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.
Smell of gasoline at startup. The car has only 30000 miles on it and seems to be a widely reported problem/issue with Subaru of all makes/models. This was not in cold weather. This is a major safety issue!
After attempting to turn off the car and remove the key from the ignition, the key will not remove. After some manhandling of the shifter and turning the car on and off, eventually, I am able to get the key out of the ignition. This is occurring 80% of the time now. The vehicle has about 37,000 miles and is less than 4 years old.
We have a 2017 Subaru Forester xt touring model 2.0 turbo engine with approximately 20,000 miles. Wife and son were traveling to a wedding when check engine light came on no sooner did light come on heavy smoke filled inside of car from air vents heavy smoke was coming out from under hood also waited for smoke to clear noticed oil all over engine had vehicle towed to Subaru dealership service manager called and said there was a hole in engine block I asked him how could happen he said it could be faulty engine this vehicle is a fire hazard my family could of been seriously been injured if vehicle caught fire while they were driving or passed out due to heavy smoke inside vehicle was in motion traveling on paved black surface road this vehicle should be recalled completely.
The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Forester. While driving approximately 70 mph the vehicle suddenly stalled. The dealer was unable to diagnose the cause of the failure. The contact was concerned that the vehicle was unsafe. The contact stated that the vehicle would not accelerate when pressing the accelerator pedal. While driving, the speed was suddenly reduced. After turning the vehicle off and restarting the engine, the vehicle operated as normal. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer reedman toll Subaru (1700 East Lincoln hwy, langhorne pa) who was unable to duplicate the failure or determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 90,000.
My car stole in the middle off highway on a very busy traffic time, , I can hear the engine but the car did not move, finally it moved very slowly and stop again, I almost got hit many times since vehicles were speeding over 65miles and no one will allow me to move to the shoulder, finally after 10 minutes the car engine accelerated and I was able to drive away, very scary situacin
- Concord, CA, USA
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While on driving 65mph on the highway during the evening rush hour and suddenly my accelerator was unresponsive in that the rpms just revved (as if the transmission was shifted to neutral). I have two small, children 2 year old and 6 months, and had to quickly coast over to the shoulder and was able to exit the highway. The vehicle shut off while exiting the ramp and I had to call 911 and request an emergency vehicle to park behind me for my safety as I was unable to pull completely over before the vehicle stopped. I attempted to restart the vehicle but was unsuccessful. I had the vehicle towed and am still researching how to repair. I had a 3 year 36K mile warranty that has recently expired since I'm currently at 46K miles. This is a serious concern as I'm finding that my model has not been included in any transmission recalls. For a car manufacturer that prides itself in the highest of safety, this has to be the unsafest I've ever felt driving a vehicle. I'm basically at a loss on what to do at this point because I am confident that the dealership is going to rack up a bill for repair and diagnostics to repair my issue and I'm going to responsible for the outrageous cost of their guessing game of repairs.
Our defective, now discontinued model, new 2017 Subaru Forester xt touring has broken down while accelerating on the highway twice due to a faulty piston thus leading to our engine being replaced. The first time the car was moving East on I-70 in Colorado and luckily my husband was able to veer in the median of an exit ramp. The second time we were traveling East on I-70 again and luckily were able to pull off on the side of the freeway. This all began at 22,352 miles and to-date the "market value" of repairs has accumulated to $16,100. This same engine issue has happened two years in a row, yet a Subaru representative [verbally, not written] mentioned to us that it is cheaper for Subaru to fix vehicle by vehicle that comes in instead of issuing a nation-wide recall on our model. We were told our Forester xt [MINISUV] has the same engine that is in an impreza [four door sedan] which is not safe and is not right to the consumer.
After full stop engine or drive train lost power on sharp left turn.resumed power in 2-3 seconds.engine did not stall and did not require restarting.has occured 5-7 times.
While driving my vehicle wants to stall and I have to floor the gas pedal and it slowly starts to accelerate. I'm afraid that one of these days it will not accelerate and will cause a fatal accident. I brought it in to pine belt Subaru in lakewood, NJ for service and they said the software needs updating and they updated it. However, it's still stalling. This stalling happens many times. The last time was on 03/22/2019.
Driving in the freeway around 20-30mph, some traffic. On the way to dropping daughters off to school. On the freeway switched lanes then car lost power and decelerated on its own quickly from 20mph to about 1mph, pressing the didn't do anything. Almost got hit by the rear driver behind me. Managed to move to right lane. Pressing the gas pedal did nothing, several lights on the dashboard appeared which included check engine light, traction control, oil light. Turned off the car to find the number for towing about 15 minutes later turned on the car and this time pressing the gas pedal made the car go, dashboard lights still on. Took the car directly to the dealership. Dealer claimed it was a bad cell on the battery that caused the problem, and also reprogrammed the computer. Bad cell on battery will not cause this to happen. Dealer also failed to write the details of the incident. Initial paperwork stated check engine light. Advice dealer to properly document incident.
I did my first oil change at 1500 miles, then the next two changes at about 3000 mile intervals. Then I decided to stretch them to the 5K miles recommended by Subaru. I was about 4K miles into this change interval when my oil level light came on. I checked the dip stick and it was bone dry. I wouldn't have noticed oil consumption on the first few changes because I was doing them more frequently than needed and therefore the engine didn't have time to consume enough oil to trip the low oil light. I went to Subaru for an oil consumption test, which it "passed". I documented everything and took photos of the dip stick before and after the test. Subaru fills your oil to the top line of the dip stick. The mechanic informed me this is standard procedure. I was told that the amount of oil between the 2 lines is a quart. After the 1200 miles of the oil consumption test, the oil level was down about 20% between the two lines. Taking that out to a full 5-6K mile interval, that means it burns about a quart or more in between changes. I spoke with the mechanic who said that this is completely within spec of Subaru's standards. I told him I thought this was a lot, but he said this is normal for Subaru in his experience. A car with only 16K miles should not require over a quart of oil to be added between oil changes. When my oil light came on again, within the same oil change interval as the oil consumption test (about 4K miles into the interval), I took the car back to Subaru for a second oil consumption test. Instead of performing this, they opted to replace my short block, a very extensive repair. I am still waiting for this repair to occur under factory warranty.
2.5 manual, burns oil at excessive rate. Check engine oil light turned twice so far, once at 2K miles on a car and next time at 16K miles. Both lights were well within the oil change schedule and the car has not been subdued to any unusual use. Unable to travel in the car long distances without having 2 quarts of oil in a trunk due to possible engine failure for lack of oil. Both times the low oil lights went up when traveling on roads and sunaru dealer had to add oil (still under warranty).
Screen blacked out everything went off, no lights, no radio, no dash board vision. This happened 3 times before I took it to the dealer. I was told it was an electrical issues and electrical cables were replaced, however, just this week my vehicle, while waiting at a light, turned completely off. It was so scary, good thing there was no one else behind me. A few minutes later I was able to turn the car on and continue my journey. Now, I do not feel safe when I use my vehicle.
On 9/29/18, 1:35 pm while in the process of parking the vehicle and initiating a turn to the right the car suddenly accelerated from idle to full throttle unintentionally and launched itself towards a 12' X 20' wood framed outbuilding on our property which has an attached deck. Before the vehicle could be shut off it had jumped up onto the deck and smashed into and partially penetrated the front of the outbuilding. Forward progress was halted when the rear portion of the car had become high centered on the edge of the deck. Presently the car is still on the deck and partially in the building. The right rear wheel is I" off the ground. The left rear wheel dug itself 3" down into the gravel. - no one was injured during this accident. The car was occupied by only the driver. - the airbag did not deploy even though the car experienced two (2) significant impact events. 1st when it hit a temporary wood step and the edge of the deck (18" above grade) and 2nd when it struck the building. Most of the bumper was torn off the car when it hit the deck and is now pinned under the car. The impact shifted the building approx. 3/8" on it's post & pier foundation. - this report was written & submitted on 10/1/18. - a wrecker is scheduled to extricate the car from the outbuilding on 10/2/18. - the driveway and parking area where this occurred is crushed rock/gravel. - the distance from where the car instantly accelerated to the edge of the deck was approximately 22 feet. The face of the outbuilding is 8 feet from the edge of the deck. The distance covered by the car during this accident was approx. 30 plus feet. - during this event an attempt was made to control/stop the car with extreme application of the foot brake and handbrake and ultimately the stop button. - it was a dry, sunny, early fall day in the West side of the cascade mountains in Washington state.
Vehicle hesitates during acceleration, worse if ac is on. Engine nearly stalls, losing power. Initially happened during left turn and while vehicle is in middle of intersection in front of oncoming traffic. This is repeated issue over several months
I have a total of electrical power lost for 7 times. 2 times while driving I experience all electrical lost while driving on the highway. I was able to pull over to the side and was able to jump started the car with a jumper battery 5 minutes later. Other 5 times it happened when I try to start the car and I did not get any electrical power at all. I took the car to the dealer twice and they change/fix the car ground the first time that I lost electrical power. Then they change the battery after 5 electrical power failures. I am about to bring it in for the 7th time for them to look at it. I am totally lost confident and no longer feel comfortable or feel safe driving my two boys on this car.
Extreme hesitation from standing stop going straight ahead and turning. At 5 separate instances the car came to a complete rolling stop with no acceleration. After 5 to 7 seconds the car finally accelerated. When turning with plenty of room, for them, oncoming cars blared their horns, missing me by a few feet. Someone is shurely headed for a hospital or funeral home on this problem. Both NHTSA and Subaru have been warned numerous times with no result for recall, repair or replacement. Dealers are saying they can't find a problem. This problem has been ongoing for years now. Maybe everyone's first stop should be at your state attorney generals office if we don't get results from either of you soon.
Upon starting, RPM surged to over 4500, and there was loud grinding noise, sounded as if the engine was destroying itself. Sounded like severe metal to metal slapping with vibration that stopped when key turned off ignition. Subsequent start appeared normal. Vehicle had been sitting for approximately an hour at 30F, date of occurance 11/22/2017, 4930 miles since new. Car was in a parking lot and was stationary. Factory approved dealer service result "no problem found at this time". I feel as if its dependability has been compromised.
I was merging on I-95 at 4pm and it was raining, I was accelerating into the traffic pattern in the right lane when suddenly the accelerator would not respond, the car panel went black, no lights or info showed. I coasted off to the side of the road, the car was in drive, ignition on. The emergency light wouldn't go on, nor the bluetooth or sos call line. I shut the car down and into park and waited a couple of minutes and restarted the engine without a problem. If I had been in the middle lane or no where to pull off it would have been catastrophic. I took it to the Subaru dealer the next day and they couldn't find a problem. Told me it was probably a glitch, you can't afford to have a glitch at 70 mph. I no longer feel safe in this car, especially when I have my grandkids in the car.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Tucson, AZ, USA