2020 Subaru Forester — Problems & Complaints
NHTSA has 602 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.
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.
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
What Owners Complain About Most
Recent Owner Reports
When I am idling at a stop sign or sitting in traffic and I have come to a full stop, the car's engine shuts down as a gas-saving feature. This is not the problem! The problem is that sometimes when this feature engages, when I lift my foot off the brake to start driving again, a shrill constant ringing sound starts and the engine won't power back on. There is an error message…
Driver gets choked while drinking a cold beverage, gets disoriented and loses consciousness momentarily causing the vehicle to veer off the street and strike a tree with extensive front end damage. Airbags did not deploy at all. Driver has injuries from the crash, such as possible fractured wrist, contusions and much pain in the neck, chest and back areas. She was transport…
CAR IS BRAND NEW. WITHIN 2 WEEKS OF PURCHASING ALREADY 3 CHIPS IN WINDSHIELD WHEN NO ROCKS WERE OBSERVED HITTING. ONE OF THE CHIPS IS IN FRONT OF THE EYESIGHT SYSTEM AND IF IT GROWS IT WILL HAMPER THE SAFETY SYSTEMS OF THE CAR. IT WILL COST ME AROUND 1700 DOLLARS TO REPAIR SOMETHING THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED.
While driving my 2020 Subaru Forester at approximately 15 mph, the engine unexpectedly shut off, resulting in an immediate loss of propulsion (vehicle stall while in motion). This created a safety risk because the vehicle was in traffic and could have been struck from behind or lost the ability to accelerate out of danger. No crash occurred and there were no injuries. There we…
The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the battery drained quickly, and the vehicle had to be jumpstarted after three days. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000.
Recalls & Crash Tests
Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2020 Subaru Forester, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.
Problems Checker
Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.