There are 6 owner-reported fuel system complaints for the 2019 Subaru Foresterin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
While driving, the car would occasionally experience deceleration despite pressing the gas pedal. It would suddenly pick up speed and continue normally. Moreover, the car stalled twice, and on both occasions, it wouldn't restart. The first time, it took a while to restart, and I initially suspected bad gasoline. The second time, it took about five minutes. Given these symptoms, I suspect that the fuel pump could be causing these issues.
No response when gas pedal is pushed. Intermittent. Very dangerous when pulling out into traffic. Very serious safety hazard.
We were driving to our summer vacation destination, which was about a 2-hour drive from where we currently live, when it happened. We had been driving for about an hour now and I was in the left lane going approximately 60 MPH when out of nowhere all of the warning lights flashed on my dashboard, including the "check engine light". Then, within seconds I went from about 60 MPH down to 30 MPH down to 10 MPH with no control of the acceleration. I quickly and safely had to pull over to the right lane, which was a bit challenging. Thankfully, I managed to pull off to the side of the road avoiding cars that were zooming past me. At the time, I had no idea what had happened. I tried to depress the gas pedal, but nothing happened. So then I decided to turn the car off. I opened the hood of the car to see if it was something obvious, but didn't see anything. I went to go turn the car back on, but it wouldn't start. We were left stranded on a fast highway. I had to call a tow truck to take my 2019 Subaru Forester to the closet Subaru dealership.This all happened on a Sunday when most places are closed. I receive a call a few days later stating that it was a fuel pump failure and pressure valve malfunction and some of the parts are on backorder. It's been a little over two months now and I still don't have my car back. I keep calling about every 2 weeks for an update, but they keep pushing back the ETA of the part arrival. Last time I called, they stated there was no update and they don't know when the part will come in. Looking back, there were no warning signs that could have lead me to believe that I had a fuel pump problem. I took my car to all of the scheduled maintenance and completed the one recall I had. My car ran great and nothing was wrong with it until that day on the fast highway. I was thankful that we were able to pull off to the side of road in a matter of seconds safely with cars going 60 MPH.
On 9/11/2021, i was pulling into a vacant parking spot. I backed into an open area and applied the brakes and shifted from reverse to forward, The car accelerated full open, initially the brakes did not stop the car, I pulled to the left trying to avoid hitting the auto in front of me. I hit the auto on the left bumper, the car continued to race full open while my foot was on the brake, we moved forward five foot or so and then the car stopped. The air bags did not deploy. The auto that we hit was not occupied and there we no injuries. note; we have not yet made a police report but will soon, so the line is now marked no. we have looked on line and similar incidents have been reported going back 20 years' we are waiting for Monday to have the car towed from our house to ther repair shop, no estimates yet. but the entire front is pushed in.
CAR STALLS SOMETIMES WHEN TURNING FROM ONE STREET INTO ANOTHER STREET, ABOUT ONE TIME IN TWENTY.
I LEASED THIS CAR LATE MARCH 2019 AND FROM DAY ONE I SMELLED A GASOLINE LIKE ODOR WHEN TURNING ON THE CAR FOR THE FIRST 5 TO 10 MIN. I'VE HAD BMW FORN10 YEARS AND SUBARU IS NEW TO ME. I THOUGHT THE SMELL WAS NORMAL BECAUSE IT'S A 4WD. AT MY LAST VEHICLE SERVICE AT SUBARU I MENTIONED THE SMELL TO THEM. THEY ULTIMATELY DISCOVERED THAT THE CAR HAS A FAULTY EXHAUST. THEY SAID THE SMELL CAME FROM A PLASTIC BAG THAT THEY FOUND INSIDE THE HOOD OF THE CAR. HOWEVER, MY BROTHER IN LAW HAD OPENED THE HOOD 2 WEEKS PRIOR TO CHECK THE OIL LEVEL OF CAR BC OF A SOUND IT WAS MAKING AND THERE WAS NO PLASTIC BAG AT THAT TIME. I AM GOING TO HAVE THE EXHAUST REPLACED THIS SATURDAY BUT I WANTED TO REPORT THIS JUST IN CASE THERE ARE MORE CARS THAT HAVE THE SAME PROBLEMS.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 26, 2026