy a pair of exhaust removal pliers for the rubber isolators (the instructions say you can use a wrench and pry bar, but mine wouldn’t come off without the special pliers).

But now that it’s on, it looks great, and the quality seems excellent.

The hitch was fairly easy to put on not quite as easy as the instructions lead you on to believe, but easy enough with all the right tools and a lift. One thing I think should be added is that when you make the hole larger so you can fish the plate and the bolt through, you should make it round to the size of a plug that can fit in to that hole so water can’t get in and cause rusting out of the cars frame.

Also we spray painted it,all in all we are not professionals it took us about 2 1/2 hours to complete including the wiring, which was simple. Good product for my 2012 Subaru Outback, little more than needed which makes it perfect any situation needed.

Quallity product, but the time allowance of 40 minutes for a professional mechanic, is unrealistic. I have a full on shop with Frabricating experience, it took 3 hours. With the car on the lift, I used my cherry picker to support the hitch.

The combination of lowering the car and raising the cherry picker allowed me to insert the studs which hung down from the frame, into the mounting holes in the hitch frame. I suppose it could be done on the ground using pieces of wood to raise and support the hitch while mounting.

I bought this for my Subaru Crosstrek to fix my ‘storage’ problem. In short, I love the car but it doesn’t always have enough room for my stuff. This unit, combined with one of the baskets that slip into the hitch gives me plenty of extra room inside for important things and room outside for less critical ones.

I had to have it installed, but that took way less than an hour. The unit had to have 2 bolt holes enlarged slightly but otherwise bolted right up.

Hitch came 4 days after order was placed, well packaged with all parts and instructions. After watching excellent installation video from your web site was able to attach hitch easily. Hitch fits securely and looks almost factory installed.

Our first use is for a rack that can hold up to four bikes. After a 90 mile drive we check all connections everything looks great. Thanks.

Holes in vehicle were ALOT smaller than holes in hardware to install hitch, im glad its heavy duty however its NOT a direct bolt on. Also directions for wiring harness doesn’t match my car, I’m not sure if mines wrong yr.

or what but its not close. I will have to take it somewhere to have job completed. Luckily my state doesn’t require lights during day light hrs. Hitch itself looks great, fits good & made Very well !.

A good hitch that fit my outback just about perfectly. I did have to stretch the hitch to enable the bolts to sit in the tow loops correctly. It definately pays to have the car up on a lift, or at least on some ramps.

Looks factory, and I always receive positive feedback on it.

This is a well made trailer hitch that is powder coated instead of painted which means that it is cover with plastic dust that is then baked on to the metal surface sealing it for years of rust free service also a big plus made in the USA.

Install went well, all I had to do was install a ball on supplied end and install my wiring plug attach my trailer and off to the woods I went.

Although the installation was fairly straightforward, I did have to make a 1/2 inch shim to make the hitch fit my tow hooks correctly. Overall a great product and looks good on the car. There is a slight warp in the manufacture of this product from welding.

Simply the easiest hitch to install. Took me about 30 minutes to install in my 1996 Subaru Impreza outback. I just took the oem bolts hooks off the subaru, used the same bolts on the new hitch and voila! The one pictured above is the wrong hitch though.

The one I bought is the curt trailer hitch part num: 11318.

Hitch is well made and seems quite secure, however the shape of the connector on the driver side doesn’t match well with the exhaust hanger dimensions. Keeping the original bracket (bolting in line with outer hitch bolt) for the hanger results in direct contact between the hanger rod and the hitch plate (not good.

and LOUD!), but using the pre-drilled hole pushes the hanger too low. Geometry doesn’t match up.

Just installed my Curt hitch and really like it. Feels very solid, looks good too. The installation instructions are easy to follow, although it took me much longer than “45 minutes” to install. That being said, the hitch fit perfectly.

I would recommend this hitch. Good quality. Fair price.

After reading reviews of other symmetrical hitches where buyers suggested problems with exhaust system clearance and various hacked solutions, I went with the Curt hitch for my Lexus Rx-350 and am delighted with that decision.

This hitch is thoughtfully designed to clear the exhaust, beautifully manufactured, nicely painted, and adequately packaged so that paint was not marred in transit. It was easy to install, fit perfectly, and the instructions for trimming the valance were spot on as there was neat and ample, but not excessive clearance around the hitch when the trimming was complete.

Instructions were thorough and well-illustrated by photos. This was my first experience with a Curt product, and automotive parts almost never go on with so little fuss in my experience. I almost wish I had a need for a hitch on another vehicle since I wouldn’t need to do any research – I would definitely go with Curt again.

The Curt wiring harness extension was also first rate, but perhaps a bit longer than necessary.

Very happy with both the hitch and HitchMart. I ordered it around noon or so and it arrived the very next day – securely packed. Everything necessary was in the box and fit nicely. No messing with drilling holes, missing parts, etc.

Excellent quality on everything – it looks like it will last decades. Everything fit perfectly which always amazes me – even when it’s supposed to fit things sometimes require a little coercion. Good job all around!.

The CURT hitch fit my truck like a glove. After reading some of the reviews, I was concerned that I would have to do some modification. This was not the case, everything lined up perfectly and I had it installed in 15 minutes.

It now leaves the step bumper clean to use that area for a “step. ” The hitch is well made and solid.

Installed the OE-style, Class III hidden hitch on my new to me 2005 Dodge Dakota, which took less than 30 minutes. The hitch fit perfectly, and will be used to haul a 5 x 8 trailer, a 19 boat, and a Sea Doo PWC.

This hitch is very well made, and I would recommend it to anyone!.

This product worked just fine. Installation was quick and easy. All the mounting holes lined up perfectly. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. Used it for the first time yesterday and had no problems, no worries.

Fit and finish very nice. Will use this manufacture again in the future.

I saw the kurt receiver hitch when i was looking on line. I ordered it and was surprized how quickly it arrived. I unbolted the tow ring on the back of my suv and bolted up my receiver hitch with the new bolts and washers.

It was easy to install, and I didn’t have to pay someone else to do the installation. All the holes lined up perfect, and it looks great.

Excellent quality as always from Curt. Super easy install for the hitch. All hardware to install is included. The wiring harness was not plug and play but was still easy to wire in.

Satisfied with all aspects except one of the mounting brackets was bent probably from shipping. When installing without help made extra hard to do had ro hammer straight ti line up.

The hitch fit well. Only issue was the cutout dimensions are not correct. The instructions specified a 4-inch wide (left to right) and 4. 5 inch deep (back to front). The 4 inch width is excessive, i successfully used a 3.

5 inch width centered. The 4. 5 inch depth is too short. The depth needs to be extended to about 5 inches, but only required on the edges. The instructions also indicate that the center bumper cover push pin cannot be used.

If the cutout width is reduced and the thin metal support on the car’s trimmed the center push pin can still be used.

Hitch install is fairly simple and mounts cleanly onto vehicle. Most of the work is getting the Bumper off and then mounted back on the vehicle. Recommend getting extra push clips for securing the bumper to the vehicle.

Most broke when removing , and some didn’t go back on easily- better to just get new ones. the molded bumper hooks that clip onto vehicle are very soft, so use a little caution when pulling off and snapping back into position.

Once hitch installed- cutting bumper to fit around mount is easy using metal snips ( bumper is plastic) only issue was the instruction page doesn’t clearly show where cutout should actually be, so just double check before cutting.

Other than that – a second person is good just to help hold the bumper when positioning. 2017 Subaru Outback Limited 3. 6R.

This hitch receiver looks great! It is well worth the extra couple of minutes to pull the bumper cover (trim puller kit is your best friend for this process) to get this sleek look. If you take on this project make sure you have a trim kit, a torque wrench, and some deep metric sockets.

Overall, I’m very happy with this purchase!!!.

Perfect fit for a 2011 Subaru Outback. Ive pulled a 16 aluminum boat with this setup a few times with no issues. Be sure to give yourself a couple of hours to install. You will also need to buy a wiring harness for brake lights and turn signals.

Good price. Item not bent beyond usability. Hitch arrived on Thursday, well ahead of predicted Monday arrival. I did not need it till Monday. The pictures show that once again Fedex destroyed the box.

label shows shipped on the 21st. Received it today, the 23rd. Bottom of box came open during shipping. I wish Fedex would quit trying to destroy the package before it gets here. If there was anything else in the box it is gone.

I do not mind paying extra for shipping if it gets here in one piece and I know nothing is missing from pkg. Normal dings and paint chipping from steel item being packed in cardboard box. I guess we all know not to use Fedex but sometimes the shipper does not give us options.

Great hitch. I used to haul a 3k pound trailer across 600 miles without any problems. I bought a hitch specific to a Subaru Outback, and it required some slight modifications of a heat shield and drilling four holes in the frame rail.

Not bad, but just a tad bit more work than just a regular bolt-on. If you are not experienced drilling metal, working underneath a car, using a torque wrench, it’s best to leave this job to a mechanic.

Hi guys, the youtube video is great and it was easier than I thought. I did it by myself without anyone assisting. TIPs: 1) For having the hitch at the right height while fishing the bolts, place the hitch over a toolbox over a 5 gal.

plastic bucket. That’s almost the exact height to get the bolts and nuts in proper place through the hitch. Once you tighten the first one a little, the second bolt is easier to install. 2) Paint the holes you drilled to avoid rust.

Thanks and Enjoy!.

Worked well on my legacy. Tows my snowmobile trailer. Sits a little low but works.

Well designed and fit perfectly! Easy to install on a vehicle designed for the retrofit. Do have an extra set of hands, it made the install that much easier.

Went in pretty easy. I have not towed anything yet, welds look solid, I expect no issues.

Hitch is overkill for the car, but wanted 2 inch for bike rack and to use an extra cargo carrier. Install was not too hard, following the instructions. For the exhaust, the two bolts on the exhaust pipe have to come off to swing the muffler up out of the way.

Only take the one rubber mount off and swing muffler out of way. If you take both rubber mounts out/off, that will be tough to put back. They are stiff. Take the aluminum heat shield out and cut out like they show.

I used a cut off wheel on a drill. You will only be able to put 3 of the screws back in. The 4th is covered by something. No worries, it is fine without. Next, fish the bolts and washer, that is surprising easy, the wire seems to find the whole most times.

Don’t pull the wires off until you get hitch up in place and bolts/wires are through hitch holes. I balanced hitch on jack (use something to keep from scratching hitch, I used cardboard from the box it came in) and had someone jack it up until all bolts were through.

Then jacked a few more times to make the hitch and car one and it would not move on ya. Center the hitch by looking at it from several feet back. Mine was pretty darn center. Then take only the wire off for the bolt your working on and be very careful by pushing the bolt sideways while putting the washer and nut on each one.

You don’t want that thing going up into the frame rail, you’ll never get it again without some angst. Again, take only the wire you are working on off as you go. Then finish everything up like in the instructions.

Didn’t wire anything as don’t plan to tow yet with this thing. It is not a 1/2 hour job. It could be if you done a bunch, I took like 1. 5 to 2 hours being very careful. longer probably for wiring.

little bit of difficulty unhooking the muffler, other than that, installation is easy. Did not remove bumper, the bolts fit in through access hole without any filing. only slight alteration was to the aluminmum heat shield above the muffler.

I measured holes on opposite side from muffler, marked location on muffler side and used hole saw once i took the shield off. but you can also trim with snips. suggest using liquid soap on rubber muffler hangers to steel hanger pegs to lubricate.

A well made item from a reputable company. Installation was a little more difficult than expected, don’t expect to do by yourself. There were a few bad spots in the finish, but not visible after installation.

Can be covered with a good automotive spray paint. Finished installation looks great with hitch cover in place.

I was actually a bit shocked at how thick the steel was on the hitch. Very heavy, that’s good. I backed my Subaru up onto ramps and used a floor jack to easily lift the hitch into place. I thought snaking the hardware through the frame would be tough but it was really easy.

Almost thought I was doing something wrong it was so easy. Watch the video for your vehicle. It really makes it simple. Finished in just over an hour. Could have been faster but I’m a little OCD so I tend to check things several times.

Hitch is rock solid. Great experience overall.

Was very easy to install on my 2022 Subaru Forester. Instead of widening the middle hole, there is a larger diameter hole further towards the front of the vehicle that I used. Used a Dremel tool and cut notches in it to fit the plates and bolts.

Worked perfectly. Hardest part was honestly lifting it up by myself and securing it.

Perfect fit, high quality. I watched YouTube video on how to install. Would recommend removing muffler first.

I received this hitch receiver on 3/6 for my 13 Toyota Sienna, and haven’t finished installation yet. The receiver was bent in shipping and I didn’t noticed it – my first time to buy and install a hitch receiver.

It costed me a few hours to figure out what’s wrong. After calling Curt, John told me how to bend it which I did, but still I can’t put the last bolt into the hole on the frame. I called three more times and I was told to clean the rust of the hole with penetrated oil and re-structured the thread with a tap!!!!!!! How could I know all of these??? And it’s pretty new when I uncovered the plastic which covered the holes on the frame.

I was fooled by the video taken by the dealer. So you’d better check your vehicle and/or have someone install it for you.

Hardware is fine, once I got all of it. Hefty (!) and well-made. Everything fits. Mechanism works nicely when new. The key falls out of the lock at the slightest provocation – that could be better. Instructions printed with photos of a black car, so all detail in the shadows is lost.

A few points: 1) A detail of the fascia clips on the side seams would be helpful. 2) The wiring harness plug is hidden fairly high against the wheel well, hard to see and reach. Persist. 3) The cutout in the fascia can be made leaving about 2″ intact on the entire forward edge and the hole needs to be a little further aft at the hitch block.

The handholes can be shaped to just suit your hands, reducing the open area and leaving the fascia stronger. A little trimming around the chain eyes and the fixture hole was needed. 4) The foam part supports the “step” surface of the fascia, and if you have access to a bandsaw it’s easy to just trim 1/4″ of the foam away from the rear face and leave the part usable.

I ultimately succeeded in installing the hitch, and it seems to work well; but there were a few quality control issues and a few design issues for my 2018 Outback that made the process more frustrating than it needed to be.

Missing from my packaging were two locking washers and two bolts of proper length. Sure, I could have procured others from a store or called up Stealth to have them send replacements, but was I really going to leave the back half of the car torn apart while I waited for them to ship replacement parts? So I made do with spare parts I had sitting around and got it installed.

It seems to work well and in fact performed well during its first heavy pull of a large trailer. But if I had to guess I would suspect that some things (quality control?) have suffered in the original company’s acquisition by a larger company.

I think I would still buy again because I like the design of the hitch; but I wasn’t totally satisfied with my purchase, either.

The hardware is all first rate. Items were well packaged and boxed and wrapped in an orderly fashion. The instructions were adequate. There’s room for improvement with respect to the images. Images looked to have been captured using a cell phone camera and then marked up with MS Paint program to overlay text and arrows.

The clarity (not enough contrast) made some images hard to tell what angle they were shot from and I was guessing a bit what I was looking at. One early on instruction indicated screws where only plastic fastener were present (this was on the fascia along the inside of the wheel well.

I jacked up the car and removed the wheel so I could poke my head underneath enough to be sure I wasn’t overlooking something. The amount of fascia I had to remove was what was minimally required to have access to the hitching mechanism.

An extra 1. 5″ on the driver’s side would have given more berth for a hand to reach up and work the latch (I have medium size paws). The latch mechanism itself is spring loaded and probably not something grandma is going to be able to operate; the knob has to be turned all the way to release/lock and requires me to be on my back partially underneath the rear bumper; it’s a bit awkward (I expect I’ll gain some facility with practice).

Overall, I love the end result. no visible hitch. I go what I was after. The text of the instructions are clear (again, the images not as much). I know a lot of time goes into writing good installation instructions and overall a very good job was done.

Folks claiming to have done this under two hours. I’ve a message for you, quit your day job and go work for a trailer-hitch shop; you missed your calling. It took me several hours. If I was installing another one this weekend I could do it in half the time but now way under two hours.

We have a steep driveway and other cars/small SUV’s consistently scraped hitches going in and out plus my wife hated bumping her shin on the hitch when loading or unloading things from the back of the vehicle.

The Stealth Hitch for our new Outback is the perfect solution. When I need to use our trailer I have a ball mount with zero rattle and when we use the basket or bike carrier we have a perfect height adapter.

And when we’re not using it we don’t see it and it can’t scrape as the mount is above the bumper. I don’t know why a product like this didn’t exist before. As long as I have a need for a hitch Stealth Hitch will be my choice.

The only thing more I want is a locking pin with a matched key to the hitch system for the basket and bike carrier. A pretty minor ask when it’s fixed so many other problems.