Subaru Outback and Crosstrek Sun Shades: Which Years

The Outback and the Crosstrek get asked about together more than you would expect. They sit at opposite ends of the Subaru range, a big touring wagon and a small high-riding hatch, but plenty of households have one of each, and the questions are the same: which years does the set fit, and which windows can we actually cover?

The short version. We cut one Outback, the fifth-generation BS wagon built from 2015 to 2020, and one Crosstrek, the current car that arrived in 2023. The Outback can have the tailgate glass covered as well as the doors. The Crosstrek is doors only. Each car has a changeover year where the badge on the back is not enough to tell you which set fits, and that is most of what this page is about.

The two listings

Car	Subaru's code	Build years we cut	Windows we cut	Product
Outback wagon	BS	2015 to 2020	Front doors, rear doors, tailgate glass	Outback 2015 to 2020
Crosstrek	third generation	2023 to 2026	Front doors, rear doors	Crosstrek 2023 to 2026

Both sets hold on with magnets against the painted steel of the door frame, so nothing sticks to the glass and the window still winds down with the shade in place. They are made to sit there in normal driving. Take them off before you get up to highway speed, and leave the front pair off whenever you are driving; front side glass is for when the car is parked. The guide to the rules in each state has the detail.

The model pages for the Outback and the Crosstrek carry the same listings. If you have a Forester as well, it has its own page, and the Subaru list covers the Tribeca and the models we have no cut for.

Outback: the years

The BS Outback came to Australia in 2015 and was replaced by the sixth-generation BT in early 2021. Our set is cut for the BS only. The BT has different door glass and we have not patterned it, so a 2021 or later Outback is not a car this listing fits, and ordering it in the hope of a close match will end in a return.

The year to be careful with is a car registered across the changeover. If the papers say 2020 or 2021, look at the compliance plate rather than the rego. The guide to working out your generation shows where to find the build date. There is also a quick check from the driver's seat: the BT Outback came here with a large portrait touchscreen in the middle of the dash, and the BS has a smaller screen that is wider than it is tall. If you are still not sure, send us the build date or a photo of the rear door before you order and we will tell you.

Older Outbacks, the ones built before 2015, have no listing either. Neither does the Liberty sedan, even though it shares a lot with the Outback of the same era. The glass behind the rear door is a different shape.

Outback: which windows

The Outback is a long car with a lot of side glass, and it is often a touring car, which changes what people want covered. The listing has seven ways to buy it:

Set	Price
Front door pair	$49.99
Rear door pair	$59.99
Tailgate glass	$59.99
Front and rear doors	$99.99
Front doors and tailgate	$99.99
Rear doors and tailgate	$108.99
All four doors and the tailgate	$154.99

For most people the rear pair is where to start. It covers the back seat, which is where kids sit and where the afternoon sun lands on a drive west. The which-windows guide goes through the reasoning if you are weighing it up.

The tailgate panel earns its place in two situations. One is a dog in the back: the cargo area of an Outback wagon gets the full sun through the rear glass when you are parked nose-in, and the tailgate shade takes the glare off that space. It is still no reason to leave a dog in a parked car, shaded or not. The other is camping or sleeping in the car on a trip, where the rear doors and tailgate together ($108.99) cover the back half of the cabin. The touring page has more on setting a car up for that.

There is no piece for the small fixed pane at the back of the Outback's cargo area. If you need that window covered, the set will not do it.

Every Outback variant is on the shelf at the moment. The two most recent Outback orders both came from South Australia, for 2019 cars, and they split the way most do: one rear pair, one full set with the tailgate.

Crosstrek: the name change

This is the one that catches people. Subaru sold this car in Australia as the XV from 2012, through two generations, and brought in the Crosstrek name in 2023 when the new body arrived. Plenty of people still call the new car an XV, and plenty of search results treat the two names as one car. For shades they are not.

Our listing is cut for the 2023-on Crosstrek. The doors on the earlier XV are a different shape, and we have no XV set for either generation. If the badge on your tailgate says XV, the Crosstrek set will not fit it, whatever year the car is.

A car registered in 2023 is the one to check, because XVs were still being sold that year. The tailgate badge settles it: a car badged Crosstrek is the new body.

Crosstrek: which windows

The Crosstrek set is the four doors and nothing else: $49.99 for the front pair, $59.99 for the rear pair, $99.99 for all four. There is no tailgate panel on this listing. The rear pair is on the shelf; the front pair and the four-door set are made to order.

The rear door on a Crosstrek is short, and a child seat behind the driver sits right against the glass. That is why the rear pair is the usual order here too. Of the three Crosstrek orders in our records, from New South Wales and Western Australia, one was the rear pair on its own and one was all four doors. The small SUV page compares the Crosstrek with the Kona, Vitara and Yaris Cross if you are choosing between them.

Two Subarus in one driveway

If you are ordering for both cars at once, they are separate listings, so add each one to the cart on its own. A common split is the rear pair for the Crosstrek, which does the school run, and rear doors plus tailgate for the Outback, which does the trips away. Neither set fits the other car, even though the cars come from the same maker and share a showroom.

Before you order

1. Check the build year on the compliance plate. Outback: 2015 to 2020 only. Crosstrek: 2023 on, and badged Crosstrek, not XV.
2. Pick the windows. Rear pair first; add the Outback tailgate if a dog or a bed goes in the back.
3. If your car is a 2021-on Outback, an XV, or anything older, we do not have a cut for it yet. The measuring app is how we quote a car we have not patterned.

If a set arrives and the fit is wrong for your car, you have 30 days to send it back under the returns policy. It is quicker for everyone to check the plate first.