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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2019 Subaru Forester — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 834 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

834
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
37
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
11
Involved Fire
owner-reported
21 / 1
Injuries / Deaths
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Subaru Forester — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

105 complaints

78 complaints

403 complaints

615 complaints

415 complaints

589 complaints

498 complaints

834 complaints

602 complaints

210 complaints

99 complaints

74 complaints

30 complaints

98 complaints

0 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Visibility/wiper 370 reports
Unknown Or Other 144 reports
Electrical System 134 reports
Engine 106 reports
Forward Collision Avoidance 43 reports
Power Train 38 reports
Visibility 38 reports
Vehicle Speed Control 27 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Electrical System ODI 11562800 12/31/2023

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 sever…

Unknown Or Other ODI 11445731 12/31/2021

Windshield broke on its own

Electrical System ODI 11445660 12/30/2021

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the battery would become drained after three days of the vehicle not being driven. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who informed him that the failure was not due to the battery. The contact stated that the vehicle was still being driven however, after being parked for several days the battery had …

Visibility/wiper ODI 11385678 12/30/2020

THE CAR HAS 12600ISH MILES. THERE ARE NO ROCK CHIPS, ETC. THE WINDSHIELD CRACKED FOR NO APPARENT REASON. IT DIDN'T HAVE ANY WHEN WE PARKED LAST NIGHT AND NOW THERE IS A 6 INCH CRACK COMING FROM THE BOTTOM CENTER. THERE WERE NO INSTANCES OF ROCKS, DRIVING OVER BUMPS, ETC.THE CAR DIDN'T HAVE A CRACK WHEN WE PARKED IT LAST NIGHT AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN DOES TODAY.

Electrical System ODI 11632986 12/29/2024

[XXX], driving home, dark at [XXX] in Airway Heights WA. About 10 mins to home, lights in dashboard suddenly lit (brake, check engine, battery icon, water temp icon, 2 yellow colored pictures that had the word “off”, park, ABS, exclamation point next to a circle that had a symbol in circle like a Mercedes Benz, and another symbol colored yellow). I kept driving with very lit…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2019 Subaru Forester, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

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Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2019 Subaru Forester reliable?
Owners have filed 834 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2019 Subaru Forester, most often about visibility/wiper. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Subaru Forester years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.