2016 SUBARU FORESTER Complaints

Passenger's seat belt sensor is alarming when no one is in the seat. The passenger side airbag warning light is also coming on and off. I took it to the dealer, and they confirmed that the sensor in the seat pad is bad. The airbag light was intermittently going on for several weeks before I took it in. The car has been at the dealer since mid-August, and I am told that the part is currently on backorder without an estimated arrival date.

The right rear coil spring broke causing the vehicle to sag approx three inches. I drove the vehicle to my local mechanic and he replaced both coil springs on the rear axle.

The recall on the occupant detection system was performed in 2019, but the passenger SRS light still lights up intermittently with no obvious indication of what is causing it. Sometimes the front passenger seat has no one in it, sometimes it appears as soon as someone sits in it, sometimes after it has been occupied for some time, and sometimes I can complete a long trip with the light never appearing. The seat has never been soaked and the diagnostic fee alone is $200. All indications are that only replacing the entire seat at a cost of over $1500 will remedy the situation.

As I said earlier: car stopped dead in the middle of I-94, going 70 mph. No reason--had 1/4 tank of gasoline, alternator working, etc. Come to find out that you all recalled 2018 Subaru Foresters for this EXACT same problem--cars stalling while driving. That was for a faulty fuel pump. Discussion boards by owners are FULL of the same exact problem from 2014-2019. You should issue a recall there too, IMHO, since obviously the 2018 are the tip of the iceberg!

[XXX] driving on [XXX] at 70 MPH car stopped running. Engine died. Pulled over. No warning lights, it just died. Waited for a tow but after an hour, tried to start and it started right up. Had 1/4 tank of fuel left, but got more and got home ok. HIDEOUSLY DANGEROUS THING TO HAPPEN!!!!! I see there are at least 13 complaints already filed with you about this issue. Do SOMETHING, willya ? INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Acceleration issues, this is the 3rd time it has happened since we've owned our forester in 2018. Yesterday morning my wife was pulling out of our driveway and while she put it in reverse and started to release the brakes to naturally roll back, it hard accelerated and shot us out into the road until she fully pressed the brakes in. I was already aware of this issue, so I looked over as this was happening and saw her foot was on the brake pedal the entire time. The car was fully warmed up, on an inclined driveway nose pointed in, the acceleration has also happened going forward and on a flat surface as well in a parking spot just after putting in in reverse. My wife is the main driver of the car, and before it happens, she can normally catch the problem because the rpms are higher than normal before shifting into gears and she will wait a minute until the rpms have settled back down. I believe in 2020 we had the shifting looked at and they stated the time it takes to go into each gear was a little bit longer than normal but found no issues. Big safety issue due to others and us for not having control of it when that happens.

Battery constantly fails after a few days of driving. Even after battery has been replaced with new, the problem continues to occur. Car does not start and it needs to be constantly jump started. The problem first started happening in 2019. Just discovered there was a lawsuit related to this issue, but I did not receive any type of notification about it.

My car accelerated on its own while I was driving slowly through a parking lot and had to slam on the brakes.

Had recall completed for Subaru Forester (WUM-98) where dealer replaced ODS sensor harness in 2020. At the end of 2021 had the SRS light intermittently come on but would then go off for months( front passenger seat). This kept happening intermittently so I brought it to dealership and had it diagnosed in 2023. They suggested replacing the passenger seat ($1200 P&L). Dealer said no water damage to seat and cables looked good. Brought it to new dealership in 2024. They said it needed a new ODS sensor harness and replaced it. Since this was replaced, I have not had the SRS light come back on. This is a huge safety risk to front passenger riders. Disappointed that it needed to be replaced so soon after the recall was completed. I did open a case with SOA and they offered goodwill assistance but said the recall warranty only lasted a year.

The cam carrier seal was leaking oil into the car and potentially causing damage to the engine. It was a $3,806.20 repair cost.