I work in automotive and I am genuinely surprised there isn't a NHTSA helpline of some sort to escalate these kinds of issues to force a recall.
Would NHTSA even care about this? It's not a purely safety issue (I mean, I can see people making the argument it can leave you stranded somewhere but I didn't think that type of thing is where NHTSA gets involved)
If you shut off the car, it's pretty low on the safety issue scale if it doesn't restart.
Maybe Dept of Transportation (DOT)
NHTSA is an agency of the USDOT
Condensed even further: Join the class action lawsuit.
Didn't replace my nice and reliable 2011 Outback with another Outback due to the way Subaru handles this issue.