general problems of the 2003 Subaru Forester

When ambient air temperature is cold (below about 20-30 f), the vehicle gives off a strong gasoline smell. This is caused by the fuel rail contracting to the point that some fuel is sprayed onto the engine compartment. Obviously, this is a fire risk.

On winter days, where temperatures are not unusually low for a northern state, the fuel lines on the Forester will shrink and contract. The result is that fuel will leak out of the line resulting in two things, fuel vapors in the cabin and fuel puddling on the engine. Fuel puddling on the engine represents on obvious safety hazard in the event of a fire. The heavy fuel vapors and odor in the cabin caused me to become nauseous and light headed. In order to drive home safely, the windows had to be opened almost completely. Luckily they were not frozen up, which is also common in winter months. There have also been several days where wind chill alone could result in frost bite in only a few minutes. I could not have rolled down my windows safely on those days or in similar temps because of the added vehicle speed. Soa is aware that this is a problem, but refuses to correct the issue or admit that it applies to most of its models. The problem even continues on later models. . Read more...

While driving vehicle in extremely cold weather notice strong fuel smell coming in car.

Very strong odor of gasoline in the cabin right after startup and throughout short trips, especially with heater on. Seems to happen most often when outside temperatures are near or below the freezing mark. Did not experience before this winter, now occurs daily. Please investigate this problem before someone gets hurt or killed! if Subaru knows that there is a safety problem with the fuel system, owners should not have to pay for repairs.

At cold temperatures, fuel leaking somewhere from vehicle, causing strong odor inside and out of cabin. Concerned that this amount of fuel could be hazardous to breathe and/or cause risk for fire. Need more proactive response from Subaru on this matter, at this point 26 of 115 complaints for this make/model/year are for this issue.

Frontal impact while striking a deer at this speed should have deployed both air bags. The air bag light sometimes would remain on, but mostly it was off. From what I have found through other complaints is that this year vehicle is known for this issue, but a recall has not been issued. Is it going to take a death to force Subaru to correct this issue? the other issue found while repairing the vehicle is that both head gaskets are seeping coolant, the drivers side is seeping more just like the recall describes on 1999-2002 models. Even though this a 2003 it was purchased in the fall of 2002, Subaru failed to contact me and advise me to add the $1. 44 coolant additive to save the head gaskets. How is a consumer supposed to know these little details? now the vehicle has too many miles for them to care, sticking me with the estimated $2000 repair.

Noticed anti-freeze odor after vehicle had been run and turned off. Did not see any leaks. Problem continued several weeks before noticing several leak spots on garage floor, so made appointment with mechanic who knew immediately it was a head gasket problem. We purchased the car new in October, 2002 and have maintained it according to the maintenance schedules. The vehicle had 52,000 miles on it when we spent $1300 to repair a problem that Subaru of America knew about and has known about for some time. We never received any notice or recall of any kind relating to this problem. Subaru of America should make some sort of restitution to its customers for this manufacturers defect.

2003 Subaru Forester problems with cylinder head gasket. Consumer states there are several internet complaints about this defect. She states that the estimate cost for repair is about $1500. 00 to $1600. 00 dollars.