Having over 35 years of auto maintenance experience, I was floored to find out that this one year (2011) and only on some forester X-Touring models had this problem. This lighting set was not used on prior or post models of ANY Subaru model.
First the drivers headlight stopped, then the left started flashing on and off several days later, then when my daughter started the car the driver headlight went on but the pax side went out. When she used the turn signals the pax side light went out and started blinking on and off repeatedly.
As she went over bumps both lights came on and went out intermittently.
After she arrived home, the passenger side lit well with no blinking but the right side headlight did start blinking.
The dealer said they checked out the electrical system thoroughly and there were no electrical problems. My experience tells me that the replacers (they call themselves mechanics) at the dealers did not do an electrical system check. I also have, from experience, found that when this kind of problem exists it is generally a bad relay, bad light switch, or electrical short somewhere in the system.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Having over 35 years of auto maintenance experience, I was floored to find out that this one year (2011) and only on some forester X-Touring models had this problem. This lighting set was not used on prior or post models of ANY Subaru model.
First the drivers headlight stopped, then the left started flashing on and off several days later, then when my daughter started the car the driver headlight went on but the pax side went out. When she used the turn signals the pax side light went out and started blinking on and off repeatedly.
As she went over bumps both lights came on and went out intermittently.
After she arrived home, the passenger side lit well with no blinking but the right side headlight did start blinking.
The dealer said they checked out the electrical system thoroughly and there were no electrical problems. My experience tells me that the replacers (they call themselves mechanics) at the dealers did not do an electrical system check. I also have, from experience, found that when this kind of problem exists it is generally a bad relay, bad light switch, or electrical short somewhere in the system.
- robbo8491, Stillwater, MN, US