2019 Subaru Forester

I got in my vehicle after getting gas. I was on my way to Neosho, MO, hundreds of miles from home. Thes lights were all on and I couldn't get them to go off. I figured it was because my windshield was dirty. I turned my wipers on to find out one needed replaced. I paid $30 for 1 since I have an odd type of wipers and I had been to 3 auto stores to find it. The Eye Sight, brake, check engine, air bag, and lane assist lights never went off. Now they come on randomly and go off randomly. This causes all safety features to not work. No adaptive cruise control, nothing. I finally got them to go off somehow the day I came back home. I live nowhere near a Subaru dealer. It had no other effect on my vehicle as far as I could tell. Now when they come on. I pull over until they come back on or have to drive it home to sit.

The check engine light went on and the diagnostic code read was P26A3, Engine Coolant Bypass Valve is failing in my 2019 Forester, which only has 46,000 miles on it. Subaru was aware that this part was defective in the 2019-2021 models, because in Feb of 2022 the part was replaced and a service bulletin 09-80-21 was issued with instruction for replacing the part, but did not issue a recall, despite this problem causing the advanced safety features to stop working and directly affecting the proper functioning of the engine. My car is just out of warranty, and the quote to have my mechanic replace the part is almost $1200 which I am unable to afford and do not feel I should have to pay for. Subaru should be help to account for this issue.

I am concerned as my car was safely parked, once I started it and it said eyesight off, flashing S symbol, the heat thermo Stat changes back and forth from hot and cold, car is not warming up and check engine light came on. I am very concerned as it is the winter, and I have my baby in the car. Please advise. This seems very unusual and never happened before. The vehicle have around 23K miles.

All of a sudden, the eyesight and collision prevention stopped working, the check engine light came on, the blue light thermostat indicator came on. We had no heat. The flashing "S" (sportsmode indicator) came on. We were driving on the highway and still over an hour from home. It was snowing, we could not adequately clear the windshield of fog so our visibility was severely compromised. We lost all Eye Sight capability which meant that we were vulnerable if there was ever a crash or an obstruction in the roadway.

On Friday, December 15, 2023 I started my car, Subaru Forester Touring 2019. After starting these lights came on the dashboard: check engine, flashing S drive, no eyesight, RAB off. I was reading online that there have been complaints to NHTSA similar to my problem ( NHTSA ID # 11490232, 12479843, 11511658, 11490977, 11479843, 11499756, 11480952, 11491752, 11474804) to name a few reports.This has never happenedbefore. The mileage on my car is about 54,400 miles at time of incident. It seems to me that there is a pattern here that needs to be resolved and the owners informed so they can get if fixed before it happens and causes safety problems for Subaru Forester owners. I am kindly asking your office to seriously look into this specific problem and help us, the consumers, to inform Subaru to fix these issues. I thank you for taking the time to read my letter.