Air Bags. Review the 99 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
Electrical System. Review the 93 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
Engine. Review the 60 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

39 crash reports3 fire reports14 injury reports

What owners actually said

413 reports

Mileage unknown · Oct 7, 2022

Electrical System

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Multiple occasions of vehicle cranking and not starting, or not cranking at all. Had original battery replaced at 35 months, and had new battery tested on 10/06/2022. The manufacturer mandated test showed the new battery was rated as a Fail, not meeting industry standards for this battery type/configuration. Dealer confirmed that there is no known repair available, including a reflash of the engine control module (ECM). Subaru is involved in battery lawsuit, and will not work on any battery related issues without forcing owner to register in the class action and give up rights to getting problem fixed. These actions are forcing us to own vehicles that the manufacturer considers unrepairable and are guaranteed to fail to start due to battery issues.

NHTSA ODI #11488295

Mileage unknown · Sep 28, 2022

Electrical System

Alternator failed about a year old 2017. Next year battery failed.

NHTSA ODI #11487001

Mileage unknown · Sep 19, 2022

Electrical System

The horn does not respond when pressing the button on the steering wheel. The only works if the steering wheel is turned. This is a hazard as the horn is needed to prevent a collision. I have had near miss collisions due to this failure.

NHTSA ODI #11485198

Mileage unknown · Sep 10, 2022

Seat Belts

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Passenger commented, asking why their seatbelt attachment point was not properly anchored and was hanging loose from front seat. Upon investigation, we noticed that the bolt holding the end of the LH portion of the passenger seatbelt had backed out. We were able to make a temporary field repair by tightening the bolt back in with our fingers, and later needed to use a 17mm wrench to further tighten the bolt to the point where it appeared to be reasonably tightened. When tightening the bolt, I did not notice any type of locking washer, or sense there was any type of chemical locking materials on the threaded portion of the bolt and wonder if it was improperly attached when the vehicle was built. In the case of an accident, I think it is reasonable to assume that the loose bolt would have failed and allowed the anchored end of the passenger seatbelt to come loose. The vehicle has approximately 27,000 miles, has never been in an accident, and has never had seats removed or repaired since we purchased it new.

NHTSA ODI #11483816

Mileage unknown · Sep 3, 2022

Forward Collision AvoidanceSuspension

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While driving N on I 24 near Nashville Tn my Eyesight assistant turned off illuminated warning light, as it cancelled my adaptive cruise control at freeway speeds in heavy traffic, while engageing my my brakes and illuminated my forward collision warning coming very close to causing serious accident to whereIended up on shoulder due to severe vibration from my defective passenger lower control arm deffectivecv axle. All of which were looked at and reported to Crown Subaru Service department. They had my vehicle for 2 days, repaired air bag and rearcoil spring recall told me my passenger lower control arm was bent and cv axle was defective the stayed my extended warranty didn't cover it when the warranty personnel said it would be covered. Never even checked my eyesight assist or other safety items associated with it even though I explained it shutoff and turns on and off sporadically. Is it going to take a death or deaths to get these people to do there job and repair and stand by the vehicles we purchase which employees them but a life isn't worth and hour inspection by Crown Subaru or Subaru corp start caring. It was in there shop 2 days prior to incident I could have at least been warned about operation of my vehicle

NHTSA ODI #11482710

Mileage unknown · Aug 20, 2022

EngineUnknown Or Other

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Since 2018 we starting noticing random power loss and every time we took vehicle to dealership for maintenance, they could never find an issue. The loss of power began at random as well went up hills. It felt as if there was something blocking the engine from preforming as intended. Maybe poor air flow or turbo lag. We would let go of accelerator because it felt as if the car was going to stall. This power lag or loss would last 5-10 minutes. Then more issues appeared during 2018-2022. The issues were always at random. Issues we witnessed were: loss of power (poor air flow/ bad compression), car seemed to want to stall at stops, weird metal clacking (which we were able to record), bopping car at stops (as a manual car would before stalling). A code was never available for dealership to know the problem at hand. Over the past years we continued to take in the vehicle for the issues we experienced. The dealership never found the root of the problem. The problem continued until 2022 and now the car is inoperable. 400 miles out of warranty and Subaru does not want to fix this issue that had been happening since 2018. I have been waiting for Subaru of America to contact me since 7/22/22. I could never get an answer from case worker. Subaru wants us to pay out of pocket roughly 4500 and then maybe they cover the rest.

NHTSA ODI #11480353

Mileage unknown · Aug 20, 2022

Electrical SystemVehicle Speed Control

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I pulled into a parking space with a friend and as I turned the wheel to pull in and had the foot on the break, as soon as I let up on the brake the car lurched forward. Luckily, I slammed back on the brake since my foot has just come off it. This was very scary as I came close to ramming into the car parked in front of me. There is no way that I hit the gas and made it lurch like it did. The car is only a 4 cyl. Now I am scared to drive it. There were no warning lights at all. I have not taken the car in to the dealer as I suspect they will say there is nothing wrong and charge me for diagnostics. I saw there were 200 complaints about this, mostly with 2017 models, but there should be a recall. I had another problem where the power steering quit working after parking the car in the garage overnight. Again, no recall and when I called Subaru they said they could run diagnostics but if nothing is found, I have to pay. Nice racket they have going.

NHTSA ODI #11480344

Mileage unknown · Aug 20, 2022

Electrical SystemEngineVehicle Speed Control

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Our Subaru Forester is slow to respond on acceleration and then surges quickly. This problem just started to surface. Our concern is when stepping down on the accelerator the car is very slow to react and then surges forward quickly, creating a serious concern over a potential accident. On August 17, 2022 I was reversing up my driveway to the garage and as I depressed the accelerator the car failed to respond. I was reluctant to depress the pedal further over concern it might suddenly surge backward too fast. What was concerning is that the accelerator did not respond as normal. August 18th, I started the car, drove out of the garage and onto the street. When I stepped onto the accelerator the car showed no response, then suddenly without warning surged forward at high speed, catching me off guard. I stepped on the brake and the car immediately stopped. I carefully tried to drive forward, again the car surged forward. I drove back into the garage. Our neighbor’s nephew took it for a drive and experience the same unexpected surge of acceleration. It was towed to the Subaru Dealership. The Dealership has consistently maintained our Forester since purchased. I asked if the car had surged and the Service Advisor shared that the technician had noticed an irregularity in acceleration. However, Diagnostic tests found nothing. The shop manager said he put almost 40 miles on it but found nothing. The service adviser called and suggested we come in and ride with the shop manager, which we did. He test drove it for a few miles and the acceleration appeared normal. He did say after the test drive that he sensed something irregular about the acceleration when leaving a stop sign. We asked they keep the car and test the car after sitting over the weekend. I asked service advisor and the shop manager if he had ever heard of a Subaru with this issue of being slow to respond on acceleration and then surging quickly. They both said they had never heard of this issue

NHTSA ODI #11480297

Mileage unknown · Aug 18, 2022

Power TrainCrash

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Pulled into parking space in shopping mall. The car accelerated over the curb and ran into a store front knocking out a wall. The car was still in Drive when it came to a stop. No one was hurt in the car, on the sidewalk or in the store. There is a class action law suit on this model of Subaru for uncontrolled/sudden acceleration while coming to a stop, but Subaru does not acknowledge any problem. This was the first indication of a sudden acceleration for this car. It just had its 30,000 inspection from the Subaru dealer.

NHTSA ODI #11480037

Mileage unknown · Aug 12, 2022

Fuel/propulsion SystemUnknown Or OtherVehicle Speed ControlCrashInjury

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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.

NHTSA ODI #11479076

Official recalls

19V701000 · Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification

Oct 3, 2019

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2015-2018 Forester vehicles equipped with heated seats. An electrical connection in the front passenger seat for the Occupant Detection System (ODS) may loosen.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: If the connection loosens, the front passenger airbag may deactivate even though the seat is occupied, increasing the risk of injury to the front passenger in the event of a crash.

Remedy: Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, as necessary, replace the ODS sensor mat harness, free of charge. The recall began February 11, 2020. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WUM-98.

19V149000 · Exterior Lighting:brake Lights:switch

Feb 28, 2019

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2014-2016 Forester, 2008-2016 Impreza sedans, 2012-2016 Impreza station wagons, 2008-2014 WRX sedans (including STI), and 2013-2017 Crosstrek vehicles. Exposure to certain contaminants may cause the brake light switch to malfunction, preventing the brake lights from illuminating and also preventing keyless ignition vehicles from starting and CVT/automatic transmissions from being able to be shifted out of Park.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Brake lights that do not illuminate properly will not alert other drivers that the vehicle is slowing or stopping, increasing the risk of crash.

Remedy: Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will replace the brake light switch, free of charge. The recall began April 15, 2019. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WUE-90.

16V162000 · Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:gasoline:turbo/supercharger

Mar 21, 2016

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 WRX vehicles manufactured April 10, 2015, to October 21, 2015, and Forester 2.0XT vehicles manufactured April 10, 2015, to October 20, 2015. The turbocharger air intake duct may crack and possibly result in an engine stall.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: An engine stall increases the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the turbocharger air intake duct, and replace it as necessary, free of charge, depending on the lot number found on the duct. The recall began April 2016. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-800-782-2783. Subaru's number for this recall is WTA-62.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

PE19009 · Occupant Detection System (ods) Failure

Opened Aug 6, 2019 · Closed Jan 22, 2020

Status: closed (inferred from source dates) · Air Bags; Air Bags:frontal; Air Bags:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module; Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE19-009 to investigate 51 complaints and additional Early Warning Report (EWR) data related to allegations of front passenger seat Occupant Detection System (ODS) malfunctions in model year (MY) 2016 through 2018 Subaru Forester vehicles. These vehicles use a capacitive type ODS, which is intended to classify the occupant of the passenger seat as either full-sized, small stature, a child seat or other object. The complaints reported the ODS failed to operate properly, the SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) warning light illuminated, and/or the ODS incorrectly suppressed (turned off) the front passenger air bag when the seat was occupied by a full-sized passenger. In a frontal crash that is sufficient to warrant deployment, a suppressed air bag may increase the risk of injury to the occupant of the seat.On August 14, 2019 ODI sent an Information Request (IR) to Subaru requesting information on the subject vehicles and MY 2014-2015 Subaru Forester vehicles.On October 3, 2019, Subaru submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR) to NHTSA describing a safety defect in the passenger-side front airbag Occupant Detection System (ODS) harness of 366,282 MY 2015-2018 Subaru Forester vehicles equipped with seat heaters.The DIR stated that over time, due to a decrease in contact pressure between the terminals in the ODS sensor mat harness, a temporarily unstable electrical connection may be possible. If the connection is temporarily unstable, the ODS may not properly determine the status of the right front seat occupant. If the ODS is unable to correctly determine the status of the front occupant, the airbag warning light may illuminate, and the front passenger airbag may deactivate even though the seat is occupied, increasing the risk of injury to the front passenger in the event of a crash.Using vehicle production data and field occurrence frequency, Subaru determined the potentially affected vehicle production range to be between January 20, 2015 ?and August 1, 2017.In addition, Subaru indicated that over 99 percent of the related MY 2015-2018 field reports with vehicles in the production range involved vehicles with seat heaters.NHTSA's analysis of complaint and warranty claim data showed 1,440 of the complaints and 11,672 of the claims involve vehicles with seat heaters that were built within the production range covered by Subaru's recall.In addition, NHTSA's analysis showed a complaint rate of 393.1 per hundred thousand vehicles for the recalled population and 89.0 for MY 2014 through 2018 vehicles that are not included in the recall. Analysis of warranty claim data found a claim rate of 3.2 percent for the recalled population and 0.3 percent for MY 2014 through 2018 vehicles that are not included in the recall.Subaru will instruct owners with Subaru Forester vehicles produced in the affected vehicle production range, to bring their vehicles to a dealer to have the sensor mat harness, inspected and replaced with a new part, including the seat cushion assembly, if necessary.Based on ODI's analysis, the actions taken by Subaru mitigate any unreasonable risk to safety posed by ODS sensor mat failures in the subject vehicles. For subject and peer vehicles outside the recall population and those equipped without seat heaters, ODI's analysis indicates that there is currently no safety-related defect trend. Given these circumstances, further use of the agency resources in this matter does not appear to be warranted. Accordingly, this investigation is closed.

Additional source detail variants (4)

Air Bags:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module

Air Bags:frontal

Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification

Air Bags

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