2021 Subaru Forester Complaint Log

Thermo control valve defective. Not informed one week ago when I purchased car at end of lease. Problem known to Subaru since 2019 or sooner. Would not have purchased if I had been notified about this major problem

I was driving along the highway when I heard the sound of a pebble hitting my windshield. When I got home, I immediately checked my windshield and did not see any damage. I was quite relieved. Two hours later, I looked out and saw a very long crack had appeared. The crack went from nothing to about 22 inches long in a matter of hours. I went to investigate further and saw that the pebble created a small pit on the edge of the windshield. Unfortunately, like typical windshields, the pit did not remain consistent in size and stay put. Instead, it spread out as a very large crack on the window. I read today that Subaru has a lawsuit against this very thing - faulty windshields. I have had this vehicle two weeks and now have a very costly repair because of the eyesight technology. I bought this car for its reliability without knowing that it had faulty windshields.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front windshield cracked without impact. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 34,350.

To whom this may concern, My name is [XXX] . I was the owner of a 2021 Subaru Forester. I bought this car brand new and I loved this car. One of the biggest reasons I bought a Subaru is because of the multiple safety features the car has. I've had this car for three years and always felt safe until last week. During a road trip on [XXX] at [XXX] My car hit a deer on the front drivers side and within seconds caught on fire. The entire car was engulfed in flames within 3 minutes. All passengers were unharmed and we were able to get 95% of our stuff out of the car. This experience was pretty traumatic knowing that I was supposed to be driving the safest car in America and it caught on fire very easily from a baby deer hit. Not only did my car catch on fire but it left us stranded in the middle of Utah. Thank god it was in a big enough town that had a car rental. Insurance is still assessing my car and I'm currently in the market for a new car but with everything that happened it makes me feel very uneasy about getting another Subaru. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Just discovered this morning that the windshield of my car has a long crack without being hit by any item like stone or small debris. It also affects the eyesight as it malfunctions occassionally

Windshield has cracked twice with no visual impact site or minimal impact. Occurred almost ‘spontaneously.’ Both incidents had significant splintering on the windshield impairing visibility. Incidents occurred within 6 months of each other. The windshield cracking can also affect the ‘Eye Sight’ camera with the car safety features. Appears to be a known issue with the type of glass used.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, she observed micro-fractures developing on the front windshield of the vehicle. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 15,000.

The 2021 Subaru Forester had been functioning normally with no warning lights. About 25 minutes into the drive I had come to a stop light on an upward incline. When the light turned green I moved from the brake to the gas as usual. However the auto-start function on the car failed, causing the engine to stall. A loud clunking sound was heard and the dashboard lit up with multiple lights, although I do no recall which ones were illumined. I attempted to press the gas again and the car did not respond. During this short time my foot was pressing on the gas the car rolled backwards and collided with the vehicle behind me. I continued attempting to press the gas pedal and still no acceleration was made. After parking and restarting the car it has resumed normal function. I have not yet visited the dealership so this issue has not yet been reproduced, nor has the offending system been inspected. I'm summary, the automatic engine start failed at a critical location, putting myself and others in serious danger and ultimately caused a crash.

The automatic shut off feature causes the car to lose all power. No power at all in the middle of traffic and I can't even use hazard lights to warn anyone. When at a stop the auto shut off turns off the car and when I take my foot off the brake it completely dies. It has happened 5 times in the last 3 days. Very dangerous. Imagine this happening on the freeway during rush hour. It's a miracle if no one has been killed. I saw countless posts from others on different forums. I have only owned this car for a week and half, taking it to the dealer today. This needs to be a recall paid for by Subaru, it is unacceptable.

My vehicle starlink infotainment system does not work. This is a safety hazard because it prevents drivers from using their back up cameras and this car has many blind spots. This also frustrates drivers and causes distraction as navigation is not available. The screen display abruptly stopped working. I brought my vehicle to the dealer and their solution was to spend $1700 on a new infotainment system. Owners should not have to be paying to utilize safety features marketed for the vehicle they bought. There were no warnings prior to the system breaking.

See attached document for complaint

My Forester was parked and when I started the car I heard a pop, pop, pop. Looked at my front windshield and watched it crack from the lower left - driver side - up to the center of window, with each pop. Googled - the community has posted similar problems with Subaru windshields. Temperature on [XXX] in Phoenix was 60 degrees at the time of windshield popping. No impact, parked car, started engine and crack just started and I watched it expand from 2 inches to 24". Very scary! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Thermo control valve failed at about 42000 miles on 2021 Subaru Forester Premium, on 1/1/24. Owned 3 yrs 1 mo. Car was parked at work. Immediately after car was started up for return commute -- check engine light was on, ADAS systems ("Eyesight") disabled, blue low coolant temperature light on, and no heat through HVAC. Fortunately car driveable, despite safety being compromised with disabling of the safety features (blind spot monitor, rear cross traffic alert) and concern about damaging engine being forced to drive home with check engine light on. Engine failed to warm despite 40+ min highway trip. As this was commute vehicle, forced to take next day off work to have check engine light looked at. The next morning windshield ice had to be manually scraped (no heat). Drove car gingerly to dealership (<10 mins) avoiding freeways, for fear of damaging engine. Unknown if windshield defroster would've worked if started fogging mid-trip (safety concern). Dealership inspected vehicle - diagnosed thermo control valve failure, and replaced part. I was not charged as the car was still covered under powertrain warranty. No warning prior to the failure. Drove normally on the morning drive to work. Dealership replaced TCV with a part that has the same part number, per Subaru's TSB. Given experience of others indicating high failure rates of TCV after 3-4 years, and what I suspect is genuine design defect, I expect replacing the part to only have temporarily reset the clock -- seems certain to fail again. I have no confidence that Subaru has implemented an actual solution. I do not know if the next failure of this powertrain component will happen under warranty, or if it will incur signficant out of pocket costs (well over >$1000 to replace). Furthermore, if TCV fails whilst driving (as could have happened, and has been reported by others elsewhere), this will be a safety hazard with sudden disabling of blind spot monitor / rear cross traffic alert.

Once or twice a day my vehicle hesitates from a light and I have to almost floor it to get it going again.I have brought it to 2 different Subaru dealers 3 times and they say they can't fix the problem.

Had a rock barely touch my windshield causing a crack

Tire size: P225/60R/17 98T Was driving around a roundabout @ about 25mph. There was a "Bang" and the right front tire went instantly flat. At no time did the vehicle either hit an object on the road or a curb. Vehicle was pulled over immediately. There is no rim damage that might indicate a curb strike. Upon examination of the tire there is a 2 inch rip in the sidewall of the tire. The tires (4) had been installed on the car @ 20,988 miles. They had been rotated at 27,427 miles. The blowout occurred @ 33,721 miles (12,733 miles from installation. I was told that there is no warranty on the tire(s) since we were not the original owner of the car when they were installed.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the automatic emergency braking system activated, bringing the vehicle to a complete stop. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 24,000.

Barely pushed on inside of windshield with foot and it cracked in a million directions.

Vehicle was parked and idling unoccupied for under 5 minutes when an extremely noxious, hot blast of fumes came from underneath the back. Black smoke immediately entered the passenger cabin through the vents and flames were visible in the engine compartment and running onto the ground. Entire vehicle was burned beyond recognition in a matter of minutes. Ten days earlier the TCV, a known problem, had been replaced at a dealership per TSB 09-80-21. The vehicle had been driven under 300 miles since the replacement. Afterwards, a manufacturer rep inspected the vehicle, indicated the fire started in right rear of the engine compartment, could have possibly been a fuel leak, but damage was too extensive to determine the exact cause. The referenced TSB explicitly requires a new fuel line for every TCV replacement.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving 25 MPH, the front windshield cracked from the side and extended to the center of the windshield. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 13,000.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving 10 MPH, the vehicle became inoperable. The vehicle stopped independently and failed to respond to the brake or accelerator pedal being depressed. The vehicle was turned off and restarted and returned to normal functionality. The contact stated that the Eyesight detection warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was diagnosed but the cause of the failure was not determined. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to bring the vehicle in for an extended time. The failure mileage was approximately 34,000.

I slowly pulled into a parking space at a grocery store. I took my foot off the accelerator, and the car jerked forward, traveling maybe 2-3 feet. I quickly put my foot on the brake and was able to stop the car. I took the car to the dealer, and the service consultant told me that she thought that a memo had just come in addressing the kind of incident I had. She also told me that another customer's car had accelerated into a bush and that the owner was so rattled that she traded her car in for another car. However, the service repairman said that he ran a lot of codes and was unable to find anything wrong. He told me that Subarus have never had unintended acceleration problems. Now I have a loaner car from Subaru, and my car is at the dealership awaiting a visit from a higher-up Subaru person who is over the local technicians. Last year, I brought the car in for several issues, one of which was an unintended acceleration while parking at another grocery store. Last year I was told that the instrument that looks for problems ran lots of codes and could find no record of the incident.

As I was getting into my vehicle with my family, we heard a loud noise come from the front of the vehicle ( windshield are). We immediately noticed the windshield had cracked and it had started right underneath the driver area and was going up the middle and turned to passenger side of the windshield. All of this occurred while vehicle was parked. Have been reading this has been an ongoing issue with Subaru.

I have ~50,000 miles and have had an excessive amount of chips on my front windshield. Getting them filled doesn't matter, and the windshield will crack. I've replaced the windshield twice since owning this vehicle at $1200+ (high costs due to front camera recalibration). I've owned many vehicles over the years and have never had a windshield chip or crack this frequent. I've seen many other complaints online, did Subaru cheap out on glass or is the wind shield angle ineffective in shedding simple road debris from causing failures? I have concerns that the windshield would be unable to stop larger debris from entering the cabin and potentially injuring occupants.

We’ve been using our Gold Revolve 360 car seat in rear facing for 14 months with our daughter who just turned two on August 19th. After normal wear, no car accidents and removing the carseat from the vehicle only a handful of times for sleepovers at grandparents and I’ve noticed a tear in the right strap, so bad that is nearly cut all the way through. This is toward the bottom where the strap meets the seat. From what I can see, there is nothing for it to rub up on to cause this, and my daughter is not allowed toys while in her car seat that could potentially do this. This is our only carseat at this time and it is extremely concerning every time she rides in it. We spent far too much money for this to happen, especially just over a year of use. I’ve tried reaching out to Evenflo via phone, website contact support and have emailed 8 times. Their chat services on the website are never available, even during hours of operation. I’ve called the number provided to me when I got the automatic response to the form I filled out on the contact tab,1 (800) 233-5921, and was told to email only by a automated message. Then there was a different number listed on the website that was a fraud number, 1 (800) 223-5921. And have yet to receive an email back after being asked to send a list of specific photos for their engineer team over a month ago. At this point I don’t feel safe putting my daughter in the car seat anymore. This should’ve been the last car seat I had to buy for her until a booster seat. And it barely made it a year and cost me $400+. I’m beyond frustrated by the lack of support I’ve received from Evenflo and the trust I had in this product.

I was driving my 2021 Subaru Forester on the highway and suddenly I saw with my own eyes a crack appear in the front window shield glass. A thin crack, about 2 feet long. curved shape. in the section in front of the steering wheel. It was out of nowhere; there was no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. I was terrified and shocked, as my car was just 2 years old. No one was hurt, and other cars were not affected as I continued to drive stably. But I was a bit shaken, as I was worried the crack might burst wider and thus I would lose control of the car. Thankfully, it stayed that way and I exited the highway and pulled over at a mall and called the dealership. The dealership was not very responsive: I was asked to call the next Monday again and schedule a time to bring the car there for inspection. It was definitively the poor quality of the glass/defect. I purchased extended warrant/Added Security from the dealership when I bought the car. It should cover this defect. I was hugely disappointed with the quality of Subaru car. Will never buy this brand again.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while parking the vehicle in a parking lot, the vehicle accelerated independently and jumped the curb and into the bushes. The contact attempted to reverse the vehicle but continued to also accelerate independently in Reverse. The contact stated the gear shift was on Neutral and continue to Rev loudly. The contact stated the vehicle stop on its own due to the tires deflating. The contact stated no one was injured nor sought medical attention. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed to the local dealer but was unable to duplicate nor diagnosed the failure. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that a small crack had developed on the front windshield. After parking the vehicle, the contact discovered that the crack had expanded. The contact stated that there was no impact to the windshield to have caused the windshield to crack. The windshield was not replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The local dealer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 27,985.

Braking system sometimes is activated by a sign on the side of the road, by a tree if we are turning, or nothing at all. Nearly in 2 rear end collisions when the system activated incorrectly. We cannot drive into our garage with the system activated...brakes keep slamming on. The only safe way to operate this subaru is to manually turn it off every time we start the car. Subaru dealership states it cannot recalibrate the eyesight system as it does not have that ability. Dealership is in Corvallis oregon. Lane notification system also has issues in construction zones (it tries to steer the car into the water barriers marking the lane changes. At least the side warning system can be permanently disabled. We have filed many complaints with subaru to no avail. Promised return phone calls never happen, phone transfers to their technical department result in dropped calls. This system is dangergous!!!

When I was driving less than 40 MPH a small pebble hit the lower portion of my windshield and the glass instantly cracked across my line of sight. It made it so images were distorted.

Subaru's Windshield problems persist. Bought a 2021 forester in 2021, shortly after had a small chip turn into a giant crack in a matter of days. Dealership wouldn't repair under warranty, so $1000+ to have it replaced and Eyesight recalibrated. I understand now why they sell glass insurance. Less than 18 months later the replacement windshield spontaneously cracked from the bottom up, forming a 18" upside down L-shape, just as the previous class action lawsuit describes. No warning as this happened sitting in a garage overnight, no outside influence could have caused it. The crack is partially within sightline to the hood, but visibility to the road is impaired by the horizontal portion of the crack.

My Subaru Forester 2021 windshield cracked spontaneously with no contact of an object (rock, etc.) Previous known issues and class action suits related to Subaru model windshields cracking spontaneously with no contact.

THE WINDSHEILD SUDDENLY CRACKED ON THE DRIVERS SIDE, JUST IN FRONT OF THE EYESIGHT SENSOR, ABOUT 12 INCHES LONG. THE CAR HAS 35,000 MILES, AND IS DRIVEN BY A 67 YEAR OLD. VEHICLE WAS PARKED IN DRIVEWAY. OUTDOOR TEMPERATURE IS MID 50'S.

I awoke to find the passenger side windshield cracked from the bottom, near wiper, extending upward and the moving horizontal in an Upside down L shape. I did a search and found that this incident is similar to others who own Subaru Foresters which is the vehicle I own. It is a 2021 model. I called my Subaru dealer and recommended that I take it to Wilson Auto Glass in Wheeling WV where I live. He did not tell me to bring it in to the service dept first.

The first incident occurred when I drove into a parking space, applied the brakes, and the car suddenly sped forward, so I had to repeatedly jam on the brakes to make the car stop. Fortunately, no person or vehicle was directly in front of me. In the past week, we have experienced problems with the ADAS. We were backing into a parking space at night and made contact with a parked car. Our car made no warning sounds or lights to warn us. The following day, the blind spot detector light went on and off intermittently, sometimes with an exclamation point, and sometimes without an exclamation point. The lights on the mirror did not come on when cars were approaching from behind. We are making an appointment with the dealer ASAP.

Windshield spontaneously cracked, many others reported. Impaired vision, windshield could scatter while driving. Inspected & repaired by Subaru dealer, insurance company claim.

I was driving in downtown Chicago with my cousin. We had already been in the car driving around the city for ~15 minutes, so the car was warm. I had approached a stoplight, and we both heard a thud. I had assumed, because it had recently snowed, that it was some slush dropping on my car from a light. So, we were both looking around (specifically up), for what it could be. However, when we both looked forward again, we saw a 6-inch crack in my windshield. It's in the middle of my windshield in between my two wipers. As I further drove, the crack continued to grow for another 4-5 inches to the right. After doing a bit of research, Subaru has had issues with windshields before, and has settled a class action lawsuit (CLA) related to it. The crack that I experienced is the same type of crack that occurred with the windshields in the CLA. I had reached out to my insurance company (Progressive), and they did not have any idea about this issue with Subarus and said that it was not covered to replace it. I have not reached out to dealership yet for information. There was no warning lights, no drastic speed, no rocks or physical damage to the region that could explain the crack. However, if something like this could occur when barely anything is happening, what is the safety for a windshield when the car is on a highway, when a stone hits, when its sub-zero temperatures, etc.

My vehicle stalls at stop signs and red lights at Least once or twice a day regularly I’ve taken to the dealer and they said I was the reason it does that but the car is barely 2 years old bought new it has been doing that since last year it needs to be fixed

My Forester needed new tires at 13,250 miles. I had my tires rotated and that is when Subaru noticed the worn tires. I called Subaru Corporate and they informed me that do not replace tires. I bought new tires and then went to have a wheel alignment. The technician told me he could do the alignment but he couldn't adjust the Lane assist diagnostic or the VDC and other safety features. Now I am unsure what to do. I have tried to resolve this with Subaru of America without resolution. Hopefully, you will be able to help me. Why are Subaru dealers not doing these adjustments? Thanks for your help with this serious situation. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while shifting the vehicle into the drive gear, the vehicle accelerated at high speed without any warning and drove into the wall of her garage causing front damage to the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated to turn off. No one was injured. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 8,000.

It was a very cold night on Dec. 21, 2022. I traveled out of town. I don't recall seeing or hearing anything hit my windshield. However, on Dec. 22, 2022 when I got back in my car, I noticed a very long scratch across the windshield. It is now Mar. 1, 2023 and it has gotten much worse. I am unsure how to go about getting it fixed because I cannot pay for the repairs.

Vehicle auto start stop feature sporadically fails to start vehicle after stop feature stringers. Happened on multiple occasions, at red light, at stop sign, on freeway during traffic jams.

Windshield has cracked twice in last month, in separate areas. I replaced the windshield on 11/9/22 and identified a new crack on 12/18/22.

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while depressing the brake pedal and attempting to park in the driveway, the vehicle excessively independently accelerated in speed. The brake pedal failed to stop the vehicle and the vehicle was shifted into Park in order to come to a stop. The vehicle caused damage to the door and garage. There were no injuries reported. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The dealer was contacted, and they stated they were not aware of any recalls or complaints for the failure. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 10,000.

In the afternoon when I returned to my vehicle, a large crack (roughly 8 inches) formed on the lower sector of the windshield that appeared to have oriented by the mounting of the passenger wiper arm. I inspected the windshield for damage such as a rock chip and could not find anything to suggest that the integrity was compromised in any way. Their was no visible damage to the windshield other than the crack that formed. The crack formed while the vehicle was parked in a parking lot

Glass cracked for no reason. According to this article Subaru has been sued related to 2017-2020 Foresters for a similar reason https://www.torquenews.com/1084/new-ruling-subaru-cracked-windshield-lawsuit-now-adds-25m-cars

This is our 3rd Subaru Forester from Corpus Christi Tx dealer HICKs. During the past six months we have had the stem valves in the tires replaced 4 times.I said to the Manager that there appears to be a systemic issue , the run may be defective and requested that these tires be replaced Total mileage 6700 Dealer had three shots at fixing the problem plus the 4th shot today as the pressure signal was on. The request was denied Please investigate and help

Engine stalled 2x within 8 days at major intersections (both times), therefore blocking a lane in the intersections. Was told 1st time it was a gliche by dealership. Upon researching prior recalls for this make and model, engine stalls have been an issue. Dealership still can’t figure out issue.

I purchased a 2021 Subaru Forester with approximately 9000 miles on the odometer. Purchase was made on October 18, 2022, then on October 19, 2022 I experienced unintended acceleration on my way home that day with the car. The car just seemed to have a mind of its own and just "took off" at high speed and quickly it returned to normal. I simply thought I did something wrong and kept driving the car. Then on November 2, 2022 while in my driveway, the unintended acceleration happened again and this time the car hit a building on our property and both the building and the car suffered severe damage.

When I bought my car I was assured that it was impossible to lock the keys inside the car. Typically I put my dog in a special car harness and buckle him into the middle of the back seat. He's 77 lbs. and tall. It's a bit of a project to get him all set. I'm leaning over and all my stuff is hanging off of me so I drop my purse onto the floor of the back seat and put the car keys on the console between the two front seats so I can more comfortably deal with him. I do this from the right side of the car as the child car seat is on the left side. Once he's buckled in I close the door and walk around to the driver's side and get in. On Oct. 7th I had taken him to a park to play. The temps were in the 80s and my car was parked in the sun. He's a Bernedoodle and does not handle heat very well. I buckled him in as usual from the right side and also put the keys on the console as usual. Then I closed the door. CLICK! Uh-oh! All the doors automatically locked! With the car in the sun and the outside temps in the 80s I can only guess that the inside temp had to be well over 100. I almost panicked. I thought of calling the police, but here in Portland they are slow to respond if they even respond at all. I banged on all the windows and thought of finding a rock to break one open. Then I remembered that I hadn't tried the back lift up door as it's an SUV. Thankfully it opened. But I had to crawl in over all my stuff in the back, over my tall, 77 lb. dog, and stretch out to reach my keys on the console in the front. Then I had to back out. This was not easy; I'm in my 70s. I shouldn't have to do that! So [XXX] was okay in the end. What if it had been my two year old granddaughter? What if the back didn't open like the side doors didn't? It shouldn't be that way. I called Subaru and they said they never heard of that happening. They said there was a lock setting but I couldn't find it. They said the fob battery could be low but there was no warning. I'm bringing the car in. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).