The contact owns a 2004 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that he could smell gasoline inside the cabin of the vehicle when driving at various speeds. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection and was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 107,000.

- Camron, NC, USA

Strong fuel odor inside cabin developed when operating on cold mornings; fuel odor typically went away within 15 minutes of starting the car. Inspection of fuel lines, filter, etc. Revealed no obvious leaks above the intake manifold. Dealer quoted approximately $800 to remove intake manifold and inspect. I have had two independent shops attempt to fix this issue over the past 3 years with varying degrees of success; the most recent (2011) removed the intake manifold and replaced all rubber fuel lines under the manifold, but the problem has recurred this fall and winter and at increasingly warm temperatures. Now, there is a visible and obvious leak from a fuel line just as it goes under the manifold--inaccessible without removing the manifold. Clearly, the problem is with the design of the metal fuel rail to rubber line interface, since this is a common problem in Forester xts across several model years. Subaru of America issued a recall for this problem on the WRX, but so far has not acknowledged the problem for the Forester or Forester xt. This is a costly repair and a huge safety issue: The leaking fuel drips directly onto the engine cylinder heads and in some cases (on passenger-side fuel line leaks) is in close proximity to the turbocharger--representing a significant risk of engine fire. The fuel fumes in the cabin are also a health and safety risk which should be dealt with by Subaru.

- Faifax, VA, USA