2015 Subaru Forester

With no one sitting in the passage seat the warning light will not turn off unless the seat belt is buckled The CVT transmission is making a high pitch whining sound The dealership informed me the transmission is going out. There is a manufacturer extended warranty for up to 100,000 miles that I have not received. My car started to make the sound at 110,210 miles Subaru was fully aware of the CVT problems and are not being held accountable for the repairs. I have been quoted I’ve $7000 from the dealership for a replacement The CVT is not repairable My car is now unsafe to drive. The CVT transmission can fail and not shift or not stop while braking

I was driving with cruise control going around 70 when the car started slowing down suddenly. Not wanting to slow down even more, I turned off the cruise control by hand using the cancel button on the steering wheel (rather than tap the brake) but when I then hit the accelerator, the engine felt like it was in neutral, revving past 6000 rpm on the tachometer. At that point, I realized I had no control over the drive train so I pulled off the road onto the center median of the highway, just as the engine died - fortunately, there wasn’t anyone following close behind. We had been driving for about 1.5 hours with the AC blasting and the gas tank at that point was low, with less than 1/8 remaining. All this happened without any dashboard warning lights turning on. This was the very last leg of a ten-day, 2,000 mile road trip. I tried restarting the engine but only got clicking. Since I thought we’d be struck a while and it was so hot, I turned the key to the accessory position and was able to roll down the windows. We sat there for a couple of minutes wondering what to do. It took another minute to find my AAA card. Before calling for roadside assistance, I tried starting the engine again and this time it turned over. We did not have any further problems in the remaining 100 miles of our trip (though I was very anxious about it happening again). I took the car in to a Subaru service center this morning (36 hours later). They did a multi-point inspection and road test but did not find any issues and were not able to replicate the problem.

Car continues to have ongoing lack of response with acceleration. Car was at dealer for 3 weeks for inspection after I was nearly rear ended due to lack of response in acceleration at a stop light, as well as shifting gears. No lights came on to indicate issue, thus the car was returned to me with no repairs. 2 weeks after car obtained from dealer, car again started having issues with acceleration, and pulling into a lot, the AT oil temp light, hill assist, ABS, and check engine light came on. In the 2 prior attempted repair sessions at dealer, the team stated that they were unable to replicate the problem that has been occurring nearly daily for almost 2 months, and stated that they cannot figure it out without any lights coming on. Given the lack of responsiveness to accelerate, my safety is at-risk as well as others, as I am not able to clear traffic as quickly as I should.

While attempting to make a left turn the car stalled and lost all power. The car had to be restarted and was able to drive back home. Took the car to dealership who stated it was a battery issue and a plugged air filter. NO check of the transmission was completed. This is the CVT transmission. The battery is 6 months old and the battery was tested multiple times by other locations and tested good. This stalling making a turn seems to be an ongoing issue with Subaru and the CVT transmission.

Hill start assist system failure. Apply power, but the car would not go very far before the brakes were automatically applied. Pull out into traffic and the car would not go. Dangerous. Warning message that the system hill start assist should be inspected by a Subaru dealer. Drove on deserted city streets for two minutes and then everything was okay except the warning light stayed on until I got home and turned the car off. I have found out how to deactivate the hill start system and I will do that. I have not yet taken the car to the dealer.

PREMATURE WHEEL BEARING FAILURE, SUBARU ALREADY HAS A SERVICE BULETIN (#05-70-19 ANNOUNCED ON SEPT 30, 2019) RECOMENDING INSTALLING REVISED BRAKE BACKING PLATES DUE TO FACTORY INSTALLED NON-FLAT BACKING PLATES WHICH DISTORT THE REAR WHEEL BEARINGS/HUBS CAUSING PREMATURE WHEEL BEARING FAILURE. THIS IS A WELL DOCUMENTED OCCURANCE NOTED ON NATIONAL SUBARU WEB PORTALS FOR MULTIPLE MODELS WITH POSSIBLE CATASTROPHIC OUTCOMES.

The car regularly lurches or feels as it will stall. This occurs when trying to go from stops to starts both in a slow and faster manner. Has occurred while trying to turn left with oncoming traffic and I was concerned I may get hit. Dealership said “all 2015 Forrester do this. It drives like the others on the lot. There aren’t any issues and if there were we would see light”. Obviously this is a know issue and Subaru doesn’t want to address it. When it happens the rpms shutter abs the speed doesn’t change

We were driving on the highway going 65 and then there were two quick shudders and jerks of the car. Seemed to lose power in those moments. Immediately after that, we could hear a faint whoosh sound when on the accelerator but the car did accelerate. That sound was not there before the shudders. Then about 30 seconds later the power gave out and the car started slowing down very quickly. Luckily we were in the right lane and could pull off to the shoulder quickly, though the shoulder was very narrow and dangerous. The car slowed down very quickly without applying that much brake. When we were stopped on the shoulder, I applied the accelerator, and the car was in Drive, and it didn’t go anywhere. Then we put it in park and the car rolled forward. So both the drive and park gears were not working. We turned the car off and then back on to try the gears again. Same issues happened again with drive and park. This was a very dangerous situation that occurred quickly on a highway. The issue described and what we experienced seems to be consistent with similar issues with other CVT transmissions. We hope the NHTSA follows up with Subaru as we will be as well.

My 2015 Subaru Forester developed a high pitch noise emanating from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle currently has less than 50,000 miles on the odometer and I am the original owner. I discovered that Subaru has issued a TSB regarding the issue (NUMBER: 05-70-19). The noise is loud and distracting and it appears that a complete bearing failure is imminent. Subaru should extend the powertrain warranty for this item to 10 years and or 100,000 miles and cover any owners previous repair costs.

Key will not remove from ignition when put in park. Happens about 40-60% of the time and must shift several times in and out of park to get key out of ignition. This is a known faulty part with several models (see Subaru Service Bulletin 16-112-18R) yet Subaru has not issued a recall. Replacement of known faulty part is at customer's expense. Safety issue - unable to exit car upon parking.