1.2

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
147,444 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2002 Subaru Forester:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #5

Dec 282017

Forester

  • 150,000 miles
Fuel lines in engine leak in cold weather. This is a serious hazard that I and multiple other Subaru owners that I know have had occurring and recurring. I called Subaru and they were uninterested in issuing a safety recall despite the extreme hazard leaking gasoline in the engine poses. This has now happened to me twice in two different fuel hoses in the past two years.

- Bloomfield, NJ, USA

problem #4

May 252017

Forester

  • 145,000 miles
Takata recall my car has a strong smell of gasoline when walking up to the car after it has sat and it is even stronger when you shut the car off after driving. In the warmer weather the smell has increased.

- Harbor Springs, MI, USA

problem #3

Jan 022012

Forester 4-cyl

  • 200,000 miles
2002 Subaru Forester. For the past few winters I have noticed a very strong raw gas small inside the car when the car is idled, or sitting still and the temperature is 20 degrees F or lower. Obviously something contracts below that temperature and by doing a google search I am apparently not the only one experiencing this issue. The smell is so strong it will give you a headache. So I just don't drive the car if the temps are going to be below 20F.

- Wilmont, MN, USA

problem #2

Feb 062014

Forester

  • 198,000 miles
On a very cold morning with temps in the teens, after driving the car less than 10 miles and parking it in the driveway I noticed a strong raw gas smell. I opened the hood and saw gas leaking around two metal clamps on a small rubber hose to the left and below the power steering fluid cap. After doing some research online and seeing how common this problem is, we went out about an hour later and turned on the engine with the hood up and we could see the gas around the clamps after just a couple of minutes. We tightened the screws on the clamps, they went at least three turns each. Hoping this solves the problem since leaking gasoline in the engine area seems pretty dangerous.

- Ravensdale, WA, USA

problem #1

Nov 162012

Forester 4-cyl

  • 44,220 miles
Fuel leak under the hood. Could not see actual leak but a strong fuel odor filled the vehicle upon idling with the heater on. This also happen today after driving a short distance(~4 miles) a strong fuel odor was detected upon stopping the vehicle the odor seem to come from the intake manifold area on the passenger side.

- Underhill, VT, USA