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.
Without apparent cause the windshield cracked. This occurred while the vehicle was parked. The vehicle was not struck by anything and was never in a collision, but the windshield cracked approximately 14 inches in length beginning at the bottom edge about 1 foot from the lower right hand corner and angling up and leftward. The vehicle required an expensive ($425) replacement as the crack was too long for repair. This vehicle is equipped with lane departure and collision avoidance, which the repair shop cited as the reason for the very high price. Notable at the shop was that the car before mine and after mine were the same make, model and year.
My 2.5 year old 2017 Subaru Forester has already has the windshield chipped 2X while driving on the highway by seattle. Both times I have had it repaired by safelite. Each time it was a tiny thing that had apparently hit the windshield.
A small rock from the highway hit the windshield and it cracked immediately. The crack required replacement of the entire windshield. We have had other card be hit by rocks, ones that have been a lot bigger and have harder impacts that did not crack or chip the windshield. The car was about 2 months old at the time of the incident.
Damaged windshield from a tiny pebble resulting in a 2 inch spider webbed crack. Driving on highway on a paved road without any construction. Very small pebble struck windshield and left a large crack.
Windshield got small star chip on passenger side after getting dinged with a rock while driving on the interstate. Commercial windshield repair was attempted. The repair failed and the windshield produced a large horizontal crack along passenger side, originating from initial chip/repair site.
The windshield on my vehicle developed dozens of chips after only 40K miles of driving. My previous vehicles driven in the same manner in the same places had no such problem. The other the day factory windshield developed a large crack and had to be replaced. Please look at other owner complaints at subaruforester.org about the quality of the Forester windshield. There is a trend of broken windshields on this model. This is definitely a safety issue that Subaru needs to resolve. The factory windshield is too weak.
Windshield cracked all by itself a second time. Got into the car, looked up, massive crack from the top edge down and across. There was no impact. Filed insurance claim, took to dealership, had windshield replaced with another oem Subaru windshield, had eyesight system calibrated. Car sat at dealership undriveable for 4 months because windshield was on national backorder.
Got into vehicle, looked up and the windshield had a massive crack from the top edge down and across. No impact of any sort. Filed insurance claim and took to Subaru dealership for replacement with oem Subaru windshield and calibration of eyesight system.
Windshield cracks at very little impact and cracks spread rapidly through windshield. I had windshield replacement twice in 2018 and it cracked again on 01-01-2019. It happened on the same road I commute for 20 years and never had windshield cracks with my previous vehicles.
Our windshield cracked while sitting in garage overnight. We were told that replacement has to be oem glass and calibrated due to the eyesight safety sensors. After two months on back order we were informed that there is a soa backorder of over 2,000 windshields. Upon checking forums, there are a plethora of complaints about repeated windshield cracks and long waits similar to ours. Design defect?
Windshield issues. Starting 2/11/2017 first stone ding - kings Subaru recommended windshield replacement. Part was ordered and installed by a mel's auto-glass. I pay $250 deductible for repair. 7/28/2017 - same issue, stone ding - same dealer recommends glass replacement. Getting a new windshield much more difficult this time. One month later I seek a second opinion from safelite. They are able to fix windshield and do so at no cost to me. I cancel windshield order from kings Subaru and cancel insurance claim since repair was done at no cost to me. 4/4/2018. Stone ding - safelite repairs glass - I pay $104.40 7/13/2018 - vehicle is parked - hot day. Now has cracked glass from right side towards left side. No evidence of hit. I drive to kings Subaru, they take pictures and forward to Subaru for a possible claim - I am denied assistance so I file another insurance claim and have a glass ordered thru safelite. I learn about a national back order on Subaru that affects windshield delivery. Subaru customer support agrees to expedite delivery and ships windshield to kings Subaru. They sell windshield to another customer. 8/30/2018 re-order windshield thru safelite - they use a different dealer they have a good relationship with. Still waiting for glass to arrive and get installed. I realize Subaru does not manufacture glass but there must be something wrong quality wise with the vehicle or the glass to have this many issues. I am unaware of any recalls on this vehicle involving windshields - documentaion attached.
I have experienced multiple issues with now 2 replacement windows on my 2017 Forester for what I believe to be related to low quality glass that Subaru is using. Glass damage - 1.7.18 - small chip while vehicle was moving from road debris. Driving on I-25 South in co - repaired / chip filled by safelite glass damage - 2.5.18 - small chip near center top that expanded into a 2 foot crack. Chip / crack occured while vehicle was in motion. Was driving on route 6 East. Safelite replaced the glass with an oem / Subaru part glass damage - 3.31.18 - small chip the size of the head of a pin, occured while vehicle was in motion. Driving on I-25 in co left lane, no vehicles in front, only one vehicle to my right. Resulted in overnight cracking of over a foot long while vehicle was parked requiring my windshield to be replaced for a 2nd time.also replaced by safelite there were several additional small chips in between the 1.7.18 and 2.5.18 incident prior to the windshield being replaced.
Own a 2017 Subaru Forester, we have less than 11,000 miles and less than one year of ownership. A small stone hitting the windshield, quickly ends up in a 24" to 30" long linear crack unlike my other two vehicles. We are in process of replacing 3rd windshield glass in less than one year. It appears that there may be an oem defect. This long crack creates danger vision problem. Every windshield replacement requires re-calibration of eyesight too. This is an additional burden on insurance as well as owners and should be addressed asap. Manufacturer has not yet acknowledge the existence of defective windshield. We request that consumer product recall investigate this issue asap.
While driving Subaru Forester 2017, a small rock hit the windshield and small crack quickly turned into 24" to 30" long linear crack and as a result ended up replacing wind shield glass and re-calibration of eyesight. This happened twice in last 8 months. It appears to be an oem issue. Unlike my other two vehicles, they had similar issue however the crack was shield by professionals and never developed linear crack.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Redmond, WA, USA