2016 Subaru Forester complaints

The vehicle fails to maintain stability at either a right turn, and at left turn angles. The vehicle makes a clicking sound on either turn and loses power when you complete the turn and attempt to drive straight. This poses an incredibly unsafe driving experience.When this occurs the traction message light turn on, as well as the passenger airbag, and the upwhill light turns on.

The horn does not work due to failure of the clock spring. This is a common problem among many Subaru vehicles. Without the use of a horn warning noises cannot be made to alert other drivers of potential hazards. There are numerous video and forums detailing this issues on multiple Subaru models.

Car unexpectedly accelerated when turning into a parking space. Gradually braking going in to the space and then car suddenly accelerated across the curb and hit a building. Car can be available for inspection. No one was hurt but only because of being lucky that no one was on the sidewalk by the building. Emergency services were called and police made a report and all is reported to the insurance company. There has been no inspection yet by manufacturer. Called Subaru and they said to get the body work done first and then bring the car in for inspection. No warning sounds or lights noticed prior to the problem.

Electrical system drains battery. Had battery replaced at dealer under lawsuit settlement guidelines.

There was a recall for an airbag problem which would cause the front passenger airbag to not deploy because it did not sense there was a person in the passenger seat. The problem supposedly was repaired in 2021. Recently, the airbag light came on again and I brought it in to the Subaru dealer, who diagnosed an improper sensor under the passenger seat. They said that the airbag could not be fixed presently as a necessary part was on back order. They have no estimate for when it can be completed. Until the repair can be made, the front passenger has no airbag protection at all! When completed, the repair will cost me over $1300. Subaru of America has told me that I have to pay for this because the airbag system, supposedly fixed on the 2021 recall, is not on warranty. This is a hardship for us, retired senior citizens relying on Social Security. Even worse, until the part becomes available, the airbag system cannot be repaired! Subaru actually told me that no one should sit in the front passenger seat until this back ordered part becomes available at some unknown time in the future! It just is not possible in our family situation to have no one sit in the front passenger seat, as we frequently take our daughter and her two small children on outings and doctor visits. The man who told me this is named Grant and can be reached at 1-800-subaru3 with the case number 230314-1300095. Incidentally, I earlier spoke with "Sam" at that phone number and extension 119839, who told me that

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic on four separate occasions to rotate the tires; and each time the contact was notified that one lug bolt on each wheel had fractured. The contact was notified that excessive force was needed to remove the bolts and that the mechanic was not responsible for any damages caused while removing each wheel. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they were unaware of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

When accelerator is slightly pushed after the vehicle has come to stop it accelerates in a jack rabbit manner. The driver stopped at beginning of driveway parking area, and decided to move slightly forward. A slight push on accelerator pedal caused vehicle to lurch forward and do $8,700 damage to the closed 2 car garage door, and $1,000+ to vehicle. Date of accident 02/10/2023

The vehicle constantly shows a warning that passenger seat air bag is OFF while I am sitting in the car riding in that passenger seat. The issue was brought to manufacturer attention multiple times. Videos and pictures of the issue have been recorded for years. The manufacturer refuses to fix the issue and continues to ignore it which places my life at risk every time I drive in that passenger seat of the vehicle.

The battery drains constantly. I’ve had it replaced several times but it continues to die even when I jump it repeatedly. This may be a known issue but the Subaru dealership’s tech refused to admit their car’s electrical system caused the issue and attempted to have me continue to drive with a dead battery, then have AAA replace the battery under the AAA warranty (even though Subaru’s car was at fault, not AAA’s battery), which was really disingenuous. At the dealership, I was told that if I chose to have Subaru replace the battery (as they should given it has a class action settlement and has an extended warranty) I “may never get paid” if I submitted a class action lawsuit claim. My car has died multiple times, inconveniencing me again and again, even at gas stations. The way Subaru is handling their electrical system error is not professional at all.

The contact owns 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while attempting to drive from a complete stop, the accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle hesitated to respond. The contact stated that she persistently depressed the accelerator pedal until the vehicle responded. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred several times while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where she was informed that the vehicle was operating as designed; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 10,000.

Aug. 12, 2022. Milage 124,028. Dealer (Serra Auto Park, in Akron, OH) had to replace faulty right front axelshaft. Parts and labor $812. Left axelshaft has already started making the same noises and we can expect it to be replaced soon as well. ARE WE THE ONLY ONES WITH THIS PROBLEM???

Check engine light, service emissions, dash lights blinking and loss of power!!! I was pulling out into a busy intersection and warning lights started to flash and i lost power to cylinder #2 (per the technician at Van Subaru, he told me the alternator was sending bad info to the computer) and i was almost T-BONED as i limped through the intersection.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, various warning lights were illuminated. After using a personal diagnostic reader, he retrieved two unknown failure codes. The vehicle was taken to an independent where it was diagnosed that the transmission and an unknown sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure persisted and the contact stated that the various warning lights remained illuminated and that when coming to a stop at a stop signal, the vehicle was jerking and lost motive power. The vehicle was able to restart after shifting the gear into park(P) to turn off the vehicle and then restart. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.

Multiple occasions of vehicle cranking and not starting, or not cranking at all. Had original battery replaced at 35 months, and had new battery tested on 10/06/2022. The manufacturer mandated test showed the new battery was rated as a Fail, not meeting industry standards for this battery type/configuration. Dealer confirmed that there is no known repair available, including a reflash of the engine control module (ECM). Subaru is involved in battery lawsuit, and will not work on any battery related issues without forcing owner to register in the class action and give up rights to getting problem fixed. These actions are forcing us to own vehicles that the manufacturer considers unrepairable and are guaranteed to fail to start due to battery issues.

Alternator failed about a year old 2017. Next year battery failed.

The horn does not respond when pressing the button on the steering wheel. The only works if the steering wheel is turned. This is a hazard as the horn is needed to prevent a collision. I have had near miss collisions due to this failure.

Passenger commented, asking why their seatbelt attachment point was not properly anchored and was hanging loose from front seat. Upon investigation, we noticed that the bolt holding the end of the LH portion of the passenger seatbelt had backed out. We were able to make a temporary field repair by tightening the bolt back in with our fingers, and later needed to use a 17mm wrench to further tighten the bolt to the point where it appeared to be reasonably tightened. When tightening the bolt, I did not notice any type of locking washer, or sense there was any type of chemical locking materials on the threaded portion of the bolt and wonder if it was improperly attached when the vehicle was built. In the case of an accident, I think it is reasonable to assume that the loose bolt would have failed and allowed the anchored end of the passenger seatbelt to come loose. The vehicle has approximately 27,000 miles, has never been in an accident, and has never had seats removed or repaired since we purchased it new.

While driving N on I 24 near Nashville Tn my Eyesight assistant turned off illuminated warning light, as it cancelled my adaptive cruise control at freeway speeds in heavy traffic, while engageing my my brakes and illuminated my forward collision warning coming very close to causing serious accident to whereIended up on shoulder due to severe vibration from my defective passenger lower control arm deffectivecv axle. All of which were looked at and reported to Crown Subaru Service department. They had my vehicle for 2 days, repaired air bag and rearcoil spring recall told me my passenger lower control arm was bent and cv axle was defective the stayed my extended warranty didn't cover it when the warranty personnel said it would be covered. Never even checked my eyesight assist or other safety items associated with it even though I explained it shutoff and turns on and off sporadically. Is it going to take a death or deaths to get these people to do there job and repair and stand by the vehicles we purchase which employees them but a life isn't worth and hour inspection by Crown Subaru or Subaru corp start caring. It was in there shop 2 days prior to incident I could have at least been warned about operation of my vehicle

Our Subaru Forester is slow to respond on acceleration and then surges quickly. This problem just started to surface. Our concern is when stepping down on the accelerator the car is very slow to react and then surges forward quickly, creating a serious concern over a potential accident. On August 17, 2022 I was reversing up my driveway to the garage and as I depressed the accelerator the car failed to respond. I was reluctant to depress the pedal further over concern it might suddenly surge backward too fast. What was concerning is that the accelerator did not respond as normal. August 18th, I started the car, drove out of the garage and onto the street. When I stepped onto the accelerator the car showed no response, then suddenly without warning surged forward at high speed, catching me off guard. I stepped on the brake and the car immediately stopped. I carefully tried to drive forward, again the car surged forward. I drove back into the garage. Our neighbor’s nephew took it for a drive and experience the same unexpected surge of acceleration. It was towed to the Subaru Dealership. The Dealership has consistently maintained our Forester since purchased. I asked if the car had surged and the Service Advisor shared that the technician had noticed an irregularity in acceleration. However, Diagnostic tests found nothing. The shop manager said he put almost 40 miles on it but found nothing. The service adviser called and suggested we come in and ride with the shop manager, which

I pulled into a parking space with a friend and as I turned the wheel to pull in and had the foot on the break, as soon as I let up on the brake the car lurched forward. Luckily, I slammed back on the brake since my foot has just come off it. This was very scary as I came close to ramming into the car parked in front of me. There is no way that I hit the gas and made it lurch like it did. The car is only a 4 cyl. Now I am scared to drive it. There were no warning lights at all. I have not taken the car in to the dealer as I suspect they will say there is nothing wrong and charge me for diagnostics. I saw there were 200 complaints about this, mostly with 2017 models, but there should be a recall. I had another problem where the power steering quit working after parking the car in the garage overnight. Again, no recall and when I called Subaru they said they could run diagnostics but if nothing is found, I have to pay. Nice racket they have going.

Since 2018 we starting noticing random power loss and every time we took vehicle to dealership for maintenance, they could never find an issue. The loss of power began at random as well went up hills. It felt as if there was something blocking the engine from preforming as intended. Maybe poor air flow or turbo lag. We would let go of accelerator because it felt as if the car was going to stall. This power lag or loss would last 5-10 minutes. Then more issues appeared during 2018-2022. The issues were always at random. Issues we witnessed were: loss of power (poor air flow/ bad compression), car seemed to want to stall at stops, weird metal clacking (which we were able to record), bopping car at stops (as a manual car would before stalling). A code was never available for dealership to know the problem at hand. Over the past years we continued to take in the vehicle for the issues we experienced. The dealership never found the root of the problem. The problem continued until 2022 and now the car is inoperable. 400 miles out of warranty and Subaru does not want to fix this issue that had been happening since 2018. I have been waiting for Subaru of America to contact me since 7/22/22. I could never get an answer from case worker. Subaru wants us to pay out of pocket roughly 4500 and then maybe they cover the rest.

Pulled into parking space in shopping mall. The car accelerated over the curb and ran into a store front knocking out a wall. The car was still in Drive when it came to a stop. No one was hurt in the car, on the sidewalk or in the store. There is a class action law suit on this model of Subaru for uncontrolled/sudden acceleration while coming to a stop, but Subaru does not acknowledge any problem. This was the first indication of a sudden acceleration for this car. It just had its 30,000 inspection from the Subaru dealer.

The accident with my 2016 Subaru Forester happened on 07-07-2022. It happened in daylight on our farm. I was the only person in the car and was wearing my seatbelt. I had slowly pulled into a parking spot, had my foot on the brake and had essentially stopped at the 6x6 piece of lumber that was marking the spot. As I was stopping the car accelerated out of control and sped down a very narrow path on a hill diagonally to the right of the parking spot. I struggled to control the car as I sped down the hill toward the gravel driveway. I was able to avoid hitting a large spruce tree and avoid turning over in the deep ditch on the hill. I was going so fast, I ran over a sapling and ran into a large apple tree, tipping it over, damaging my right front passenger side, pushing the wheel back into the wheel well. My brakes were not responding. When I reached the gravel driveway at the bottom of the hill, I lifted my foot slightly and stomped on the brake, skidding to a stop just before going down another steep hill which leads to a creek. I was parallel to a road/driveway which often has many cars driving on it that time of the day. It is also used as a walking path. Luckily I did not hit anyone. I was able to barely turn the wheel and move the car out of the road/driveway. Since it was on our farm there was no police report necessary. I hurt my ribs, shoulder, back and neck. The accident had potential for injuring me much more severely if I had rolled over, hit a tree head on or been

My Subaru Forester is equipped with Airbags and Subaru's Eye Sight anti-collision braking system. On Aug 5th my wife met with an accident while trying to avoid a head-on collision side swiped a vehicle on the right lane which hit the car on the rear side and the impact further changed the direction of her car and she went and hit the steel fence stone pillar on the right side. The frontal collision with the stone pillar damaged the bumper and car engine is dislocated from its position as the frame is deformed and the front tires jammed. The car's famed anti-collision system did not prevent the collision and the Air bags failed to deploy. I suspect that there is a serious manufacturing defect that all the safety systems failed in the car, hence I request you to conduct an enquiry while the car is being sent to the repair center to ascertain the right cause of failure.

About a year ago all warning lights came on. Subaru fixed the "rodent" issue for $4000. today, 8/5/2022 same issue happened, i was driving home and forward braking, cruise control, check engine light, ATC TEMP and dynamic traction control lights came on. this vehicle has some issues.

I have a 2016 Subaru Forester. One day I noticed the windshield of my 2016 Subaru Forester cracked in the garage. I do not recall any stone or point of impact while driving. It seems that the crack started from the right-side edge of the windshield extending to the midline. I have to repair this because the crack is getting worse. no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to this. I have seen this in 2015 or 2016 Subaru Outback or Legacy for which a recall was announced. However, I do not see this for the Forester yet. The dealer confirmed this, but I got the same answer (no recall).

I’m 2016 Subaru Forester owner [XXX]. I know there was a recall for airbag. My passenger seat has Defective airbag sensor. The SRS lights comes ON even when the passenger is sitting on the seat. Hopefully there is a repair for the problem. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Battery dead from constantly parasitic drawing in less a week. Brand new Interstate AGM MTX-35 battery. Had to take out the battery nad charged in room because living in an old apartment building which does not have outlet to connect the charger. Very annoyed by this flaw. The Subaru of America should settle a recall to fix the problem.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving approximately 80 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power. There were unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to pull over safely and restart the vehicle. The failure reoccurred several times. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and diagnosed; however, the cause of the failure was not determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.

The brake light bulbs keep burning out. As much as 1 per year the last four years.

The front passenger airbag sensor is faulty. It is a known issue and can be found in the owners manual to not have any electronics or clothing on the seat. Subaru wants to charge over a grand to replace the entire seat bottom whenever this issue.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle started jerking and hesitating while attempting to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and the transmission fluid was flushed; however, after retrieving the vehicle the failure persisted. The contact stated that several unknown warning messages were displayed. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who diagnosed that the transmission was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 126,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while attempting to park in a driveway, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated causing the contact to crash into a building wall. There were no injuries sustained. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic. The vehicle was repaired but the failure continued to proceed to accelerate. several times after the repairs. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 600.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while reversing out the driveway at approximately 2 MPH, the vehicle lost electric power steering assist and became difficult to steer. The electric power steering assist warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V065000 (Steering). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000.

Was Backing up and car started excelling and the throttle stuck hitting 2 cars It was out of control I got it in drive and it took off forward running full throttle up over the pavers around a tree and ran up on the side of a BMW which was sitting on the side of The hostess paved driveway coming down the side of the car My car was on 2 wheels . Came off the BMW and slammed into a tree trunk which stopped it. I got out of my car in disbelief . It happened on private property and We did call the police. But since it happened on private property They did not come but told us to get each others info for insurance Purposes

Car will kill a new battery in less then 7 days.

Battery drains quickly and car dies, even after replacing with a brand new battery.

While driving on highway using cruise control at 70 mph my car suddenly stalled …. I was able to get to apron of road , but my steering locked and I had no brakes.. I could put car into neutral but had to “jam” it into park , trying to get it to stop rolling . It would not restart . I had it towed to an auto repair center as there was no Subaru dealer in the area. Because I had kept trying to restart it , my battery was dead . They recharged my battery and the car then started . I took it to a Subaru dealer where I was told they could find nothing wrong …. Except I needed a new battery . This was NOT the reason that my car suddeney lost power ! It had happen once before while on the highway but I was able to restart it at that time . This could have caused a serious accident and I worry that it will happen again. I warning was indicated prior to episode . I have receipts from auto repair shop (In Lincoln, Illinois) and Subaru dealer ( in Columbia Missouri)

I arrived at work. I was placing my car in park with foot on the brake. The car took off and the brakes took time to stop the car. I tried to stop the car as we hit a fence and was headed through it it and into a pond. Pumping the brakes throwing car in reverse stopped us from ending up in the pond. Major car damage incurred. Thank goodness noone was seriously hurt. The car just accelerated with my foot on the brake and with me attemtping to put it in park.

Vehicles wheel studs and nuts striped. Common complaint with Subaru's. Nuts won't come off and unable to completely put back on to contact with rim. Nuts also won't come off all together, frozen on stud, studs breaks when trying to remove. Unable to remove with extension bar or impact wrench.

I have had to replace the car's battery three times in under 3 years. The most recent battery lasted for under a year. I am attaching paperwork from last year. I just a battery replace this week as well but am awaiting the paperwork on that.

I have replaced the battery 3 times since June 2020. The car battery dies after the car has sat for 8-12 days. We have had to get it jumped, towed and called an on call roadside service to replace.

Car accelerated while I was parking in a parking spot and hit fence and unoccupied storefront.

During the January snow storm in the Washington, DC area the ADAS system began to malfunction. The system that controls Adaptive Cruise Control, Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning and Lane Departure Warning all shut off. The vehicle was parked at an upward facing angle in order to allow all moisture to drain out/off the back of the vehicle. Once dry, the issue resolved itself. The same issue happened in the past and was tied to an issue with a brake light switch. It appears that the same issue is occurring again on the vehicle and moisture is still effecting the brake light switch.

Parasitic drain after car left parked and locked for ~4 days. This has occurred since I purchased the car new in 2016. I have replaced the battery 4 times but it has not helped the issue. I am now forced to leave the car plugged in to a battery tender when parked.

The battery in my car continually dies. It all started about 2 years ago, we replaced the battery, but I have to charge it frequently. The car never dies while I’m driving it, but sometimes I will come to start my car and it won’t start. This happens about 1-2 times a month.

The Controller Area Network ("CAN") did not enter sleep mode when the car was turned off, resulting in a "parasitic battery drain." I replaced 3 batteries over a period of 24 months of ownership, and just paid $1355 to have the manufacturer-installed computer chip replaced to stop the battery drain and properly shut off the vehicle. This is a safety issue for several reasons - not knowing when my battery would be dead when the vehicle was needed, living in northern MN and having a dead battery in cold and potentially life-threatening conditions, and living in a rural area without ready access to businesses or others when support or a battery jump was needed.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving and approaching a stop sign, the brake pedal was depressed however, the vehicle failed to stop. The contact released the brake pedal and the vehicle slowed down. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 110,858.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, there was a loud humming noise coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the rear wheel bearing failed but the contact was unaware which wheel needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired but years later the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed that both rear wheels bearings failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 60,050.

Car’s battery/ electrical system seems to drain car battery excessively. Even with a new battery, car battery dies if car isn’t run at least every 2 or 3 days, meaning I can’t rely on car if I take a trip of any length and leave the car behind. There’s a risk of being stranded. Car is 6 years old, and already has had 4 batteries. Im concerned about being stranded