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.
October 31, 2023 at approximately 11:45 am was slowly pulling in to HEB Curbside parking spot #[XXX] at 651 N U.S. 183 in Leander, Texas and the car accelerated at a high speed without touching the gas pedal. I responded with braking but it did not stop the crash in to the concrete pylon. The pylon is fine but my front end on the 2016 Subaru Forester is not. It will need extensive repair. I got a ride for myself and my groceries, notified my insurance company but unfortunately, I am only covered by liability insurance. I am very fortunate that no-one was hurt including myself. The car remains at the scene of the accident in parking slot [XXX]. I am aware that this is not an isolated incident for this Make, Model, and Year of this vehicle. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
This 2016 Subaru Forester PCV Valve does not regulate the combustion system properly, this allows oil to enter this chamber. It causes loss of power and acceleration when driving. Hazardous driving conditions can cause accidents. crankcase ventilation issues engine oil system issues
My 2016 Subaru Forester is having acceleration and possibly fuel propulsion issues. It stays in low gear, high RPM when accelerating. This happened after a Yellowstone week long road trip from San Leandro, CA. The MPG has dropped from 24mpg to 12mpg and has been at Hayward Subaru since 8/15/2023. They have not provided a known issue. Still trying to figure out what is wrong. There was a low oil warning light on the way home and we stopped for an oil change in West Sacramento within 15 miles of the light coming on. The issue has been happening since the oil change. Only oil change and air filter replacement done on 8/8/2023. Thought maybe its a fuel injector issue. Still at dealership. We did fill the fuel tank with 85 octane in Elko, NV once.
Subaru Forester 2016. Sitting at red light with foot on brake. Car lunged forward. Was able to brake and stop it however it did continue to acceletate briefly.
- Weirton, WV, USA
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The accident with my 2016 Subaru Forester happened on 07-07-2022. It happened in daylight on our farm. I was the only person in the car and was wearing my seatbelt. I had slowly pulled into a parking spot, had my foot on the brake and had essentially stopped at the 6x6 piece of lumber that was marking the spot. As I was stopping the car accelerated out of control and sped down a very narrow path on a hill diagonally to the right of the parking spot. I struggled to control the car as I sped down the hill toward the gravel driveway. I was able to avoid hitting a large spruce tree and avoid turning over in the deep ditch on the hill. I was going so fast, I ran over a sapling and ran into a large apple tree, tipping it over, damaging my right front passenger side, pushing the wheel back into the wheel well. My brakes were not responding. When I reached the gravel driveway at the bottom of the hill, I lifted my foot slightly and stomped on the brake, skidding to a stop just before going down another steep hill which leads to a creek. I was parallel to a road/driveway which often has many cars driving on it that time of the day. It is also used as a walking path. Luckily I did not hit anyone. I was able to barely turn the wheel and move the car out of the road/driveway. Since it was on our farm there was no police report necessary. I hurt my ribs, shoulder, back and neck. The accident had potential for injuring me much more severely if I had rolled over, hit a tree head on or been unable to stop, continuing down another hill toward a creek. I could have hit another car or people walking on the road No warning lights, it surged slightly when slowing to turn a corner the day before. Unknown component failed The car is presently at Masters Auto Body in Charlottesville VA. They are completing the repairs and will take it to the Subaru dealer in Staunton, VA to have them check for the cause of the unintended acceleration.
While driving on highway using cruise control at 70 mph my car suddenly stalled -??. I was able to get to apron of road, but my steering locked and I had no brakes.. I could put car into neutral but had to -??jam-?? it into park, trying to get it to stop rolling. It would not restart. I had it towed to an auto repair center as there was no Subaru dealer in the area. Because I had kept trying to restart it, my battery was dead. They recharged my battery and the car then started. I took it to a Subaru dealer where I was told they could find nothing wrong -??. Except I needed a new battery. This was NOT the reason that my car suddeney lost power ! It had happen once before while on the highway but I was able to restart it at that time. This could have caused a serious accident and I worry that it will happen again. I warning was indicated prior to episode. I have receipts from auto repair shop (In Lincoln, Illinois) and Subaru dealer ( in Columbia Missouri)
I arrived at work. I was placing my car in park with foot on the brake. The car took off and the brakes took time to stop the car. I tried to stop the car as we hit a fence and was headed through it it and into a pond. Pumping the brakes throwing car in reverse stopped us from ending up in the pond. Major car damage incurred. Thank goodness noone was seriously hurt. The car just accelerated with my foot on the brake and with me attemtping to put it in park.
On two separate occasions, our car stalled while I was driving on a major highway at 60 - 70 mph. (2016 Subaru Forester) the first incident was on Friday, June 21, 2019 on pa route 283. The second incident occurred on Wednesday, March 17th, 2021. In both cases the car engine died without warning at speeds of between 60 - 70 mph. Needless to say, this was a life threatening situation. My fuel gauge indicated that I needed gas in the first incident but I estimated that the car had a little more than a gallon remaining. In the second incident, the car had about a quarter of a tank of gas. I contacted sabaru after the first incident but I'm not aware of any action that was taken. I also contacted them after the second incident but have not yet heard back yet. Bsed on my research, other owners of Subaru Foresters have had a similar experience. I'm surprised quite frankly that no deaths have been reported.
I have had approximately 10 episodes where I have been driving and the vehicle seems like it's not getting any or very little gas even though there is plenty of gas in the gas tank. These episodes are intermittent and started last winter. The issue didn't occur over the summer but started again when it got cold. The last episode was about three weeks ago on the highway. I put my flashers on quickly and luckily avoided an accident. Unlike past episodes, the issue didn't resolve itself quickly, I had the gas pedal to the floor, but was only able to do a slow crawl. It finally allowed me to go again, but then another episode happened before I made it to my exit. The vehicle has been sluggish since then especially when it's cold, but another episode has not happened as of yet. I took it to the Subaru mechanics in cumberland, Maryland last winter when the issues first started. I was told that it was bad gas, and was charged $95 for it. I have used different gas stations, and I'm sure it's not bad gas since the issue is continuing.
This car will suddenly lose power when underway without any warning or predictability. Extremely dangerous if entering traffic or even when moving on congested roads. No ability to accelerate at all, the car just dies without warning. The problem is intermittent and has happened months and even years apart. All attempts by the Subaru service team have failed to replicate the problem and fixing guesses at to what might be wrong have failed. I am the second owner and have come to find that the first owner returned this as a lemon for the same problem. Now Subaru of America is refusing to acknowledge there is a problem and won't agree to take the car back and get it off the road permanently before someone dies or gets killed as a result of this issue. Since it is intermittent and the service people can't replicate the problem it must not exist and yet three drivers in my family have experienced it and a prior owner (I have no idea who this is) returned the car with the same independent experience. Do not buy this car under any circumstance. I am sure when this car was first returned as a lemon they couldn't isolate the problem since they couldn't recreate it. I suspect that they fixed what they 'thought' was the problem. Because the problem is intermittent a test drive of even a thousand miles might not reveal the problem. They put it back out there as fixed and like new. Now that the same problem has recurred it is unconscionable to not take this car back as a two time lemon and destroy it before a major accident occurs.
2nd occurrence now of a sudden and complete loss of power while on highway at 80mph with no warning (see NHTSA id# 1131777). Low fuel warning light had just come on a few minutes earlier...same as last time. Thankfully had a shoulder to cost onto and let the vehicle sit. Tired to tart a couple times, but was like it was flooded with fuel. After :45 minutes of sitting...it reset itself and started again and we continued on our journey. This time road conditions were dry and clear.
My 2016 Subaru Forester has twice experienced a sudden engine stall while cruising at approx. 70 mph when the fuel was low. In both cases the low fuel warning light was not on and the vehicle showed fuel in the tank with fuel range of 70-100 miles. In both cases once the car was stopped it started again and ran normally until and after refueling. This has happened only at high speed which makes the condition especially dangerous in traffic. After the first incident (@ 42,000 mi.) I took the vehicle to a Subaru dealer who checked the vehicle and found no explanation. Of course the dealer was not able to duplicate the exact circumstance of the power failure. The vehicle is currently under examination from the second incident which occurred yesterday (@ 50,000 mi.). I do not know if this is a fuel pump problem but I have seen other posts that suggest that may be the cause.
Please recall the 2016 Subaru Forester for failure of the accelerator at high speeds. Our 21-year-old daughter, a nursing student, took her 2016 Forester into grayson Subaru in knoxville, tn for a recall service on rear coil springs, oil change and tire rotation. Within an hour of leaving the service department she was driving 70 mph on the interstate when her "low fuel" warning light came on. According to the Subaru, that means 2.6 gallons of gas remain. Assuming 20 mpg, that means she could drive approximately 52 miles before running out of gas. Within a minute of the low fuel light coming on, the accelerator failed to work and all the warning lights came on the dash. While traveling at 70 mph on the interstate, she had to cross 3 lanes of traffic to pull over on the shoulder. Very shaken and crying, she called grayson Subaru and they sent a tow truck. After steve kachelrie of grayson's service department assessed the car, he concluded, "your daughter just ran out of gas. There is nothing we can do other than put gas in the tank." When I told him that the gas meter said she had 50 miles of driving to go before empty, he dismissed it and repeated that she "just ran out of gas." I researched the 2016 Subaru Forester on NHTSA.gov and found 20 reports of identical incidents of the car showing 50-70 miles to go before empty and the accelerator completely failing at high speeds on the interstate and all warning lights lighting up. When I told grayson service that was an unacceptable response, they referred me to the owner of the dealership, walter grayson. He agreed to fulfill Subaru's guarantee to pay us the trade-in value of the car, $14,800. The dealership sent us a check for the 2016 Subaru Forester and we purchased a new Toyota.
Vehicle was traveling on highway around 70 mph. Lost power to wheels/vehicle stalled with no warning. Engine revved to high RPM's when I hit gas, as I coasted into the grassy median. I turned off engine, waited for a few minutes. Tried to start again, starter would crank, but engine would not start. Towed vehicle to dealer they were able to start car next day. No error codes in computer. Have noticed this issue on the Subaru message boards, dealership unable to diagnose issue now. Very serious problem, could have been a fatal accident on highway.
While driving on the highway with cruise control on, 2016 Forester engine revved while also losing power and the lights on the dash lit up. I pulled over to the side of the highway with the car still running, I shut the car off. After a few minutes, the engine started fine but the car still had no power. Was towed to the shop and they stated the car ran out of gas. The car stated there were 30 miles left to drive and the gas light came on 18 miles prior (at 50 miles estimated left to drive). The second time this happened, I ran out of gas with 50 miles left to drive and only 5 miles after the gas light came on. I haven't let the car get below 1/4 tank due to this issue. Something is not reading right with the fuel system. The manual says there should be roughly 2 gallons left in the car when the gas light comes on so I should be able to at least go 40 miles at the bare minimum.
The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. While driving approximately 65 mph, the engine shut off. The contact coasted the vehicle to the side of the road. The vehicle did not restart and roadside assistance was called; however, they could not determine the cause of the failure. Fuel was added to the vehicle and it was able to restart. The fuel gauge displayed 70 miles before empty. The vehicle was taken to blaise alexander Subaru (1703 w college ave, state college, pa 16801) to be diagnosed, but no failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 38,000.
I have had very similar issues to the gentleman whose NHTSA # is 11161972. On three occasions when I was driving on the highway at approximately 70 miles an hour and usually going up and incline, my engine would sputter and the car would die. All three times my car screen showed that I had between 60 and 80 miles left in my tank and my fuel gauge which show two clicks to the right of empty. The first time I thought it could be due to the fact that I needed gas in my car. At that point I contacted aaa and they brought me 2 gallons of gas to get me to the next exit to so that I can fill my tank. The second time I had moved over to the emergency lane as my car was dying. I had waited about 10 minutes while I was waiting on aaa again to show up when I decided to start my car and the engine started. I was literally 2/10 of a mile from the gas station so I headed in that direction to fill my tank. The third time as I was inclining on a hill in the fast lane, the engine suddenly died as I was driving about 70 miles an hour. Fortunately I thought fast and hit the emergency flashers as I had a semi right behind my car. This time I moved over into the left side emergency lane and waited about 10 minutes and my car started again. This seems to always happen when the car is showing between 60 and 90 miles of gas left in my tank and always with two clicks on the full gage. I am not sure as to why this is happening and have taken it to my Subaru dealership and they are unaware of any problems yet we're unable to re-create the problem when they tried to drive it. As someone who puts a lot of road miles on their car for work, this is a little bit scary as my travels are on the highway and not always in large cities. One thing that I have noticed is that the VIN number on NHTSA ticket # 11161972 matches mine exactly based on what is shown on your site. All hwy driving.
2016 Subaru Forester xt with 57000 miles. The cel came on during a 5 minute drive and started to stall. After stopping and starting the car, the engine continuously sputtered. Cel came on, stability control disabled, traction control disabled, cruise control disabled. To keep the car from dying, driver had to rev engine. Driver took it to the dealership because the car was unsafe to drive (stalled in the middle of intersections). Cel was reset after dealership changed the O2 sensor. Car ran fine for 50 miles. Cel came on, stability control, traction control and cruise control were all disabled. Car would skid on wet surfaces. Car would stall. Car would lag on the throttle response and then accelerate at a very high-rate, resulting in near miss accidents. Returned to the dealership. Brake-light sensor was replaced first and cel reset. Issue appeared immediately afterwords and all fuel injectors had to replaced. Drove car from dealership and 1 day later, same problem appeared. Dealership replaced egr valve. Did not resolve the problem. As of August 20, 2018, the car is undriveable and with the dealership undergoing diagnostics. All incidents occurred while the vehicle was in motion driving on both a highway, city street, and making turns. The fault has not been successfully identified but all attempts at resolution have been on the fuel, throttle, and exhaust systems.
I've had this car for 1.5 years and it's already stalled twice times. Both times I was driving on the highway and without any warning my car just started to rapidly decrease speed. Both times, I my gas meter said that I had over 50 miles of gas left in my car. Its absolutely terrifying because when the car shuts off, I have about two minute to get to the shoulder before it's completely dead.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Fort Worth, TX, USA