NHTSA — Service Brakes, Hydraulic: Antilock/Traction Control/Electronic Limited Slip Problems

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
0 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

1999 Subaru Forester brakes problems

brakes problem

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1999 Subaru Forester Owner Comments

problem #8

Nov 012000

Forester

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

At slow speeds or when coming to a stop brake pedal feels mushy, then, it goes to the floor. This happens intermittently. Vehicle not taken to dealer yet.

- New Town, CT, USA

problem #7

Jun 292001

Forester 4WD

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
While driving about 50 mph applied brake, braking distance was normal. Brake pedal stayed on floor, had to be pulled up. Dealer could not find problem.

- Hudson, WI, USA

problem #6

Feb 292000

Forester

  • miles
All wheel drive rebulit 2/00, after complaing to service center the wheels feel as if they are not working in unison.ythe car does this on dry road (not a much),on wet roads more frequently, in sonw not at all the car does not respond to change in road conditions and does not stop in normal time, even after applying brakes hard.the car does intermitten stopping beforee it came to a full stop.this haapened in 1/00 and again 2/01.the car is presently in for repairs, but I am not confident with this problem will not occur again. I may not be as lucky if it occurs again.when I first inquired if any one else has reported difficulty with the brakes responding 10/99 and was told no.then when the car did not repond to stopping in 1/00 I was told it was the antilocking brakes working becaue I was on sno, but when the car slipped down and could not make it up a small incline they told " I find that had to beleive.that was when I took the car in and it was found the vehicle had no all wheel dirve.I took the vehicle in again for them to check the brakes and was told they worked fine according to the specification for this vehicle.this car is stated to have all wheel drive all the time this is not true. I have expressed my concerns as to my safety which has not been taken seriously.I did complain again and they check the car in 3/01 and told me the tire pressure in the rear was low, but I tried to explain I have my tire rotated and check by sears every 6000 mile and I check the tires myself because I know this will affect the ride & milage.when my husband was taking the car to have the brakes changed the oil temp light started to falsh which indicatres there is a problem with the transmission.the diagnostic read code;38 torque control singnal; the service tech then performed tran service, put 4 quarts of tranmission fluid in the car and replaced the gasket(charging me for this). I called them back to inquire why this was done when I had this same service performed when they did this.

- Bushkill, PA, USA

problem #5

Mar 022001

Forester 4WD

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Brake pedal was going to floor on several occasions, used toe of shoe to lift pedal back up before vehicle would stop. This was a momentary incident. Dealer notified, and was unable to duplicate problem.

- Park Ridge, IL, USA

problem #4

Apr 011999

Forester

  • miles
When brakes are applied the vehicle under many conditions will tend to accelerate, this also happens on a 2001 version of the sabru Forester S we also have. The dealer has no explaination

- Alexandria, VA, USA

problem #3

Feb 152000

Forester 4WD

  • miles
Driving on fast downhill section of mountain 2 lane highway, on ice / packed snow, tapped brakes while entering curve... 2 seconds later with absolutely no warning the vehicle lost adhesion, oversteering dangerously. I recovered with considerable oppposite steering lock and slight application of power (car is all-wheel-drive.) it happened so fast, I knew not what had caused the car to slide out of control. Today, I learned the cause of the problem. With the gearshift selector in drive, trailing throttle and application of brakes, the computer will occasionally (automatically) down-shift the car into 3rd. Gear. This software bug, completely unexpected and totally dangerous in marginal traction conditions causedg a vicious skid from which most drivers of average experience would have not recovered. We put ABS on cars so that braking can be more predictable when driving under marginal coefficients, than we design software with a bug which has the potential to throw the car totally and unpredictably out of control on ice. Nice work, Subaru !

- Broomfield, CO, USA

problem #2

Sep 101999

(reported on)

Forester

  • miles
While driving during warm weather applied brakes, and there was no response. They had to be pumped to get a response. Pedal went to the floor until the third pump. There is a recall for ABS braking system failure in cold weather. The dealer has been contacted.

- South Yarmouth, MA, USA

problem #1

Jul 021999

Forester 4WD

  • miles
New vehicle became uncontrollable, veering from side to side, then going off the road, within first 7 miles of driving at 60 mph. *** 7 purchased a new Subaru Forester L on June 24, 1999, and drove 200 miles in city and Suburban traffic, maximum speed 55 mph. *** 7 left rochester for family vacation on July 2, 1999, travelling East on I-90. The car contained two adults and two children. Driver and passengers were wearing seatbelts and all luggage was in the luggage compartment. The weather was hot and the roads were dry. *** 7 near milepost 343, between 10:30 and 10:45 a.M., while driving at 60 mph, a normal steering correction led to a sharp veer by the vehicle, followed by 4 or 5 uncontrollable side-to-side oscillations, each increasing in magnitude. The driver had the sense that the wheels were not responding to her conscious attempts to bring the steering under control. She had her foot off the accelerator and was not braking. This occurred within 7 miles of the first time the vehicle was traveling more than 55 mph. *** 7 the car went off the road to the right, down a bank into a ditch containing mud, water, and vegetation. It hit the ditch at an angle, bounced, and came to a stop in the grass on the other side. *** 7 during these events there was no sound from the anti-lock brake system and the car was not skidding, but tire tracks were visible on both the paved and gravel shoulders where the car left the road. *** 7 we had no phone and the car was operable, so we drove it slowly through mowed grass until we passed the ditch and were able to pull onto the shoulder of I-90. We left I-90 at exit 43 (3 miles) and slowly drove several miles along route 96 to van bortel Subaru where we had purchased the car. *** 7 we called the state police and insurance company to report the accident. *** the child in the seat behind the driver was treated in hospital emergency room for elbow injury.

- Rochester, NY, USA

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