Brake Disc Pads problems of the 2010 Subaru Forester

My 2010 Subaru Forester has only 71656 miles and I need to replace the brake pads and rotors for the third time. What is wrong with your set up? I am not a kid with a heavy foot ,I am 71. I know brake systems, because I was an auto repairman be fore I retired.

My mother and I were out and about on a Friday 5/1/15 as we got ready to leave our location. I place my foot on the breaks and put it into reverse, then ever so slightly put my foot on the gas paddle, then the truck suddenly accelerated back at a high rate of speed and hit another truck in back of me, before it came to a complete stop. No one was injured -no police were called as it was on private property. Both vehicle were damaged. I then took the vehicle to a local mechanic the next day and was told that the rear and front break pads needed to be replace and if I had not brought it in when I did I would have needed rotors as well. There was no sound that the breaks were going bad, and there was no warning singals of any kind. This is a very high safety issues as people lives are at risk. Thank god my mother and I are okay.

We were driving on a level interstate highway. A noise began. It was like we were on coarse pavement. I pulled over thinking there was a flat tire. Instead the front right brake was overheated and seizing. We completed our trip at greatly reduced speed because this occurred at night when we were unable to get service, and finding a motel which would allow our 100 lb german shepherd seemed unlikely. We did not drive the car again until we could get a service appointment with the dealer. The brakes were serviced on 3/1/13 by the dealer, who had just replaced rear pads and turned rotors 2 weeks earlier. The dealer said our problem was due to rust attributable to use of road salt, and that this work would not be covered by our warranty and that we should have had the brakes serviced every year to remove rust. We had never been told this before, even when the same dealer serviced the rear brakes on 2/14/13. The next day, after a 10 mile drive, alerted by the "hot brake smell", I checked temperatures. Right front still overheating. Now after being serviced, the right front brake rotor runs hot still. I took the car back, and at the dealership, a laser-aimed infrared thermometer shows right front rotor is 147 degrees, left front 128, right rear 82, left rear 97 after 15 to 20 miles of highway driving (ambient temperature 20 degrees). Dealer again checked, says all wheels spin freely, and does not know why the right front runs hot. Another brake seizure seems inevitable. Brakes should not have these problems on a car which has less than 19,000 miles and less than 3 years of use. The car does not pull to the right. Maybe the left rear is compensating.

My brakes were checked by my regular mechanic/repair shop @ 21,788 miles. They indicated that I had 70% left on both front and rear units. When I took my car in for an oil change and check up @ 24,870 miles the same shop indicated that while my front brakes still had 65% left on them the rear units had only 15% left. They recommended that I replace the rear disc brake pads, which I did. I am not hard on my brakes and don't understand why the rear brakes should wear out so quickly over such a short period of time. I also do not understand why there should be such a great difference in the wear between the front and rear brakes. I notice that two other people have complained about needing early rear brake replacements on 2010 Foresters. I have never had to replace brakes on any other car I owned after so few miles. My shop is aaa approved and highly rated in my community and are very trustworthy. This should not happen and should be looked into.

At 32,715 miles rear brakes failed. Both the brakes pads and rotor had completely rotted or fallen apart. The front brakes and rotors also needed to be replaces. At 25,000 miles I had a complete inspection of the braking system where it was determined that the brakes were worn down to about 50%. So in less than 8000 miles the the rear brakes had completely failed, and the front brakes where almost completely gone.

Started to hear a grinding sound from the rear when I applied my brakes on 6/24/2012. Took car to dealer on 6/25/2012. Dealer replaced rear brake pads and disks. Car only has 27,000 miles and most mileage is highway. I do not overuse my brakes and I am concerned that this is a design defect that can affect safety.

On 2/24/12 my breaks started to rub and squeak so I took it in to be checked. To my surprise it was my rear breaks and they had completely denigrated. The dealer couldn't explain to me why this happened so they just went ahead and replaced them under warranty. On 6/21/13 (20,000 miles later) same thing happened. Back breaks denigrated so the dealer replaced them again with no explanation. 5 days later I had the brakes inspected by firestone (still squeaking) and they informed me that the back break pads were down to 8mm and one of the rotors had been shaved "way down". Inquired about this to my dealer and apparently they replaced only the pads and said this was standard practice. In the 3 years I have had this car I have replaced the breaks 3x (rear 2x and front 1x), motor in sunroof, heating unit, radio connections, replaced front light bulbs 4-5 times and have had at least 2 recalls. I have contacted Subaru corporate but they keep directing me back to the dealer. My big concern is that the rear breaks are not operating properly and I drive around with a 4 year old in my car everyday. My understanding from asking around at the dealer is that I am not the only customer who has come in with rear break issues on the 2010 Subaru Forester. The car feels like it is dragging when I drive it and sometimes it feels like the breaks are rubbing when I am driving.

Rear brakes started scraping slightly on a Saturday (so slightly that they couldn't be heard with the windows up). That following Monday we took it to our mechanic who told us that the rear brakes pads were completely shot (metal on metal were his exact words). Front brakes needed new pads. It's realistic to replace front brake pads at 32000 as we do mostly city driving, however rear brakes should last twice as long as the front pads. We had no warning that such a severe rear brake issue existed and had we not gone to the mechanic at the first sign of any issue, we could have had a serious problem resulting in injury or death. We believe this is a design or manufacturing defect on Subaru's part and needs to be looked into more closely.

During a routine state inspection it was discovered that the rear disc brake rotors and pads were no longer acceptable and had to be replaced. The brakes were still functional at this point but only barely. There was no wear indicator sound that ever emanated from the brakes. There was no warning light on the dash board indicating a brake problem. There was longer braking detected but only that associated with normal wear of a vehicle. There were no signs of any issue with the brakes. A routine recent inspection of the front brakes by the owner to assess the vehicle prior to inspection revealed no issues with normal wear of the front pads and rotors. The rear disc brakes were not examined at the time as the assumption was that brake wear would be nominally the same as the front. The yearly state inspection revealed the excessive wear of the rear brakes relative to the front brakes. This indicates a vehicle flaw, possible design or component, as the vehicle only had 25,000 miles on it and the front disk pads and rotors indicate only normal wear. The rotors were worn too thin to be used. There was excessive rust on the brake components. The pads were were past acceptable wear. The rear brakes/pads/rotors were either defective, improperly working, or improperly designed. There could have been a serious brake failure resulting in an accident as a result of the excessive wear of the rear disc brakes. This should be red flagged as a serious issue of concern.