This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
While driving, the electronic stability control, the hill assist brake and the ABS lights randomly deploy. Happened 3 times in 24 hours. Turning the car off and back on seems to clear the issue. However, after that, now two times while traveling at a regular speed, the braking system automatically applied itself, including the cvt engaging into low speed and forcing the car to drive only at 10-20 mph. As well, when this occurs the braking system does not work. Other reads sound like a faulty brake light sensor or sensing system, but this is a potentially fatal malfunction as one traveling 60 mph on the highway was suddenly stopped with no warning. Then when trying to get to safety, the brakes would not work while attempting to come to a stop at a light. The vehicle seems to "reset" and be fine for a few miles, only to either go to the all lights on system (ABS/hill assist/stability control) or go into the braking/cvt error as well. Will have the car towed to the dealership, but this is a serious safety concern that is electronic in nature as the default fall back is not a manual working brake system but seems to be a non-working brake system.
Hill start assist braking activated when I was pulling on to a 60 mph highway on flat ground! it continued to engage brakes & then disengage brakes as I tried to accelerate. I could not get the vehicle to accelerate beyond 25mph. This was on an icy highway with other vehicles trying to brake to avoid hitting me. I consider this a life threatening defect!
[xxx] Subaru Forester hill start assist braking comes on while driving down a highway, preventing acceleration & making an accident very probable. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The contact owns a 2015 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the vehicle lost power while driving various speeds. The check engine warning indicator illuminated when the failure occurred. The dealer diagnosed that the throttle body and brake sensors needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 37,000.
I was going less than ten miles per hour on city streets and tried to stop at a stoplight when my brakes failed. My foot was flooring the brake and I continued to roll into the cross walk and part of the intersection before putting my car into reverse to make it stop as it felt like the gear changed to neutral with the way I was rolling. Luckily the oncoming traffic remained stopped when this incident occurred. My car was serviced 6 days prior to the incident by my local Subaru dealership with no report of any brake issues.
- Foster City, CA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Our 2015 Subaru forest will randomly while driving have all of it warning lights come one. Eyesight, hill assist, ABS, lane departure, ect. If you stop and put it in park then it will not come out of park unless over ridden. I called in to Subaru and they said "2015 Subaru Forester right? it probably has a bad brake light switch or brake light sensor, which means your brakes will not light up while driving. This seems to be a known issue to Subaru as I have seen many examples of this happening to other people on Subaru boards. I was out of warranty and they want me to pay 170 dollars just to diagnose the issue when they clearly know what the issue is. This is a critical safety hazard, if my brake lights fail to light up while driving due to a known defect, I or someone else could be injured or killed due to them not being able to recognize my braking.
Our 2015 Forester turbo has 15,00 miles on it. We have had it to the dealer 4 times now asking them to find out why it is loosing power in times of need. The dealers from 2 different locations have said they were unable to duplicate the issue. We are going to take it back this week, it happened again today on the highway at 60 mph. Engine feels like it shuts off, cars traveling along side and behind had to skid the brakes to stop. This has become a life or death situation. We do not feel safe driving the car. It looses power in turns and highway speeds.
When applying the brakes (approx 40mph or less), I've had 6 occurrences where the brakes have failed. My foot is literally on the floor & the car is still moving. On the last occurence, I had to put the emergency brakes as my car was going into traffic. Started in mid Apr 2016 to current.
Within the last year, I have experienced on three separate occasions, instances where the warning lights for various safety systems on my 2015 Subaru Forester will come on, indicating that the system has been disabled due to a malfunction. These lights always come on while driving, within 15 minutes of the car being started. The first two instances related to my air bags being turned off. When brought to a dealership, they had no explanation, and desired $70 to do an electrical assessment. When I brought it in for that, I was told that the car would have to be displaying the light at the time I brought it in, which the indicator light had turned off in between visits. Today, my ABS, traction control, and incline assustance lights came on, indicating that those systems were disabled due to a malfunction. I brought it to my dealer, who told me that the air pressure in the tires was responsible, which ranged from 28lbs to 35 lbs. I had my car serviced at said dealership 2 months ago and the pressure was 35 lbs each. It was suggested to me that the cause of this discrepancy was "parking my car in the sun." Both computer-related problems apparently didn't leave a code to be read, according to the dealership. Any information was wiped when the car was turned off.
While finalizing parking within a parking lot space at very low speed (last 2 feet) with foot on brake, the engine suddenly revved and the car accelerated without warning and struck the parked car on the opposite parking space. Both cars sustained moderate front-end damage. The other car was able to be driven away but ours had front fender parts pushed into the front drivers tire and had to be towed away to the repair shop. Not sure of the cost to repair the other (parked) car but ours ran approximately $5000 due to front frame damage. No air bags deployed, no one was injured. Police officer who responded said low speed impacts do not normally set off the air bags. Repair shop said they were not able to tell on the car computer what the sudden acceleration was due to. Contacted our insurance agent who recommended we report the sudden acceleration to Subaru and NHTSA. Subaru dealer denied any such accelerations and said there was no recourse. Found several instances very similar to our on NHTSA site for Subaru Foresters in 2014 and 2015 model years and decided to make a report. Odometer reading at time of accident: 5,814.
I have had several occasions where the wheel lugs have snapped while the wheels were removed for tire replacement, rotation and replacement of brake pads and rotors. I have also had the brake caliper retainer bolts snap while the vehicle was in motion so that the rear brakes on the vehicle were next to inoperable as only a portion of the brake pad came in contact with the rotor. The dealer did not make any attempt to resolve or repair the brake rotors or pads under warranty when this happened. What made it more of an issue was the the local dealer didnt have these parts on hand and gave me the specs for the bolt to purchase from the local hardware store. These new bolts have held.
Pulled into parking space, foot on brake. Sudden acceleration, could not stop vehicle. It drove down a hill, finally stopping with brake pedal and emergency brake fully activated. Two flat tires on driver side of car from running over an elevated sidewalk pad. Dealer could find nothing wrong with it.
The contact owns a 2015 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving approximately 10 mph, the brakes failed to engage. The vehicle was taken to a dealer. The mechanic was unable to locate a failure. The vehicle has not been repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 2,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Platte City, MO, USA