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.
Car was traveling at 75mph for 2 hours when going up and small grade incline. Engine started revving and car started slowing down very quickly. Was in traffic, so had to turn on hazard lights on, and get over to the shoulder. The vehicle felt as if though it was braking. The hill descent control light lit up, but no other lights. Car did not stall. I then turned it off, opened the hood and everything looked normal. Car was at normal operational temperature and had 1/4 tank if fuel left. Car was info for service within 500 miles at Subaru. After checking the engine, I started the car again and took off. 30 minutes later, the exact same issue occured.
We have had this vehicle for almost 4 years and have had to get 2 new batteries with less than 2500 miles on this vehicle. We are seniors and have been in please where we had to have the battery charged at least twice not including the times it failed on us. We were told that this was a very safe vehile for seniors. Our warranty will be up in a year. Is this normal for a vehicle with so many electronics, they should have a stronger battery if it is used so much. We have not used it for long trips, as we are unsure of our safety.. is there any fix that Subaru is working on. We now keep all our light switches in the off position.
Drivers are not seeing my brake lights off and on and pulling me over to telling us to get our lights fixed. I just looked up recalls to find out that we have a recall that no one notified us of for the brake lights. We always have our grand kids and everyone elses in the car on a daily basis which can be a deadly situation... please assist.
Cruise control stopped working while I was driving at high speed, 70mph, on interstate. Car speed immediately started dropping. Cruise control would no longer engage.
Twice in the last four months vehicle has run out of gas while traveling on a level highway despite gas gauge indicating that there was 70 miles still to travel and the gas gauge reading one bar. Low fuel warning indicator did not display.
- Portland, OR, USA
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I was trapped inside my vehicle when the battery died. While sitting in my car using the accessories to charge my phone, the car battery died and I was unable to unlock the doors to get out. The key fob did not work either. There is no inside handle on the rear hatch. The dashboard lights flickered a couple times and after about three minutes the door did unlock. What if the battery was completely dead" what if I did not have access to a cell phone and it was cold temperatures" I do not think I would be strong enough to kick out the windows. I am concerned and hope you will investigate. Thank you.
The electrical keeps having problems. This problem is all over the internet for several years of the Forester. I don't know why there hasn't already been a recall. There will be a be a beep, usually when driving - sometimes when trying to start the car or move out of park, and about any "safety" feature that this car has exhibits a light and/or warning. While this happens over days, sometimes the gears stick in park. I have to take a tool and press beside the gear stick to get out of park. The lights will stay like this for days or weeks and then it just stops. I have had it checked, but it is just reset until the next time it happens. Just the other night, my husband was driving behind me and told me that my brake lights were not working consistently. This is dangerous!!! who knows what else is not working when this electrical issue occurs.
This vehicle has shut down mid-driving on the expressway 4 times. The battery, fuel sensors, fuel pump, and 'cluster' have been replaced. I received the vehicle back from Subaru service on a Wednesday afternoon, and on Thursday morning as I was pulling out of my garage the fuel gauge was again displaying blank even though there was more than a half tank of gas in the car. I turned the car off and back on and then every warning light on the instrument panel lighted up. There have been 5 repair attempts on this vehicle and it has not corrected the issues. This vehicle is defective and dangerous.
This vehicle has already shut off while driving on the expressway 4 times. The last time they said it was a bad fuel pump and replaced. I turned the car on in the parking lot after a grocery store trip (with my baby in the backseat) and the vehicle said it could not establish the remaining fuel level and the gauge was blank. Turned vehicle off and back on and fuel gauge reappeared, but while driving down city street, all indicator lights on the instrument panel lit up. I drove directly to dealership. They say that the cluster (odometer, speedometer, tachometer) needs to be replaced. Still waiting for part to come in and for vehicle to be returned to me. I am not confident this will fix my vehicle since they said they were 99% sure of the fix the last two times. This vehicle is faulty and is endangering my family. It is by sheer luck that we haven't gotten into an accident and injured so far.
I bought the car and less than a month later the engine light came on. I took it into the dealership that I bought it from and they told me to take it to the Subaru dealership if the engine light came back on. It never came back on. Four days later I was driving and the gas pedal quit working. I looked down to see if any lights were on and they weren't. I pulled over to the side of the highway to turn the car off. Before I could turn the car off I saw flames coming out of the front passenger side of the hood near the lights. Then all of the warming lights came on. I quickly turned off the vehicle. Before I could get out of the vehicle the whole front end of the vehicle was in flames.
The car lost all power in the middle of interstate 95 heading South approx 17 miles North of the ga fl state line. The fuel indicator showed 30 miles until I had to refuel. This was on 12/3/2017. I was at speed(75 mph) and managed to go through traffic and go to shoulder. There was no power and the engine had quit. I waited a couple of minutes and the car restarted. I drove to the second exit and refueled. A few days later on 12/06/2017 on the way back to atlanta on I-95 South of savannah and the fuel gage reading 30 miles until I had to refuel, the very same thing happened. Except, this time it would not restart. I called aaa and continued to try to restart. After 45 minutes, the car restarted. I drove approx 10 miles and refueled. I have had no incident since but, I have not driven the car with low fuel. This could have had a very different result if I had not been able to get through the traffic on a busy interstate. Both me and my wife could be dead. I believe there is a flaw in the low fuel warning software and something shuts the power. I have driven this car with lower fuel levels. The instrument panel shows miles to you have to refuel, I.e., 50 miles, 40 miles, 30 miles, 20 miles then ------. you have access to data on these cars, I don't. please have some advise me what is your thinking on this matter.
I leased this vehicle on June 2015. Back on 8/26/2017 while driving on freeway and going 70 mile and hour, car suddenly died in the middle of freeway. I almost got killed by a truck that was behind my vehicle. They towed this car to glendale Subaru and after two days, they said they could not find anything. Since that incident I have taken the vehicle back to dealer for performance and transmission issue. In addition, some major electrical issue with the isite system. The dealer charged me over $2000 for unrelated repairs. The car has a major issue in cold and hot ideal. Many complaints were filed to Subaru customer service and they did not assist me at all.
I started driving and found that my hill holder, my vehicle dynamics control system, my ABS, my Subaru eyesight and multiple other warning lights were all lite up. I pulled over and turned off the car and when I restarted the car I couldn't put my car into gear. It was stuck in park on the side of the highway. After a few more tries I was able to get it into gear and continued driving with all the warning lights on. This problem occurred multiple times yesterday as I attempted to get it to the dealership.
I have a 2015 Subaru Forester (less than 32K miles) and my car has not started on 3 different occasions this last year. This last time I was with a friend and we parked on a somewhat darker city street late at night where I turned off the engine to not waste gas and talk. The only thing I remember doing was turning on the upper car light for 60 seconds to find my friend's phone and adjusting the driver window with key in accessory mode I believe (engine was not running). We did not use the radio because embarrassingly, the same friend had waited with me the time before when I played my radio for 10 minutes one time. So again, my car didn't start, and she had to wait with me once again 30-45 minutes until help came to give the battery a jump. It seems to happen either when I sit in the car with the key out and use the internal light (even for only 60 seconds like this last time) or if keys are in, listen to the radio for a few minutes only without engine running. Anything turned on after the car has stopped running seems to mess with the battery and I'm afraid it won't start. This last time when it wouldn't start the engine, I noticed that my drivers window did not roll up (even though the other windows did) and then it started to grind when I tried to start it multiple times, waiting a little time in between before trying to start it...then it seems to slowly drain until no lights at all in car. The tow company tested the battery and said it is still good, there was no problem with it, but mentioned maybe it's not getting both cells to charge equally or has something to do with starter, not sure. When I first bought my car, I remember dealership mentioning the electrical and not holding them responsible (?) I think if they knew about this, they need to recall and fix, or give us a portable car jumper. Sad because I love my SUV otherwise. :(
Since buying it new, the car several times has failed to start and had to be jump-started. Twice towed to dealer, checked several times there, no problem could be found. This has happened a number of times (sporadically, with no indication as to why). The first time at 4,000 miles, several times since and again this month.
While driving, the electronic stability control, the hill assist brake and the ABS lights randomly deploy. Happened 3 times in 24 hours. Turning the car off and back on seems to clear the issue. However, after that, now two times while traveling at a regular speed, the braking system automatically applied itself, including the cvt engaging into low speed and forcing the car to drive only at 10-20 mph. As well, when this occurs the braking system does not work. Other reads sound like a faulty brake light sensor or sensing system, but this is a potentially fatal malfunction as one traveling 60 mph on the highway was suddenly stopped with no warning. Then when trying to get to safety, the brakes would not work while attempting to come to a stop at a light. The vehicle seems to "reset" and be fine for a few miles, only to either go to the all lights on system (ABS/hill assist/stability control) or go into the braking/cvt error as well. Will have the car towed to the dealership, but this is a serious safety concern that is electronic in nature as the default fall back is not a manual working brake system but seems to be a non-working brake system.
Problem is with the Subaru "eyesight" system on this vehicle. The system has been sutting itself off more and more over the past few weeks until now, it shuts down the system and cruise control multiple times daily even at night.daytime or whenever it wants to. The local dealer checked it and found no problem that he could see for it.
When I stop my car, put it in park and shut off the engine I can not open the driver's side door using the in-door silver door latch. The door stays locked and will not open. The door will not open even when I try to unlock it using the unlock rocker switch on the driver's door arm rest. The door can only be unlocked and opened when I unlock it using the black in-door locking latch. There is an apparent electrical or software problem which can cause someone to get trapped inside the car. This needs to be corrected before someone is killed. Thank you.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- San Diego, CA, USA