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.
When driving normally (vehicle in motion) and attempting to accelerate, vehicle would not accelerate when accelerator is depressed. Happened twice in 24 hours. Both times, vehicle did not respond and accelerate when accelerator was depressed, forcing the driver to pull over (vehicle stationary). Vehicle then responds normally when resuming driving after pulling over for 3-5 seconds.
Car was traveling at 75mph for 2 hours when going up and small grade incline. Engine started revving and car started slowing down very quickly. Was in traffic, so had to turn on hazard lights on, and get over to the shoulder. The vehicle felt as if though it was braking. The hill descent control light lit up, but no other lights. Car did not stall. I then turned it off, opened the hood and everything looked normal. Car was at normal operational temperature and had 1/4 tank if fuel left. Car was info for service within 500 miles at Subaru. After checking the engine, I started the car again and took off. 30 minutes later, the exact same issue occured.
My 2015 Subaru Forester engine failed 3 times during highway driving. Aug 26, 2018. I was in the express lanes when the gas pedal stopped responding and the car quickly decelerated. I merged to the shoulder. The car rolled to a stop. I tried to start it and immediately it turned on. I was not low on gas. Then Oct 9, 2018, I was driving downhill on the freeway, with 20 miles to empty when the engine did the same thing. I quickly merged through traffic to the shoulder. Police suggested I ran out of gas. The third time, Feb 11, 2019, I was in middle of 5 lanes of highway traffic, driving 75 mph with 70 miles to empty when the engine shut off. It was night, the lights to the vehicle remained on. I quickly merged right, but there was no shoulder as they were doing construction. I called 911. Everyone around me was going 70-80mph. I was terrified we would be killed by a car who didn't see us at night. The police arrived in 15 minutes and bumped us off the freeway. Aaa arrived in 45 min.. right before aaa arrived I tried to start the engine again, as I had been doing all along, and the engine started right up. I was told it wasn't a fuel problem because it started again without needing to add gas. Two Subaru dealerships have tried to re-create the problem. Neither could. They told me they can't repair anything since they can't determine what is wrong - deeming my warranty useless for this issue. I tried to get buy back from Subaru of America. They will not do a buyback because there haven't been repair orders. I have not driven the car since Feb 11, 2019. It is a dangerous car. It will fail again on the freeway and whoever is around is in danger of injury or death. The dealership wants me to pick up the car. The Forester has 58000 miles when it last failed.
On 2 separate occasions was driving my 2015 Subaru Forester (touring edition) at highway speed, 70 mph, the car lost power and started decelerating. Luckily both times I was able to get over to the shoulder. The car re-started after awhile. The first time the low fuel light was on but I had over 50 miles left according to fuel sensor. The second time, a month or so later, no low fuel light was on. There were 2 bars left on the fuel gauge. Again car totally decelerated and then a few minutes later was able to be driven. Subaru dealership claims they have not heard of this problem but someone did call them about it the day before I called. I am scheduling an appointment where they say they will do a diagnostic on it. I am seeing multiple complaints on this exact car on carcomplaints.com this is an extremely dangerous problem and Subaru should not be waiting for fatalities to happen before recalling these cars.
Twice in the last four months vehicle has run out of gas while traveling on a level highway despite gas gauge indicating that there was 70 miles still to travel and the gas gauge reading one bar. Low fuel warning indicator did not display.
My car dies at highway speed with absolutely no warning. It has happened to me twice and to a technician from a Subaru dealership once. I have tried to resolve this with Subaru to no avail. Here is a summary: On August 31, 2018 I had been driving at freeway speed for about two hours. The trip computer said I had 70 miles till empty but the low fuel light had not come on. The car behaved as if it had run out of gas. The engine rev'd like it slipped out of gear, then completely quit. Zero warning. For the next 90 minutes I would try to start the car every 20 minutes or so. The engine would turn, but no indication it was getting any fuel. I looked at several Forester blogs and found many identical incidents (highway speed, less than a quarter tank, engine revs then dies). One post said that after filling the tank it would start. A tow truck took me to a gas station where I filled it with ~13.5 gallons of gas. That means the tank had about 2.4 gallons left and @30mpg=72 miles just like the trip computer said. That's all I did, and the car started immediately. My local Subaru dealer had the car for a few weeks and worked with Subaru to diagnose the problem. They detected an error with the fuel pressure sending units and replaced them. Still during multiple test drives after the sensors were replaced their technician had the exact same failure as I did. On January 2, 2019 it died on me again. Going 60 mph on a two-lane highway with 40 miles till empty. The dealer then had the car for over a month and consulted with Subaru again. They test drove it for nearly 300 miles with special instruments attached but couldn't get the problem to happen again. They finally returned it to me but could not determine a root cause. Searching the internet, you can find many reports from other owners of exactly the same type of problem with similar vintage Subaru Foresters.
While driving at low speeds through a parking lot or slow moving traffic the car will stall. It's a 2015 Forester turbo with a cvt transmission. If put in park, it will restart and go again. Stalling on the roads and in parking lots is unsafe. It doesn't throw any codes so there's nothing the dealer can do.
Excessive oil loss, 1 qt per 3,000 miles. Started around 90,000 miles. Mileage now 129,000 miles. At 129,000 miles, major engine and transmission issue. Found oil in coolant. At oil temperature light flashing. Evaluating cost of repair this week of Feb 12 2019. At 126,000 miles, both front axles were replaced. Heard clicking at 125,000 miles. At 100,000 miles, upper and lower front suspension arms replaced.
Driving at highway speeds when the engine suddenly loses power and the car begins to rapidly decelerate. Engine rpms climb, but no power is available. Have to race to the shoulder to get out of traffics way, where eventually the car will start and drive normally.
When driving at highway speeds, the engine will shut down. This has created very dangerous situations when having to cross heavily trafficked lanes without power to enter shoulder. Issue has happened 4 times in the past 2 months. Unknown cause as no codes are thrown. Video showing issue that I am having can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=omnp_vkes-K.
Engine uses excessive oil. I change every 6,000 miles with synthetic 0W-20 as required. Before I reach the next 6,000 miles, the oil light comes on and I have to add 1/2 quart or more to return to the appropriate level of oil. I now carry oil bottles in my car at all time so I can act as soon as the light comes on. This has happened for the entire life of the car.
My 2015 Forester stalled while driving in the middle lane on the NJ parkway (going about 65-70mph.) there were no warning lights or any indications that this would happen. I had about 3/4 of a tank of gas left. When the car stalled, it felt like it downshifted and then completely stopped - almost as if we ran out of gas (but we didn't). The electric (lights, radio, heat) was on the whole time. We were stalled for about 15-20 minutes until the cops came. We put the car in neutral and they bumped us to the shoulder. While waiting for a tow truck, we tried to start the car again and it worked (about 30 minutes after the initial stall.) we then drove to the nearby gas station and filled up the car; it took 12 gallons of gas and I have the receipt. The Subaru service center cannot find the issue. They said the computer isn't even showing a stall code. This could have been a fatal accident and I want to know exactly what is wrong and know it is fixed before I drive it again. It looks like other owners have had the similar issues.
My forrester XT2.0 revs very loudly when it is started every time I turn it on. It goes from 0 to 2.5 on the gauge numbered from 1-8 gauge. The car is at a complete stop.
This incident happened 2 weeks and 600 miles of driving after I had taken the car to the dealer to have ECM flash updates installed to address surging and loss of power during light acceleration, especially during high ambient temperatures. We were driving at about 65 mph on the freeway at night, we heard and felt a very loud 'knock' from the engine and experienced sudden and complete loss of power. When I pressed the accelerator the vehicle would rev and give a little bit of power and then lose all power again. Essentially we were coasting. Fortunately we were near a freeway exit and were able to stop at a shoulder on that exit. We tried turning the vehicle off, waiting and turning it back on. Although the engine turned over, it had a very rough idle and shut off after about 10 seconds. If we turned it on and put the car in gear and tried to drive forward it immediately turned off. I had it towed back to the dealer. They said the air intake hose disconnected from the intercooler. They reconnected the hose, cleared fault codes and it is running normally now. I am skeptical that this is actually the problem, I have a feeling that there is something wrong with these cars from the manufacturer and that Subaru is attempting to cover things up to avoid more expensive recalls. This was a catastrophic failure that put our lives in danger and I no longer feel safe driving the car.
Car started and backed out of parking space in a parking garage. When gear shift was placed in drive the car lurched forward 50 feet and drove thru an aluminum rail and mesh over head electric activated door. At 81 more feet the car hit a 4 X 4 steel column holding up two 27 foot steel beams of a carport roof structure and collapsed the column. The southerly beam fell on top of the car and pulled the northerly beam with it. The car continued forward 9 feet striking the first parked car in the rear quarter. The car continued about 4 feet more and struck a second parked car in its hind quarter and pushed it until it was against the next carport support column. The two occupants in the car were able to exit from the car at each of the front doors which opened without problem. Experiencing limited bruising on their legs below the knee. A miracle. The car traveled about 145 feet not under the control of the driver. The car dealer had been questioned on why the car did not move frequently during a stop at a stop light or stop sign every time it was taken in for service at the dealer who sold us the car. The service review was five times and nothing could be found. I was told 'it was the way the car worked'. I was not provided with test results for this condition. The car had the eyesight device and did not stop the car at either at the door or the column. The air bags did not implode on either impact location. One recall wta-62 for Subaru Forester 2015 and 2016. Engine, March 21, 2016. Turbocharger air intake duct crack stalls engine (16V162000). I was not informed about this recall. I think the car was defective from the beginning and a fix was not initiated to correct a faulty condition. Fortunately it did not happen on a busy street or highway. This accident should not have happened. I have pictures that I can forward for your use on jpg format.
Dashboard warning lights lit up "like a christmas tree"! safety features are disabled. No eye sight, traction control, lane deviation. I have been to the dealer multiple times with no success. This has been going on for several months. Lights come on and go off, seemingly at random. Mostly stay on now.
When driving at speed and constant acceleration the car will jerk and the rpms appear to bounce up and down. Last weekend when merging onto the highway the car did not accelerate normally. The rpms spiked, but there was limited acceleration/response. This happened several times before and their seems to be no way to predict when this will happen.
Occasionally stalls when accelerating (usually to get on freeway or speed up drastically while on freeway). Doesnt completely lose power, only occurs for about 1-4 seconds but during that time car does not speed up even when pressing gas (actually acts as if foot was taken off gas), and makes a clicking noise. Has happened ever since purchasing car new, and mentioned at every service but they can never recreate the issue and therefore cant fix it. Saw a similar stalling issue on a recall for same type of car but not my VIN. Dealership wont check unless I pay fee.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Colorado Springs, CO, USA