2020 Subaru Forester

Three times within 30 minutes on short drive, the engine stalled at stop sign or stop light. The car had a half tank of gas, and at the same time as the engine stalled, the miles remaining until empty display showed an anomalous 0.3miles to empty reading. Put the car in park allowed the engine to restart and the range remaining display to return to normal.

Component/System Defect: Failed Thermo Control Valve (TCV) leading to sudden vehicle power loss / limp mode. Description of Safety Incident: While operating my vehicle at highway speeds late at night, the Thermo Control Valve (TCV) failed catastrophically without warning. The vehicle instantly experienced a massive loss of engine power and entered an aggressive "limp mode," causing a drastic, uncommanded deceleration in active traffic lanes.Due to the sudden reduction in speed and the low-visibility night conditions, a commercial semi-truck traveling directly behind my vehicle was nearly unable to brake in time and narrowly avoided rear-ending us. My family—including an elderly senior and a [XXX] child—was trapped inside the vehicle during this near-miss collision. The vehicle became an immediate hazard on a high-speed highway. The authorized dealership subsequently confirmed a failed Thermo Control Valve (TCV) and replaced the unit under Subaru's extended warranty program. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

24th February 2020 - Bought the car from Subaru dealer. Couple of service records prior to May 24, 2022. - May 24, 2022 (9,037 miles) | RO# 806326: The lower oil pan leaked prematurely and had to be completely replaced under warranty. During the same visit, explained LONG BRAKE PEDAL issue, and was given an estimate. - - June 1, 2022 (9,039 miles) | RO# 806767: Just 2 miles after that repair, the oil pan had to be torn apart again because the internal oil level sensor failed and got stuck. - January 19, 2024 (18,854 miles) | RO# 838995: The vehicle suffered a dangerous engine shutdown in the middle of traffic due to the factory Thermo Control Valve defect (TSB 09-80-21). While resolving this safety defect under warranty, the dealer used scare tactics to upsell me $794.23 out of pocket for unrelated maintenance. - July 3rd, 2025 - You can see from invoice records that indicate, customer requesting a quote on repairing the windshield chips, as I learned on 26th August 2026 (during call with Subaru corporate) that it was under extended warranty, dealership offered me a quote and did not volunteer to repair at no cost nor conveyed information on extended warranty. This damage happened twice due to poor quality of Windshield in my car. - 23rd August, 2026 - This 2020 Subaru Forester has experienced repeated failures involving the Auto Start/Stop system. When stopped in traffic, the system shuts the engine off as designed, but on multiple occasions the engine has failed to restart normally when the driver needed to proceed. This has left the vehicle unable to move in active traffic and created a serious risk of collision. The failures have occurred in highly dangerous situations. - 24th August, 2026 - Similar incident happened the next day. - 25th August 2026 (39,000 miles) | Present Day: The lower oil pan seal has failed yet again. Dealership is suggesting a battery replacement. Shared inspection video shows, rusts on bolts, very unusual for a car driven only 39000.

This 2020 Subaru Forester has experienced repeated failures involving the Auto Start/Stop system. When stopped in traffic, the system shuts the engine off as designed, but on multiple occasions the engine has failed to restart normally when the driver needed to proceed. This has left the vehicle unable to move in active traffic and created a serious risk of collision. The failures have occurred in highly dangerous situations, including a busy [XXX], a major [XXX] intersection, and most recently while entering a freeway. In these incidents, surrounding drivers had to brake hard to avoid striking the disabled vehicle. The occupants reasonably feared a serious collision, and the events were potentially life-threatening. The battery was replaced, but the Auto Start/Stop no-restart condition later occurred again, so battery replacement did not resolve the problem. Subaru issued Technical Service Bulletin 16-147-24 on XXX for 2019-2021 Foresters. The bulletin addresses TCM reprogramming related to engine behavior during Auto Start/Stop restart and instructs technicians to reprogram the TCM when the described symptom is reported. However, the bulletin’s warranty section provides reimbursement under the Basic New Car Limited Warranty. For a 2020 vehicle, the original 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty would ordinarily have expired before this 2024 bulletin was issued. The vehicle is now being evaluated by an authorized Subaru dealer. The condition is intermittent and dangerous because the driver cannot know whether the engine will restart when movement is required. The vehicle is available for inspection. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

My 2020 Subaru Forester Sport suffered catastrophic engine failure on 6/19/2026 at 156,322 miles, 15 days and 1,031 miles after a thermo control valve (TCV) repair performed at an authorized Subaru dealer on 6/4/2026. The TCV is a known defect covered under Subaru TSB 09-119-24 (extended coverage to 150,000 miles/15 years). I never received mailed notification of this TSB and therefore did not seek repair within the covered window; Subaru approved the repair as a goodwill exception. While driving on I-70 westbound near Genesee, CO, on a sustained mountain grade with my family in the vehicle, I heard a loud noise. The oil temperature spiked to approximately 280°F, warning lights illuminated, and the vehicle lost all power in highway traffic. Losing propulsion on a steep grade in mountain traffic created a serious risk to my family and surrounding vehicles. Post-failure condition: empty coolant reservoir, coolant-contaminated (milky, green-tinted) oil, and metal debris on the dipstick, consistent with cooling-system failure causing engine seizure. I have timestamped photos. The engine is locked and the vehicle inoperable. The vehicle was towed to the same authorized dealer on 7/9/2026. The dealer's technician confirmed the engine is seized and requires teardown ($3,302.95) for full diagnosis; the dealer states teardown proceeds only on authorization from me or Subaru of America. I opened a case with Subaru of America on 5/26/2026 and formally requested in writing that Subaru authorize the teardown, with a stated deadline. As of 7/17/2026, the dealer confirms Subaru has sent no authorization or any communication during the week the vehicle has been on their lot. My written deadline, follow-up call, and final written notice went unanswered. The vehicle and all components are preserved at the dealer and available for inspection upon request.

Vehicle entered limp mode at highway speed (approximately 70 mph) on [XXX] freeway in Washington State, it felt like I had rear ended a vehicle it shut down so hard. This was due to mis diagnosed inspection and service repair from a local Subaru Dealer. Vehicle lost power rapidly, creating a dangerous safety situation. Root cause traced to TCV/PCV system defects previously documented by authorized Subaru dealers. Previous Subaru authorized dealer replaced a torn PCV hose but did not diagnose the problem causing the tear. The dash warning lights were still illuminated after the diagnostic and repair when vehicle was picked up after service. I have attached a more detailed overview of the dangerous situation. The car finally lost power on the freeway while I was in the fast lane pushing 70 miles an hour. I was in the fast lane and with no power I had to cut across both lanes of traffic and get to the shoulder. I was 45 minutes from my home and it was dark, raining and the Subaru would not start. I called a mobile mechanic I found online who came out to the freeway, roadside, where I was stranded. He worked on the car for a couple of hours in the rain. He got the car to start but it would not stay running. I had the car towed to a friend's house in Vancouver, WA about 6 miles from where it had broken down. The same mobile mechanic came out and changed out one of the oil actuators and cleaned and replaced two of the OCVs then flushed the oil system and put new oil in the car. Cleared all the codes. The car starts, idles and will drive up to about 1500 rpm’s but any more than 1500 rpm’s and it dies. It's in limp mode and will move past those rpm’s. The warning lights and the PCV house splitting must have been signs of something else being wrong. That is the discussion I had with Wilsonville Subaru. They diagnosed the vehicle and let me know the PCV hose was the problem. Car was towed to [XXX] in Vancouver, WA sitting since April 15th, 2026 INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF IN

My son, [XXX] is currently driving this car. The car only has 29,200 miles so far. Last week, while at the stop light on the hill, he had near fatal accident! Forester suddenly completed shut down. The only functioning part was the brake. My son had to put the car in park and restart the engine. I reported the incident to customer advocate at Subaru and taking the car in for inspection. We never skip any scheduled maintenance. My next maintenance not due until April. I also purchased Subaru safety monitoring software. The car never shows any malfunction. It’s a very serious issue. We strongly suspect it’s related to the start-stop system on this car. We strongly support to override the system at consumer level giving their unreliability. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)