2020 Subaru Forester Driver Assist & ADAS Problems

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 MPH, the brake pedal of the vehicle was applied inadvertently without any vehicles surrounding the vehicle. The contact stated that simultaneously a " Pre collision braking system was activated " message appeared. The vehicle was taken to the residence. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where the failure was not replicated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 26,000.

Multiple dashboard lights are on including starlink, eyesight, check engine, thermostat, and a blinking s. A quick Google search shows that this exact combination is a known issue. Safety concern is that all the accident prevention systems are down leaving me at risk.

While I was traveling I stopped at a rest area and when I restarted my car, my panel lit up like a Christmas tree. All my safety assist systems were disabled and my check engine light came on. When I got home I had my mechanic run the codes and it came back to the thermo control valve. This happened on 8-29-2023. I researched the problem and Subaru put out a service bulletin in February 2022 but never notified me. My car is out of warranty now and am forced to drive without my safety systems because, 1- they don’t carry the part in stock and 2- the cost to repair is over $1400.00. Subaru was aware of the problem but kept it quiet. I feel this is a scam and Subaru should recall this part. I was warned that my car could die at any time. I bought it for those very safety systems as I am a senior citizen and rely on them now.

Error code (P26A3?)for - Engine Coolant Bypass Valve. Causes the "Check Engine" light to come on and automatically disables ALL of the safety and collision mitigation systems. The Engine Coolant Bypass Valve failure is common and a known issue and Subaru has already updated the part on newer vehicle models. The common failure of the coolant bypass valve should not be disabling the safety features and the collision avoidance systems.

In April 2022 after owning the car for 4 weeks the Eyesight went out. I was told it was due to the thermal control module. That was replaced. I’m n June 2023 the AC went out. They said it was the blower motor. That was replaced. In September 2023 the AC went out again. At that point they found the cause was actually a fully melted fuse box and fuses. They replaced the fusebox and the entire AC system. I have had 3 batteries in the vehicle since March 2022. In December 2024 they found that my car needed an update and the update friend the transmission controls module. Then the starter went out at the same time. After that was fixed a week later all the lights in my dash came on and there were no safety features running in the vehicle. I reach out to Subaru and I was told this was all normal wear and tear in the vehicle and it just happens. A melted fuse box and safely features just randomly dying on a 4.5 year old car goes deeper than that. There has been almost $12000 in repaired performed on this car and the ones remaining are undiagnosed as they have never seen the codes before. This is a mush larger issue and Subaru refuses to do anything.

Was slowly pulling into a parking spot when the "Automatic Emergency Braking" and "Collision Avoidance Systems" engaged. The systems said that there was an "object detected" and slammed the car to a stop. Shut off the car and got out, there was no object. Had to disable the AEB system to pull into the parking space. Vehicle and component have not been inspected for this issue. Vehicle received regular maintenance at a shop (oil change) about 1 month ago and new tires about 1 week ago. Problem has not been confirmed.

Subaru eyesight technology has a pre collision feature along with lane departure feature. Latter can be turned off permanently, the pre-collision feature cannot. Number of instances where this has malfunctioned in a way that is unsafe. Driving in upstate NY on foggy morning, winding hilly roads, 50mph roads. Road had a driveway with a parked car not moving, parked and the pre collision system tried to break, so slowed down the car but there was another coming behind from a hilly turn, not aware I would suddenly slow, especially as I did not anticipate the car would try to put on breaks on its own for a parked unmoving car. No collision resulted fortunately, but unsafe if the car behind had not been able to slow to accomodate for the faulty detection by subaru’s eyesight, thinking the parked unmoving car was a sudden stopping vehicle in front of me, when the winding road was actually clear for me to continue driving. Another incident on another road where a series of 4-5 cars driving constant speed, fixed distance from each other, then first car signalled to turn right and stopped; cars behind just went around them slightly as they were waiting to turn, and I was going to follow suit, the train of cars in front of me, when suddenly eyesight pre collision detected that turning vehicle as something to try to brake for, and the car behind me did not expect the sudden breaking attempt to slow down, and again, close call, no collision resulted but unsafe when the human driver was expecting to continue along with the other train of cars and not expecting a sudden stop. I have called subaru both dealership and main office but informed there is no way to permanently disable the pre collision setting in the car. Concerned that if this feature is on, and erroneously detects an object in front, such as that parked unmoving car, in other situations the cars behind me may not be able to accomodate the attempts at sudden breaking by the subaru eyesight technology. Dangerous.

DRIVING ON STRAIGHT MULTI-LANE HIGHWAY ~2:00 PM IN THE DAYTIME AT ~55 MPH; CLEAR, DRY WEATHER, DRY ROAD. NO VEHICLES OR OBSTRUCTIONS OF ANY KIND IN FRONT OF VEHICLE, FORTUNATELY NO VEHICLES BEHIND. AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEM TRIGGERED FULLY WITHOUT ANY WARNING, BRINGING CAR TO SUDDEN STOP IN HIGH SPEED TRAVEL LANE; COULD HAVE CAUSED SEVERE REAR END COLLISION HAD THERE BEEN ANYONE BEHIND. ENGINE CONTINUED TO RUN, VEHICLE WOULD NOT MOVE UNTIL AFTER SHIFTING INTO PARK AND BACK INTO DRIVE. SUBARU COULD FIND NO REASON FOR ERRONEOUS SUDDEN STOP FUNCTION.

12/16/2020 DRIVING. 3:30 PM DAYTIME. CLEAR WEATHER. DIVIDED HIGHWAY. APPROX 50 MPH. NO VEHICLE IN FRONT OF CAR FOR AT LEAST A QUARTER MILE. CAR INITIATED SUDDEN STOP MODE NEARLY CAUSING A SEVERE REAR END COLLISION (AVOIDED BY APPROACHING DRIVER GOING INTO MEDIAN)