Subaru Forester

Which Subaru Forester years should you avoid?

Going by 6,534 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Subaru Forester years to avoid are 2019, 2015, 2020, 2017 and 2018.

• 2019834 complaints, 6.0× a typical Forester year, most often about the wipers.
• 2015616 complaints, 4.4× a typical Forester year, most often about the engine.
• 2020604 complaints, 4.3× a typical Forester year, most often about the wipers.
• 2017593 complaints, 4.3× a typical Forester year, most often about the airbags.
• 2018498 complaints, 3.6× a typical Forester year, most often about the wipers.

2 more years cleared the same bar; they are marked in the table below.

Too new to judge: 2025 and 2026. Complaints take a few years to arrive, so a new model year looks better than it is.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →