2018 Subaru Forester complaints

Fuel gauge system became inaccurate in February 2022, showing 100 extra miles available upon filling tank, 450 instead of 350, also gallons left on fuel gauge was inaccurate, off by 4 gallons. Went to Subaru dealership/Service Dept. & was told that I would have to replace gauges & fuel tank, due to warranty past 3 years. I decided to not replace, just keep track. They said they'd never heard of this problem before. It lasted approximately 3 months & went back to normal, then beeped & became inaccurate again while I was starting engine 4 months later, & re-adjusted back to normal after a couple weeks.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that since owning the vehicle, the battery had been replaced three times. On each occasion, the contact stated that the vehicle failed to start up after multiple attempts. There was no warning light illuminated. The dealer had been notified of the failure and informed her that there were no recalls on the vehicle. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.

Passenger air bag light displays intermittently on and off (mostly off) regardless of whether there is a passenger in the seat. It has not yet been inspected by any dealer, service center, manufacturer, police, insurance, or others.

Environmental and safety issue. The AC System has failed three times now. SUBARU dealer checked the system for leaks at in November 2021 (mileage about 22,000 miles) and could not locate any leak but added freon. AC System stopped working again in August 2022 at 24,000 miles. Mechanic checked system, found a loose connector and tightened it, then recharged Freon in system. After 4 days, system again is not cooling the car. Compressor and blower work but no cold air and return line from compressor is not cool. This problem is widespread across Subaru Forrester models 2017 & 2018. Checking for leaks and adding freon costs $200. Most likely a repair of the system will cost at around $1,500 - 3,000. For a less than 4-year-old, very well-maintained, garaged and little driven car, components should not be failing. Having no working AC is a safety hazard to be in while driving in 100+ degree weather and also the windshield will fog over because moisture is not being taken out of the air now. Environmental issue due to loss of Freon to atmosphere.

I recently purchased a used Subaru Forester with about 92k miles. About two weeks after purchase, I took it to a Subaru dealership and a multi point inspection revealed a cracked catalytic converter. The tech stated that this was discovered by visual inspection. This failure causes a safety issue by leaking exhaust vapors into the cabin. This failure occurred with no warning lamps or messages/codes.

The passenger airbag is disabled when my light weight wife is riding in our 2018 Subaru Forester. There is a recall for this issue including 2018 models but it looks like Subaru thinks the fault is caused by heated seats. We don't have heated seats - so maybe that's why our VIN doesn't register ??? However it is definitely a safety problem that Subaru must fix. I don't want to get embroiled in a lawsuit if my wife ends up injured in an accident.

Twice now the battery has died without any obvious reason. We did not leave the lights on nor any other electrical devices known to us. We had to cal AAA who could not find an issue for the drained battery.

I have been getting an airbag warning light for the past few months. I took it into my local Subaru dealer and they confirmed that the issue was the passenger recognition system. The system will recognize a passenger and turn the airbags on sometimes, and sometimes it will not. This puts the passenger’s life at risk in the event of an accident and the airbags don’t deploy.

Passenger seat when empty will at times indicate person is sitting in seat without buckling seat belt and sound alert

Windshield cracked over night, and is getting bigger. There was no accident, nothing hit the windshield. It is in the drivers view point

Our windshield cracked again to the edge. This is the third time it’s cracked and will be our fourth windshield on a 2018 model year car.

The windshield cracks after being struck by minor objects. The windshield does not chip when struck with objects. One crack appeared without being struck by an object. It showed up from the bottom of the windshield is growing.

The contact stated that his girlfriend owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that when the vehicle was purchased, the front windshield seal dislodged and was visible by the dashboard. The contact stated that the seal should not be visible. The dealer was contacted and stated that they could not repair the windshield. The contact stated that a rock recently struck the windshield and a spider crack appeared; starting where the seal was not properly seated. The contact stated that the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired as he was awaiting an appointment with the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 5,000.

The windshield cracked itself.

On June 8 after waiting for my garage door to rise, my 2018 Subaru Forester suddenly shot through the door, across the garage, through a 7 ft high wooden cupboard, through the back wall, across the basement steps, into the wall that backs up to the kitchen, shoving my stove one and a half feet into the kitchen. I was able to back out because I believe the right front tire ran on the top basement step, stopping me from falling into the basement. The insurance company has assessed the damage to both the car and the house. The car is in the body shop. The repairs do not address the reason it accelerated without me stepping on the gas. I had no previous warning that anything was wrong. Before driving up to the garage door I had just filled the car with gas from our gas tank located on the other side of the house. I had been driving very slowly around our circular driveway and had pushed the remote for the garage door. I wasn’t in a hurry. Now I am afraid to drive the car when it is returned to me.

Battery, electrical system was doing funny things I noticed then a day or two later my wife and daughter got stranded at a gas station and I had to go jump the car to get them home in the middle of the night we called the dealership a few times and they said that all battery's die they just said to go buy a new battery no warning light nothing

Multiple episodes of car not starting, most similar to dead battery scenario. These incidents have occurred after car was parked in my driveway for 24-48hours. However, AAA responded on three separate occasions and tested battery which always was “green” or “good” and alternator was also “fine, not a problem”. On fourth occasion, I went ahead and replaced battery as recent Subaru scheduled service at a Subaru dealer yielded “no problems” on electrical survey when I told them of these incidents. Now, one month after having purchased a completely new battery, my car again will not start and AAA says battery is “good” and alternator is also fine.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated she was parking in a parking space when the vehicle accelerated at a very high speed without any warning causing the driver to crash into a building. When the vehicle came to a complete stop, the contact shifted the vehicle into reversed and the vehicle accelerated backward at very high-speed once again causing the contact to hit another building. The contact was the only person that was injured. The contact was uncertain if a police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a collision center. The dealer and the manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was 4,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked overnight, the following morning it was discovered that the windshield was cracked near the heating element. The contact indicated that no object had struck the windshield to cause the crack. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who repaired the damage; however, approximately five months later the failure reoccurred. The manufacturer and local dealer were both notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000.

Our windshield has had to been replaced 4 times! it randomly gets cracks while sitting in the driveway. why is this happening?

Repeatedly I have not been able to remove the key from the ignition. It appears as though the car is not sensing that the gear is in Park. It has taken me up to 10 minutes of turning the ignition on and off and putting the car in reverse and forward to be able to remove the key from the ignition. This has been happening for 3 weeks now, on a daily basis.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the vehicle started shaking abnormally. The contact pulled over, stopped, turned off, and restarted the vehicle. After the vehicle was started, smoke started coming from the vehicle while several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the spark plugs needed to be replaced. The vehicle was then taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 38,000.

My windshield has cracked twice in the last year while driving

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that a vertical crack had developed on the passenger’s side of the windshield without incident. The crack expanded vertically and horizontally across the middle of the windshield. The contact stated that the crack obstructed her vision while driving. The contact called the dealer and was given a quote to have the windshield replaced. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 57,000.

My 2018 Subaru Forester Limited has a cracked windshield from a minor impact from a pebble. The crack has grown and I had to replace the windshield at my own expense. The crack was on the passenger side but interfered with visibility.

Similar to recall notice WUM-98R (NHTSA 19V-701). Passenger seat occupancy sensor is intermittent indicating no passenger when one is present or, at times, indicating a passenger when none is present causing the seat belt warning and air bag system to malfunction. Currently, this occurs about 80% of the time. When I queried the internet about this issue, I found the referenced recall. Subaru claims that my vehicle is not included in the recall group. I have asked them to review this claim.

Smelled car exhaust entering the cabin, took to dealer for inspection. Exhaust manifold part is actually warped and separated from the engine (not gasket issue). Apparently this problem is known by the dealer service shops, but is undisclosed by Subaru. I was feeling quite sick for weeks without understanding the cause, now I drive the car with the windows open and the vent closed and feel much better (I am waiting for the part to arrive so the dealer can fix the issue). I am an engineer and described the issue as a defect, the dealer hedged and said they are not allowed to call it a "defect" since that implies it needs a recall.

I was driving the car and the windshield spontaneously cracked

My wife's 2018 Subaru Forester was sitting in our driveway and the windshield cracked on its own. Little while later, the crack got bigger. The crack alone should be a safety issue but it also affects the safety features with the camera system and eyesight technology. I'm told this is a common issue Subaru is aware of but they tell me it is not covered.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while warming the vehicle for approximately five minutes, the windshield wiper was activated and the contact noticed that the front windshield had cracked without impact. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 36,569. VIN was not available.

The rear seatbacks fold forward by pulling a knob on top of the seat beside headrest. Recently, as I was driving, my 6 year old child, who was restrained in a booster seat, reached up and pulled the knob, thus unlocking the seatback. I'm glad she asked, "what's this do?" or I may not have known that her seatback was not locked into place. We immediately pulled over to lock the seat into place. I see this as a potential safety hazard, that especially puts young children at risk.

I found the windshield cracked for no reason.

Windshield spontaneously cracked.

The battery drains quickly when the car is switched off, potentially causing the driver to be stranded in dangerous situations without a functional car.

Purchased my 4 tires, Good Year Assurance WeatherReady in Dec 2019 with 42,304 miles. My tire indicator light came on alerting of low tire pressure. Upon inspection of rear passenger tire, substantial dry rot on tire sidewall, inside. I only have 39,800 miles on the tire. Tire is a 60,000 mile tire. Tire is defective due to dry rot. Dry rot is so bad, tire does not hold air.

The radio/touch screen unit has lost its contrast. In bright sunlight I can see an underlying circuit pattern on the screen that makes it hard or sometimes impossible to see the back up camera. Instead of seeing the image from the backup camera all I see are lines. I can no longer rely on the camera for safety support.

The battery went dead on Jan 14th 2022. This isn't totally unexpected as this was the first time the battery needed replacing since the car was purchased new. However, after the battery was replaced the same day, three days later Jan 17th the battery was again dead. Since then, the battery has been replaced once more and again died on both March 27th and April 1st. The car is driven weekly at least and has no warning lights on. After the most recent incident it was researched more heavily and found that there is a potential class action lawsuit against Subaru for this exact problem. Though it hasn't been dangerous for us it could be potentially dangerous should the car decided to fully shut off in the middle of traffic.

1. The car battery failed on six separate occasions within a 12 month time frame. First on May 8, 2021, August 21, 2021, September 9, 2021, November 5, 2021, February 5, 2022, and on March 28, 2022 2. The drivers safety was placed at minimal risk on one occasion since cars were lined up behind in a parking lot when the car would not start. 3. Yes, the problem has been reproduced due to the number of different times the battery died and the car would not start. The problem has not been confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. 4. No, to date the vehicle or component has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. 5. No, there were not any warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to failure. They first appeared on May 8, 2021.

We went it because the ODS (Occupant Detection System)/SRS (supplemental restraint system lit up on our dashboard. I took it in to Subaru of America after seeing that there were no VIN specific recalls on this issue. They immediately said they would cover the parts but we would have to pay for the labor. I then checked for recalls again and found that there was this exact same issue with 2015-2018 Subaru Foresters accounting for almost 370 thousand vehicles but apparently not ours. Obviously the car was no longer safe to drive as we weren't sure if the airbags would trigger in the event of the crash so we are paying out of our pocket to fix the issue but this seems like the old recall needs to be extended to cover other 2018 Subaru Foresters as well because from what I've seen on complaints here and on message boards, the problem is widespread. Hopefully, the NHTSA can investigate and see that the issue is further reaching than the initial 370 thousand vehicles. It's also important to note that 370 thousand subaru foresters between 2015-2018 is about half the amount sold in the US. If this issue affected that many vehicles on the road, it seems like the issue could be further widespread.

This is the latest time in a series of incidents where the SUV would not start due to a problem with the main battery. New batteries drain very quickly after a series of electrical problems. So far, we have noticed keyless entry FOB says battery in the FOB is low and stops connecting (but then connects if we remove the key from it without us holding it to the button that turns the car on and off), we replace this battery but continue to have the same issues, front passenger side window is not able to be rolled down or up from driver side, as the battery continues to drain, gas gauges stop correctly registering amount of gas in the car, different warning lights light up on control panel without any sense of rhyme or reason, and overhead lighting gets dim. For a few weeks, the SUV blames the problems on the battery in the key FOB being low, even though it was replaced on December 15, 2021. When replacing the FOB battery did not work, we learned it was the actual main SUV battery that had been drained. It is now March 19, 2022, and we are having the same issues despite having only a moderate amount of miles put on the SUV and only 3 months of time passing since we purchased and installed a brand new car battery. We will have to spend money on batteries again.

I took our 2018 Subaru Forester through a car wash. The usual washing procedure went just fine with me in the car idling in neutral as it went through. When it came to the end of the wash cycle, I coasted out and then shifted into drive. Instantly the car surged forward at an alarming speed and I could not stop it. The car crossed a busy street. I fortunately did not collide with cars. The car continued into a field next to a Ford dealer’s lot at a high speed and I was unable to stop it. I managed to swerve right to avoid crashing into the cars parked on the Ford lot. This sent the car back toward the road. Fortunately I hit a lone fire hydrant along the road, shearing the hydrant completely off. The hydrant was dragged along under the front left tire until it hit the curb stopping the car. The air bag did not deploy and I was not injured. This all occurred in a matter of seconds.

Battery continues to drain when car is parked/off causing a required jump start and then recharging of the battery. Dealer replaced battery one time in 2019 (with expense to owner) and recommended driving car every couple of days to ensure it does not draw down. This is not normal. Battery continues to drain down. Owner purchased aftermarket AGM battery (May 2021) of higher voltage/capacity to attempt to reduce number of issues yet vehicle continues to exhibit parasitic drain and battery dies after 3-4 days (faster when it's cold). Dealer has looked at car two more times and claims this is normal and need to not leave car for multiple days without starting. There are multiple class action lawsuits claiming this issue so I am registering this VIN as an affected vehicle.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving approximately 2 MPH while pulling into a parking spot, the vehicle lurched forward. The contact stated that she heard the engine revving but did not notice any warning lights. The contact had not taken the vehicle to the local dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 19,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start-up. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that rodents had eaten through the engine wiring harness. The contact was informed that the wiring harness was made of a soy-based material that was attractive to rodents. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The contact indicated that 2 weeks prior the windshield wiper fluid spray mechanism was inoperable due to a similar failure with rodents eating the soy-based tubing. The manufacturer was not yet notified. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 27,000.

Unknown system that failed but vehicle equiped with EyeSight and all of Subaru safety features. Air bag did not deploy. Pulling into curbed parking space at city park. Speed <10 mph while in parking lot. Applied brake while pulling in space to park and car accelerated jumping the curb. The car was out of control and luckily heading into the woods. Tried to apply brake again but car kept accelerating. Car went approximately 10-12 feet and crashed into a tree. I suffered only stiffness and sore muscles from the seatbelt. An accident report was filed with local police department. No warning lamps, messages or other messages appeared prior to the incident.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the windshield cracked without impact. The vehicle was not taken to a local dealer. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 39,591.

On January 15, 2020, a very cold morning, I discovered a crack in my 2018 Subaru Forester windshield. Upon further research, I also discovered this issue with spontaneous windshield cracking was an ongoing problem, found in Subaru's in the 2016 thru 2020 issue years. I took my Forester to my local Subaru dealer to inquire about the process to have Subaru repair my windshield under warranty. I was told by the service manager that there were no technical bulletins regarding the repair of windshields under warranty. This is a safety issue because this crack has now increased in size to half way across the windshield.

I was driving on a normal roadway when a pulley began to make a loud screaming sound. Then I heard two loud pops. I pulled to the side of the road. I found a melted serpentine belt. I replaced the belt and began to drive at a low speed. I noticed the Vehicle started to sputter. I pulled over and checked the engine. When I opened the hood the AC compressor was sparking and 6-12 inch flames were shooting out. I turned off the engine and extinguished the fire. Vehicle operated like normal after replacing AC compressor. Concerned that it could have caught entire vehicle on fire. Condenser for same make and model is recalled but not for our specific vin. I have old AC pump as evidence. An argument could be made that my VIN should have been included in the recall.

There is a parasitic drain on the electrical system, including when the vehicle is turned off and nothing is left running. As a result the vehicle will not start. aI replaced the battery and experienced the same problem with a month. This is most problematic when the vehicle has not been used for at least 2 days or it's very cold outside. It's happened at least 10 times in the last 2 years. The most recent incident was yesterday. When I called dealership they denied any electric so issues with the 2018 Forester and want to charge me $75:to check the electrical system even though there's a lawsuit in Canada due to this same exact issue. Everytime this happens aI and my passenger s are put at a safety risk by stranding us because until help arrives.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while having routine maintenance performed at an independent mechanic, he was informed that the control arm and ball joints were rusted. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and the vehicle was diagnosed that the control bushings were worn, and the lower control arm was inspected. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure however, no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.