80 of the
1,084 complaints about the 2019 Subaru Forester are about the
driver-assist systems — 7% of everything
reported for this model year.
Half of the failures with a mileage on record happened before
12,780 miles.
B
80
Complaints
3
Crashes
1
Fires
1
Injuries
Exactly what failed
Automatic Emergency Braking
2733.8%
Warnings
2227.5%
Adaptive Cruise Control
1012.5%
Warning
67.5%
Assist
56.3%
Blind Spot Detection
45.0%
Warnings
33.8%
Lane Departure
11.3%
Steering Assist
11.3%
Rearview System Braking
11.3%
Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance across every Subaru Forester year
Engine lost power and was misfiring while many warning symbols appeared on the dash. There was a divider separating the lanes. The car coasted to almost to a stop, but the engine chugged enough to slowly turn left at the first opening in the divider and just barely made it off the main road. The engine stopped. I restarted it several times. The engine was misfiring barely running. The electric brake was applied on its own. The car did not respond to moving the shift selector out of park, so the car was immobilized. I put the 4-way flashers on and called AAA. There seemed to be no way for me to move it out of park or release the electronic parking brake. AAA could not respond quickly and suggested I call the police to divert traffic around my car for safety which I did. The tow truck operator was able to disengage the wheels and was able to flatbed it to the nearest repair shop. This being Saturday 1/3/26 it wasn't until Tuesday the repair shop determined the car would not run long enough to provide a reliable diagnosis due to the multiple trouble codes coming up on the computer analysis. I had the car towed to the nearest Subaru dealership who replaced the thermos control valve under their warranty extension. The dealership said usually when this part fails it just triggers a check engine light and not the dangerous situation I experienced. I believe a recall to replace this part should be issued on all cars with this defective part as its failure can cause a dangerous situation without warning.
NHTSA complaint #11709593 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Port Orange, FL
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH, the Forward Collision Avoidance system activated, and the vehicle immediately decelerated to 56 MPH. The failure was intermittent but had occurred several times over 5 years. The contact had to manually turn off the Forward Collision Avoidance system to avoid the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
NHTSA complaint #11700763 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
While I was driving on a major road, the car appeared to sense an issue and automatically started to brake. While I was a road with 55mph drivers, my car was forcing me to stop. May warning light appeared; Eyesight Issue, Check Engine, Brake and many others. I was able to disengage the crash prevention manually and continue to drive. When I took it to my mechanic, he told me all the codes went to a Technical Service Bulletin for the Thermo Control Valve. He reset the codes and told me to take it to Subaru for an under warranty repair. Once I left the mechanic, I was travelling home and the car had the same issues, again while driving on a very busy road. This time I could not disengage the system, and I struggled to get the car over to the left shoulder. It was very narrow, and not safe. I ended up having to have the car towed to the dealer. The dealer did fix the car, under warranty. However, twice I was caught on busy roads in a very dangerous situation. I am very glad that I was not injured, nor those that came to rescue me. But this should not have happened. The Technical Service Bulletin was issued on April of 2024 and I had no idea.
NHTSA complaint #11694543 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Centreville, VA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
While I was driving on a major road, the car appeared to sense an issue and automatically started to brake. While I was a road with 55mph drivers, my car was forcing me to stop. May warning light appeared; Eyesight Issue, Check Engine, Brake and many others. I was able to disengage the crash prevention manually and continue to drive. When I took it to my mechanic, he told me all the codes went to a Technical Service Bulletin for the Thermo Control Valve. He reset the codes and told me to take it to Subaru for an under warranty repair. Once I left the mechanic, I was travelling home and the car had the same issues, again while driving on a very busy road. This time I could not disengage the system, and I struggled to get the car over to the left shoulder. It was very narrow, and not safe. I ended up having to have the car towed to the dealer. The dealer did fix the car, under warranty. However, twice I was caught on busy roads in a very dangerous situation. I am very glad that I was not injured, nor those that came to rescue me. But this should not have happened. The Technical Service Bulletin was issued on April of 2024 and I had no idea.
NHTSA complaint #11694543 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Centreville, VA
BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
While I was driving on a major road, the car appeared to sense an issue and automatically started to brake. While I was a road with 55mph drivers, my car was forcing me to stop. May warning light appeared; Eyesight Issue, Check Engine, Brake and many others. I was able to disengage the crash prevention manually and continue to drive. When I took it to my mechanic, he told me all the codes went to a Technical Service Bulletin for the Thermo Control Valve. He reset the codes and told me to take it to Subaru for an under warranty repair. Once I left the mechanic, I was travelling home and the car had the same issues, again while driving on a very busy road. This time I could not disengage the system, and I struggled to get the car over to the left shoulder. It was very narrow, and not safe. I ended up having to have the car towed to the dealer. The dealer did fix the car, under warranty. However, twice I was caught on busy roads in a very dangerous situation. I am very glad that I was not injured, nor those that came to rescue me. But this should not have happened. The Technical Service Bulletin was issued on April of 2024 and I had no idea.
NHTSA complaint #11694543 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Carlisle, PA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
During severe stop/go, thick, holiday traffic on I-495 (DC Beltway), during daylight hours, once AGAIN (this has happened several times before), the auto engine shutoff feature catastrophically malfunctioned, turning the car off, and simultaneously, activated the entirety of the dashboard to flash on/off, causing nearly every indicator light to come on, and then had difficulty restarting. This has been brought to Subaru's attention multiple times and they essentially have washed their hands of it and stating since they can't duplicate it, it essentially must not be occurring and they cannot repair it.
NHTSA complaint #11663006 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Auto start/stop shut off engine at drive thru line. Locked up brakes and could not get it to unlock and restart car. It has happened on a number of occasions. After multiple attempts trying and letting it sit for a couple of hours, somehow got it to unlock and start. Thank goodness we haven’t gotten into an accident
NHTSA complaint #11652823 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Lagrange Park, IL
LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
1) The seat is cracking on the drivers seat. The vehicle only has 64,000 miles on it. No word from Subaru. 2) Parking collision warning system works part of the time. Dangerous when the system does not detect a person or vehicle in the blind spot.
NHTSA complaint #11651759 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Lagrange Park, IL
BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
1) The seat is cracking on the drivers seat. The vehicle only has 64,000 miles on it. No word from Subaru. 2) Parking collision warning system works part of the time. Dangerous when the system does not detect a person or vehicle in the blind spot.
NHTSA complaint #11651759 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Ponca City, OK
LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
I got in my vehicle after getting gas. I was on my way to Neosho, MO, hundreds of miles from home. Thes lights were all on and I couldn't get them to go off. I figured it was because my windshield was dirty. I turned my wipers on to find out one needed replaced. I paid $30 for 1 since I have an odd type of wipers and I had been to 3 auto stores to find it. The Eye Sight, brake, check engine, air bag, and lane assist lights never went off. Now they come on randomly and go off randomly. This causes all safety features to not work. No adaptive cruise control, nothing. I finally got them to go off somehow the day I came back home. I live nowhere near a Subaru dealer. It had no other effect on my vehicle as far as I could tell. Now when they come on. I pull over until they come back on or have to drive it home to sit.
NHTSA complaint #11647079 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Ponca City, OK
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
I got in my vehicle after getting gas. I was on my way to Neosho, MO, hundreds of miles from home. Thes lights were all on and I couldn't get them to go off. I figured it was because my windshield was dirty. I turned my wipers on to find out one needed replaced. I paid $30 for 1 since I have an odd type of wipers and I had been to 3 auto stores to find it. The Eye Sight, brake, check engine, air bag, and lane assist lights never went off. Now they come on randomly and go off randomly. This causes all safety features to not work. No adaptive cruise control, nothing. I finally got them to go off somehow the day I came back home. I live nowhere near a Subaru dealer. It had no other effect on my vehicle as far as I could tell. Now when they come on. I pull over until they come back on or have to drive it home to sit.
NHTSA complaint #11647079 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Ishpeming, MI
LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
Improper glass installed by safelight adas unable to be calibrated
NHTSA complaint #11607120 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Improper glass installed by safelight adas unable to be calibrated
NHTSA complaint #11607120 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Ishpeming, MI
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Improper glass installed by safelight adas unable to be calibrated
NHTSA complaint #11607120 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Austin, TX
LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
The check engine light went on and the diagnostic code read was P26A3, Engine Coolant Bypass Valve is failing in my 2019 Forester, which only has 46,000 miles on it. Subaru was aware that this part was defective in the 2019-2021 models, because in Feb of 2022 the part was replaced and a service bulletin 09-80-21 was issued with instruction for replacing the part, but did not issue a recall, despite this problem causing the advanced safety features to stop working and directly affecting the proper functioning of the engine. My car is just out of warranty, and the quote to have my mechanic replace the part is almost $1200 which I am unable to afford and do not feel I should have to pay for. Subaru should be help to account for this issue.
NHTSA complaint #11582861 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Austin, TX
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
The check engine light went on and the diagnostic code read was P26A3, Engine Coolant Bypass Valve is failing in my 2019 Forester, which only has 46,000 miles on it. Subaru was aware that this part was defective in the 2019-2021 models, because in Feb of 2022 the part was replaced and a service bulletin 09-80-21 was issued with instruction for replacing the part, but did not issue a recall, despite this problem causing the advanced safety features to stop working and directly affecting the proper functioning of the engine. My car is just out of warranty, and the quote to have my mechanic replace the part is almost $1200 which I am unable to afford and do not feel I should have to pay for. Subaru should be help to account for this issue.
NHTSA complaint #11582861 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Tiverton, RI
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
4/2/2024 at 5:30am my Eyesight system flashed a message in orange that the Eyesight system was off - not temporarily disabled. This is NOT due to an obstruction of the cameras by weather/glare/dirt etc. All functions controlled by Eyesight including lane departure, adaptive cruise control, and forward emergency braking, as well as reverse automatic braking are disabled by this malfunction. I removed the negative lead from my battery in an attempt to reset the system which did not clear the error. No check engine light accompanied this error and all other systems seem to be functioning normally.
NHTSA complaint #11580717 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
4/2/2024 at 5:30am my Eyesight system flashed a message in orange that the Eyesight system was off - not temporarily disabled. This is NOT due to an obstruction of the cameras by weather/glare/dirt etc. All functions controlled by Eyesight including lane departure, adaptive cruise control, and forward emergency braking, as well as reverse automatic braking are disabled by this malfunction. I removed the negative lead from my battery in an attempt to reset the system which did not clear the error. No check engine light accompanied this error and all other systems seem to be functioning normally.
NHTSA complaint #11580717 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Thermo control valve failure, P26A3 code, eyesight safety assistance warning light ,check engine light, pre collision braking light, lane assist light.
NHTSA complaint #11579121 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
National City, CA
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
Thermo control valve failure, P26A3 code, eyesight safety assistance warning light ,check engine light, pre collision braking light, lane assist light.
NHTSA complaint #11579121 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Brooklyn, NY
LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
I am concerned as my car was safely parked, once I started it and it said eyesight off, flashing S symbol, the heat thermo Stat changes back and forth from hot and cold, car is not warming up and check engine light came on. I am very concerned as it is the winter, and I have my baby in the car. Please advise. This seems very unusual and never happened before. The vehicle have around 23K miles.
NHTSA complaint #11564786 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Peabody, MA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
All of a sudden, the eyesight and collision prevention stopped working, the check engine light came on, the blue light thermostat indicator came on. We had no heat. The flashing "S" (sportsmode indicator) came on. We were driving on the highway and still over an hour from home. It was snowing, we could not adequately clear the windshield of fog so our visibility was severely compromised. We lost all Eye Sight capability which meant that we were vulnerable if there was ever a crash or an obstruction in the roadway.
NHTSA complaint #11562800 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Peabody, MA
LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
All of a sudden, the eyesight and collision prevention stopped working, the check engine light came on, the blue light thermostat indicator came on. We had no heat. The flashing "S" (sportsmode indicator) came on. We were driving on the highway and still over an hour from home. It was snowing, we could not adequately clear the windshield of fog so our visibility was severely compromised. We lost all Eye Sight capability which meant that we were vulnerable if there was ever a crash or an obstruction in the roadway.
NHTSA complaint #11562800 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Prospect, KY
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
On Friday, December 15, 2023 I started my car, Subaru Forester Touring 2019. After starting these lights came on the dashboard: check engine, flashing S drive, no eyesight, RAB off. I was reading online that there have been complaints to NHTSA similar to my problem ( NHTSA ID # 11490232, 12479843, 11511658, 11490977, 11479843, 11499756, 11480952, 11491752, 11474804) to name a few reports.This has never happenedbefore. The mileage on my car is about 54,400 miles at time of incident. It seems to me that there is a pattern here that needs to be resolved and the owners informed so they can get if fixed before it happens and causes safety problems for Subaru Forester owners. I am kindly asking your office to seriously look into this specific problem and help us, the consumers, to inform Subaru to fix these issues. I thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
NHTSA complaint #11560375 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Cathlamet, WA
LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
The Eyesight feature went out and the heater went out and I took the car to a mechanic and he said it had a faulty thermo control valve that needs replacement.
NHTSA complaint #11559750 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Cathlamet, WA
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The Eyesight feature went out and the heater went out and I took the car to a mechanic and he said it had a faulty thermo control valve that needs replacement.
NHTSA complaint #11559750 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Orlando, FL
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
There are two problems: 1 after the car turns off after stopping to save fuel it will fail to restart automatically and must be put into park to manually restart; 2 the car will try to change lanes indicating that the safety related lane change is malfunctioning. I have to fight the car to maintain my lane.
NHTSA complaint #11554270 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Syracuse, NY
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The check engine light came on and all of the eyesight components on the car were disabled as I was traveling down the highway at 70 mph (this included the adaptive cruise control, the lane departure warning, forward collision warning, etc). In addition, the engine thermostat light came on and the heater and defroster stopped working. It was cold and rainy and the window started to fog up and I was unable to clear it without a functioning defroster. This was definitely a safety issue and I had to stop driving. The car was taken to a subaru dealer today and diagnosed with faulty thermo control valve. The technician told me the car should NOT be driven in this condition due to the problem being in the engine coolant system. This is a known issue on the 2019 Forester, and other Subaru models as well, and has a TSB originally issued in Sept 2021. (#09-80-21) My car has 70K miles and therefore is just out of the warranty period. I will have to pay over $1500 to replace this part and because it is a safety issue I have no choice but to pay for the repair. It is a part that is known to be defective and I am requesting that a recall should be issued before others are also put in potential danger and/or forced to pay large sums of money to get it fixed.
NHTSA complaint #11553451 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Syracuse, NY
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The check engine light came on and all of the eyesight components on the car were disabled as I was traveling down the highway at 70 mph (this included the adaptive cruise control, the lane departure warning, forward collision warning, etc). In addition, the engine thermostat light came on and the heater and defroster stopped working. It was cold and rainy and the window started to fog up and I was unable to clear it without a functioning defroster. This was definitely a safety issue and I had to stop driving. The car was taken to a subaru dealer today and diagnosed with faulty thermo control valve. The technician told me the car should NOT be driven in this condition due to the problem being in the engine coolant system. This is a known issue on the 2019 Forester, and other Subaru models as well, and has a TSB originally issued in Sept 2021. (#09-80-21) My car has 70K miles and therefore is just out of the warranty period. I will have to pay over $1500 to replace this part and because it is a safety issue I have no choice but to pay for the repair. It is a part that is known to be defective and I am requesting that a recall should be issued before others are also put in potential danger and/or forced to pay large sums of money to get it fixed.
NHTSA complaint #11553451 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The temperature control valve (TCV) has gone bad and so the check engine light is on and reverse automatic braking and the Eyesight system is disabled. The problem with the temperature control valve is unrelated to the safety systems, however, when this valve goes bad, these safety systems are disabled automatically.
NHTSA complaint #11551424 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.