2015 Subaru Forester

On Wednesday November 10 I was arriving at Chase Bank 4229 Woodruff Ave Lakewood Ca. I was turning right into a parking stall heading due east, parking between a pickup truck to the right and a passenger car to the left. I was braking with my right foot only traveling 5 miles per hour and suddenly the car accelerated over a parking stop and into the bank building. It was so sudden I couldn't react and pull up the parking brake. The collision caused major front end damage to my 2015 Subaru Forrester XT. It also caused damage to the Chase Bank building. I was lucky to be a couple of parking spaces south of the ready teller , as there was a male white customer at the outside teller and he would of been killed or at least very severely injured. My wife selected this car new in 2015 because of the safety of it.

I have done research and noticed that the engine is a problem with the 2015 Subaru Forester. The engine consumes oil at a very high rate. I get my oil changed (fully synthetic) every 5,000 miles. However, at about 3,000 miles of use, my oil light comes on at the dash. I then have to take my vehicle to the dealership to get the oil "topped off" to hold me over until my oil change date. This engine burns off oil at a very high rate. Also, the vehicle has consistently smelled like a burning or burnt oil type smell in the cabin of the car after driving it. After I park the vehicle in the garage and get out, you can smell the "burning/hot" smell of the engine or oil. This has been an issue for over 2 years and I have notified the dealership where I bought the vehicle. They said there is nothing that they can do, because there is no recall and that these cars just burn oil fast. The dealership also stated they don't know what the "burning" smell is. I feel that this is an insufficient engine and can be dangerous. I'm not sure how toxic the fumes are from the engine to be smelling it on a consistent basis, but also burning oil at a fast rate could cause more expensive and dangerous issues with other parts of the vehicle.

The contact owned a 2015 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, pulling into a parking space, and while attempting to park the vehicle on the street, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The contact had to depress the brake pedal several times before the brakes were engaged. The failure occurred on two separate occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer could not replicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired and was later sold to St. Cloud Subaru (141 Park Ave S, St. Cloud, MN 56301). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately under 60,000.

At about 101,000 miles I took the car in to the dealership where I bought it for another issue. When the tech got it up on his lift he came in and notified the service manager that there was bubbles on my brake line. The service manager came to us and she said “I really shouldn’t let you drive out of here with those bubbles because I would be an unsafe condition”, the implication was that if they burst I would have no brakes. The road salt on the roads in the winter in Vermont was indicated as the cause of the problem. They installed all new brake lines behind the cabin. I had asked them to save a section of the brake lines showing the bubbles and that DID NOT happen. I do much of my own maintenance and to have steel brake lines bubble it’s hard to understand. Maybe the hose between the end of the steel brake line and the wheel could bubble but having the brake line bubble is nightmarish.The safety concern is if other Subarus in salty climates have that problem and the owner is not aware of it, the brakes are liable to fail. Scary. As to the engine, since the car was a new, putting pressure on the accelerator caused the car to lurch, Irritating and dangerous in tight settings. Notified the dealership on the day we got it and when mentioned, nothing could be done for the 5 years since it was new.

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.

The contact owns a 2015 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the seat belt warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was diagnosed but not repaired. Upon investigation, the contact associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V701000 (Air Bags) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was approximately 65,000.

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.