2020 Subaru Forester

At one year old this vehicle was involved in a frontal collision with a deer and immediately upon impact burst into flames. The fire breached the firewall between the engine compartment and passenger compartment within less then a minute. Within 2 minutes the engine compartment and front seat area was completely engulfed in flames and within 3 minutes the entire vehicle was engulfed. It appears the fire started as the fuel shut-off system that is supposed to stop the fuel from flowing once the airbags are deployed failed. This put the occupants of this vehicle and any others had this been a collision with another vehicle in extreme danger of serious injury if not even death. Had the driver been incapacitated, not been able to open the door or had a child to remove from a car seat there would have been certain death due to the extremely rapid spread of the fire throughout the entire vehicle. This has been reported to Subaru of America. The vehicle is currently being inspected by the insurance carrier. There were no prior warnings that there were any concerns with the safety features of this vehicle. It was just serviced by the dealer one month prior to the accident. In reviewing other complaints on the NHTSA website there is a complaint of a 2019 Subaru Forester that experienced this same complete and total destruction due to a fire erupting upon impact in what should have been a minor frontal collision.

BOTH MY WIFE AND I HAVE RUN OUT OF GAS ON THIS VEHICLE WHICH HAS LESS THAN 5,000 MILES ON IT. THE LOW GAS INDICATOR IS LIMITED TO A BRIEF WARNING IN THE SCREEN BEHIND THE STEERING WHEEL. WE BOTH FIND THIS VERY EASY TO MISS AND THERE IS NO PERSISTENT VISUAL OR AUDITORY WARNING. RUNNING OUT OF GAS UNEXPECTEDLY IS AN EXTREME SAFETY HAZARD, WE WERE LUCKY TO AVOID BEING REAR ENDED, BUT HAD TO PARK AT SOME RISK. NEITHER OF US CAN RECALL RUNNING OUT OF GAS IN OUR OTHER VEHICLES FOR OVER 20 YEARS.