general problems of the 2012 Subaru Forester

My 2012 Subaru Forester suddenly accelerated as I was making a right hand turn from a parking lot onto a major street. My brakes failed and I could only steer at high speed off the street, over a curb on to a parking strip between trees, and through a motel parking lot. The car finally came to a stop as I had blown the front right tire going over the curb. The car has been towed to my auto repair shop where the cause(s) of the mechanical failure(s) as well as any possible associated damage(s) are still unknown. It is available for inspection upon request at this point in time. Although no injuries, fatalities, or property damage resulted from this incident, the sudden acceleration and brake failure of the car could have resulted in major injuries or fatalities if pedestrians had been on the sidewalk or in the motel parking lot. I could have also hit staff and/or guests in the motel office if I had not been able to steer away in time. I, as the driver, and my dog, as my sole passenger, could also have been seriously injured or killed if my car had hit the motel office or if my car had collided with any cars in motel lot. At this point in time, the cause of my car’s mechanical failure(s) remains unknown so the problem has not been assessed or confirmed by my independent auto repair service shop. The car has not been been inspected by any representative of the manufacturer (Subaru). Because no other vehicle was damaged nor person injured (miraculously) , I did not initiate a police report. Because the accident CO-incidentally occurred next door to my insurance agent, where I had just been, the agent's assistant visually inspected my car immediately following the accident. I did not see any control panel signs or other signs prior to nor during the failure (although during the failure I was so focused on where the car was headed that I was unable to look at the control panel at the same time). There were no signs of the failure when I came to a stop.

Both rear gate hydraulic arms failed at the same time. On or about 11/27/22, while retrieving items from the cargo compartment, I heard a pop and the door completely collapsed and struck me on the back of the head. Upon inspection the popping noise was the fracturing of the bolt which supported the right hydraulic arm. The left hydraulic arm failed to keep the door open or at least from slamming down upon me. Because I felt the simultaneous failure of both hydraulic arms posed a serious safety concern, my wife called Subaru headquarters and spoke with jennifer, customer advocacy department, and relayed the incident and our safety concerns for other owners of older model Subaru Foresters. Jennifer assured us that Subaru headquarters would seriously consider our safety concerns. Jennifer asked that after making an appointment with the dealership for repair, we contact her of the date so she could speak directly to the service department regarding the safety issue we were raising. My wife made the appointment, called jennifer with the date, and when arriving at the appointment asked the service person if they had been in touch with Subaru headquarters regarding our concerns. First the service manager said no, but another service person said yes and that they had put a notation about this on our appointment service order. The repairs were made. About a week later my wife contacted jennifer, Subaru headquarters' customer advocacy department, to inquire on the status of our safety concern and was told that it had been elevated to the next higher level and we would hear from them by 12/30/22. On 1/27/22, william, representative from customer advocacy at Subaru headquarters, called to inform us that Subaru will no longer be able to investigate our safety concerns as the failed parts had not been saved by the bloomington Subaru service department.

2012 Subaru dash light all come on and then the car starts to stall out. Dealer can not find out the problem. The happens intermittently. They reset the computer and it runs for a couple hours or day and then it happens again. This will happen in the while driving on the highway and is very dangerous.

While pulling into a parking stall at approximately 2-3 mph I went to press the brakes when all of the sudden the car accelerated at full speed without touching the accelerator causing me to hit the concrete wall in front of me. Airbags did not deploy and neither me or my passenger were not hurt. Damage to the bumper, frame, grill and various components just inside the engine compartment.

Vehicle experienced an occurrence of sudden unintended acceleration. I had my foot on the brake and was easing into a parking space. All of a sudden, the engine revved, and the vehicle surged and began to move forward on its own accord. I was unable to stop it using the brake. The vehicle went over 2 parking curbs and shrubbery and was headed into traffic. Vehicle was moving at about 20-25 mph so I was able to steer it and avoided traffic by turning right, staying on parking lot grass & rock barrier. Car went into gully and eventually stopped on its own. Dealership was unable to find problem. Contacted corporate office who had vehicle inspected by auto engineering firm and no problem detected. Since some recurrent issues reported on safety boards, decision made to trade in vehicle. Dealership repaired damage to the vehicle and now has car up for sale; we have many concerns about this vehicle being sold to unsuspecting customer.

My sun visers fall off. They fall off and land in my lap. They at times catch the steering wheel. They have done this since 2016. Both of them do this. When I am driving, freeway or around town, they fall off and startle me and cause the sun to be in my eyes. Often they are not on my car and I can't see on the road.

Spontaneous acceleration: stepped on brake to slow down. Instead engine revs increased and car sped up. Was able to bring the car under control before an accident occurred, only by taking my foot off the brake pedal and replacing it several times. Same problem as occurred with this vehicle on 10/12/2012. See odi # 10484833.

When turning off engine, loud rapid pinging noise from front of the car for about 20 minutes. Per Subaru home office this is normal. Per manager of Subaru service dept it is normal. I was told it was the guards around the catalytic converter - that they get very hot from the catalytic converter and ping as cool down. But if they are continually warping back and forth causing the pinging sound, isn't there going to be metal fatigue? when the guards don't work, is the car going to be safe to drive? I mean, I would think they are there for a reason. I have even heard the noise rolling down the driver side window at a fast food restaurant. Just want to know the car will be safe. Would love to have the annoying noise go away also. I was told all forresters do this.

2012 Forester 2. 5x, 4-spd automatic transmission: when traveling at highway speeds, 50+ mph, any attempt to quickly accelerate causes the automatic transmission to downshift all the way to second gear. This results in very high rpms, but a loss in velocity as the downshift to second gear is not appropriate at the high end of the allowable rpms for the engine. The loss in speed when attempting to accelerate is very unsafe and has caused me to have to unexpectedly return to my lane when attempting to pass another vehicle. Likewise, attempting to merge into traffic traveling faster in another lane is also unsafe as I lose speed while emerging into the lane with faster traffic. This downshift into second gear rather than third gear at highway speeds occasionally causes the check engine light to turn on and the traction control warning light to turn on. This is an ongoing problem and can be replicated at any time. This occurs at highway speeds, and can be replicated by depressing the accelerator pedal quickly, or just tapping on the accelerator. The vehicle should not be able to downshift to second gear at high speeds using an automatic transmission. I have returned it to the dealer twice and the dealers mechanics are easily able to replicate the problem. After numerous attempts to fix the problem, the dealership contacted the Subaru headquarters and were told this is normal operation. It is anything but normal for an automobile and is very dangerous. There appear to be a number of complaints on various internet sites on Foresters with similar problems.