10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
14 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
7 / 0
Average Mileage:
15,926 miles

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« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #13

Oct 242017

Forester

  • 20,000 miles
The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the vehicle accelerated unexpectedly and crashed into a fence on October 24, 2017. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The local dealer was not contacted the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. There were no injuries. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was unknown. On July 18, 2018, while driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle accelerated again and crashed into a security pole. There were no warning indicators illuminated. A police report was filed and there were no injuries. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified and referred the contact to the local dealer. The failure mileage was 20,000.

- Hackensack, NJ, USA

problem #12

Feb 022018

Forester

  • 32,000 miles
During periods of heavy rain, the vehicle appears to suffer major electrical issues. Since February of 2018, my vehicle has reported problems after a major storm with the eyesight camera system, ABS, hill assist, and fuel gauge. Fyi-eyesight includes the dynamic cruise control, crash avoidance, and lane monitoring system. The issue has been reported to our Subaru dealer/maintenance team but they have not been able to discover the source of the issue.

- Arlington, VA, USA

problem #11

Apr 292017

Forester

  • 13,000 miles
I was parking my car. I had the brake applied and put it in park. The car accelerated on its own over a parking barrier, over a 1.5' stone barrier, up a small grade and into and partially thru a concrete patio wall. The car's gearshift was in park. I had to move it back to reverse to get it back into the parking space. And even though the impact was substantial the airbag did not deploy.

- Clearwater, FL, USA

problem #10

Feb 242017

Forester

  • 4,000 miles
Driver was parking front first into a parking spot, traveling straight forward at less than 5 mph. When the 2016 Subaru Forester reached the proper parking location, the driver, with his foot on the brake, attempted to move the gear shifter from D to P. suddenly the engine rev'd and the car lurched forward, over the parking concrete block, over a small bush and into the window wall of the adjacent condo. Damage was sustained to the wall, and right hand side front of vehicle. Driver stated that he could not do anything else because his foot was already on the brake. Neither airbag deployed.

- Fort Meyers, FL, USA

problem #9

Nov 192016

Forester

  • 24,000 miles
I've had the same issue happen on 2 separate occasions (October and November 2016) - while driving the car I bought brand new, and going appx. 75 mph down the interstate, driving approximately 2 hours straight on flat interstate, the RPM's all of a sudden shoot up and it feels like my car falls out of gear. The car essentially shuts down and fails to accelerate and slows down quickly, while totally unresponsive. We have to quickly pull off the road to avoid being hit. Several lights show on the dash (have photo) and the vehicle does not respond to acceleration. We had to shut the car off completely and turn it back on - no response to acceleration or anything. It did not respond until the 2nd time turning it off and back on. Upon bringing to dealership, they have not been able to pull any codes or duplicate the error (either time). They also had a Subaru field engineer look at it and found nothing. I am continuously sent away without a solution other than to "call roadside assistance" if it happens again, which puts myself and others in serious danger. The most recent time they put 300 miles on it and found that it "fell out of cruise control", but aren't offering to fix it and didn't actually duplicate the same error as I had. I'm afraid I'm going to get into a serious car accident and hurt myself or someone else the next time this happens. It feels like Subaru (or dealer) isn't owning up to this problem or possibly trying to cover it up to keep their good safety ratings. The dealership has told me that I'm "the only person in the whole United States reporting this issue", which I find very difficult to believe.

- Saint Paul, MN, USA

problem #8

Nov 092016

Forester

  • 17,279 miles
At low speed (under 15 mph) a hesitation occurs causing the vehicle to loose acceleration power for as long as 3 or 4 seconds. It is an intermittent problem occurring only 8 times in three months. Problem almost caused a collision while turning left before oncoming traffic. Later recurrences produced the same problem during right turns also. We returned the car to the dealer and purchased a 2017 of the same model hoping this problem will be solved.

- Amherst, NY, USA

problem #7

Aug 062016

Forester

  • 600 miles
"takata recall" vehicle accellerated, brakes did not stop vehicle, accident took place injuring my wife, physically, emotionally & psychologically. Air bags did not deploy. Wife was trying to park, when vehicle sped up and her braking had no effect and she crashed into a parked vehicle.

- Sonoma, CA, USA

problem #6

Feb 022016

Forester

  • 8,300 miles
Eyesight system did not pick up vehicle in fromt of car and proceed to drive straight toward at 70mph, I had to brake the car. This happened twice in one day. Dealer said they tested car and system was working fine. The system did not detect the large vehicle in front.

- Newfield, NY, USA

problem #5

Jan 262016

Forester

  • 2,800 miles
In a closed parking lot, I was getting ready to park in a space. With my foot on the brake, I cut the wheel to the right and then eased my foot off the brake to maneuver into the parking spot. I pushed the brake again in preparation to straighten the wheels and finish parking, no speed registering on the gauge. With my foot on the brake the vehicle began to accelerate and jumped. I lifted my foot off the brake, and slammed it back down on the brake attempting to halt the vehicle. Instead, with my foot still firmly on the brake, the vehicle accelerated again, and faster, right into a wall. I had been unable to straighten the wheels, so the impact was not head-on, but rather continuing the right-turn's angle, and impact occurred on the driver's side, front-end. 2 airbags deployed with a slight delay, causing severe bruising to my legs which affect my walking, and muscle tears causing severe neck and spine pain. Though I was wearing my seatbelt during the collision, it retracted when I opened the door, and we were unable to dislodge it when we had to move the vehicle for towing. To reiterate, while attempting to park the vehicle at minimal speed, the vehicle accelerated on its own, with my foot firmly pressing the brake.

- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

problem #4

Jan 232016

Forester

  • 3,800 miles
Vehicle begins to accelerate from parking lot into traffic, but then gas pedal hits a "dead spot". gas pedal is non-responsive. Unable to accelerate until continually depressing gas pedal 3/4 way to floor board. Then it surges ahead! problem is repeatable and in my opinion very dangerous. 1. pulling into traffic and unable to accelerate to traffic speed. 2. sudden, uncontrolled acceleration. I contacted the original dealership service department and they said it's normal. Have contacted another dealership and they will revisit my complaint.

- Ephrata, WA, USA

problem #3

Oct 082015

Forester

  • 11,000 miles
Car has 11,000 miles, automatic transmission. While driving straight on a highway using the cruise control set at 65 mph with the adaptive cruise control on (feet not touching the gas pedal or brake) the car engine RPM's began increasing till it reached the rev limiter. At the same time the engine RPM began revving high, the car began to coast as if it was in neutral. But the gear shift remained in drive. After a few seconds of the engine revving as high as it could, the engine shut off and I was able to get the car stopped. I had to put my hazards on and steer off to the shoulder to avoid getting hit from behind. This has happened to me twice. First time 10/8/15 the car would not start after I coasted to a stop and had to have it towed to the Subaru dealer. They hooked the car up to their computer for a diagnostic test and found no error codes. Second time this happened to me on 1/2/16 after stopping on the shoulder I was able to restart the car and drive home without using cruise control. The car is going back to the dealer for another test this Friday 1/8/16. This whole process probably takes about 30 second or so. But its very dangerous. Its almost as if the transmission is some how not engaged. Since the cruise is set at 65 mph it tries to increases engine RPM to maintain 65 mph speed but the transmission is not engaged so car does not accelerate. Cruise sees car slowing down so speeds up the engine to compensate. Cars still doesn't speed up. Eventually engine RPM maxes out for a few seconds and turns itself off. I feel like the problem lies with the transmission most likely or possibly the cruise control. I also notice when pulling out of a parking space going from reverse to drive it takes about 5 seconds for the transmission to engage. To the point that I roll back a few feet.

- Apex, NC, USA

problem #2

Dec 142015

Forester

  • 9,000 miles
Eyesight and cruise control intermittent shutdown and restart. On an increasingly frequent basis, when the cruise control and eyesight are engaged, both will disable and can be a few seconds to minutes before the eyesight re-enables and the cruise control can manually be re-engaged. When this happens, vehicle goes from auto-drive to manual-drive. Also, an E1 error appeared on the odometer display.

- Morganville, NJ, USA

problem #1

Dec 132015

Forester

  • 70 miles
The car was being driven in a residential area. The driver stopped to make a U-turn then slowly started to take her foot off the brake while moving the steering wheel to the left when the car suddenly accelerated to the right (opposite direction). The driver lost control of the vehicle and the vehicle stopped only after colliding into a street pole.

- Glendale, CA, USA