Cruise Control problems of the 2016 Subaru Forester

Six problems related to cruise control have been reported for the 2016 Subaru Forester. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2016 Subaru Forester based on all problems reported for the 2016 Forester.

1 Cruise Control problem

Failure Date: 08/14/2018

On five different occurrences while the cruise control was on and we were driving at around 70 miles an hour on an interstate, our car would electronically put itself in neutral, the automatic gear shifter would physically remain in drive, the rpm's would go up to about 5500 rpms, because the car was slowing down and the cruise control was on. We would pull over to the side of the interstate and the engine will shut off after about 30 seconds. Three of the five times, the car would start after sitting for about 15 minutes. The third time the battery died after trying to start it a few times while it was cold out. The fifth time the car left us stranded on the interstate for two hours while we waited for a tow truck. We have notified Subaru every time that the car would do this. On the third time it happened, Subaru had us remove the remote starter we had purchased and installed at best buy. After having best buy remove the remote started, I installed a dashcam behind the driver to record the driver, dashboard and the shifter because Subaru could not find any evidence of this issue happening. The fourth and fifth time happened while we were on a family vacation out of state. The car was left at a dealership out of state and four weeks after the incident they determined it was a faulty fuel pump. I was told on the phone that they were unable to test if the fuel pump they removed was in fact faulty. Subaru told me they had a technician drive it for 500 miles and they didn't experience the same issue. Incidents were at the following mileages - dates: 31190 - may 27th, 2017 34383 - August 27th, 2017 approximately 42300 - February 2nd, 2018 51778 - August 9th, 2018 52129 - August 14th, 2018.

2 Cruise Control problem

Failure Date: 07/28/2018

2016 Subaru Forester xt with 57000 miles. The cel came on during a 5 minute drive and started to stall. After stopping and starting the car, the engine continuously sputtered. Cel came on, stability control disabled, traction control disabled, cruise control disabled. To keep the car from dying, driver had to rev engine. Driver took it to the dealership because the car was unsafe to drive (stalled in the middle of intersections). Cel was reset after dealership changed the O2 sensor. Car ran fine for 50 miles. Cel came on, stability control, traction control and cruise control were all disabled. Car would skid on wet surfaces. Car would stall. Car would lag on the throttle response and then accelerate at a very high-rate, resulting in near miss accidents. Returned to the dealership. Brake-light sensor was replaced first and cel reset. Issue appeared immediately afterwords and all fuel injectors had to replaced. Drove car from dealership and 1 day later, same problem appeared. Dealership replaced egr valve. Did not resolve the problem. As of August 20, 2018, the car is undriveable and with the dealership undergoing diagnostics. All incidents occurred while the vehicle was in motion driving on both a highway, city street, and making turns. The fault has not been successfully identified but all attempts at resolution have been on the fuel, throttle, and exhaust systems.

3 Cruise Control problem

Failure Date: 02/02/2018

During periods of heavy rain, the vehicle appears to suffer major electrical issues. Since February of 2018, my vehicle has reported problems after a major storm with the eyesight camera system, abs, hill assist, and fuel gauge. Fyi-eyesight includes the dynamic cruise control, crash avoidance, and lane monitoring system. The issue has been reported to our Subaru dealer/maintenance team but they have not been able to discover the source of the issue.

4 Cruise Control problem

Failure Date: 11/19/2016

I've had the same issue happen on 2 separate occasions (October and November 2016) - while driving the car I bought brand new, and going appx. 75 mph down the interstate, driving approximately 2 hours straight on flat interstate, the rpm's all of a sudden shoot up and it feels like my car falls out of gear. The car essentially shuts down and fails to accelerate and slows down quickly, while totally unresponsive. We have to quickly pull off the road to avoid being hit. Several lights show on the dash (have photo) and the vehicle does not respond to acceleration. We had to shut the car off completely and turn it back on - no response to acceleration or anything. It did not respond until the 2nd time turning it off and back on. Upon bringing to dealership, they have not been able to pull any codes or duplicate the error (either time). They also had a Subaru field engineer look at it and found nothing. I am continuously sent away without a solution other than to "call roadside assistance" if it happens again, which puts myself and others in serious danger. The most recent time they put 300 miles on it and found that it "fell out of cruise control", but aren't offering to fix it and didn't actually duplicate the same error as I had. I'm afraid I'm going to get into a serious car accident and hurt myself or someone else the next time this happens. It feels like Subaru (or dealer) isn't owning up to this problem or possibly trying to cover it up to keep their good safety ratings. The dealership has told me that I'm "the only person in the whole united states reporting this issue", which I find very difficult to believe.

5 Cruise Control problem

Failure Date: 12/14/2015

Eyesight and cruise control intermittent shutdown and restart. On an increasingly frequent basis, when the cruise control and eyesight are engaged, both will disable and can be a few seconds to minutes before the eyesight re-enables and the cruise control can manually be re-engaged. When this happens, vehicle goes from auto-drive to manual-drive. Also, an e1 error appeared on the odometer display.

6 Cruise Control problem

Failure Date: 10/08/2015

Car has 11,000 miles, automatic transmission. While driving straight on a highway using the cruise control set at 65 mph with the adaptive cruise control on (feet not touching the gas pedal or brake) the car engine rpm's began increasing till it reached the rev limiter. At the same time the engine rpm began revving high, the car began to coast as if it was in neutral. But the gear shift remained in drive. After a few seconds of the engine revving as high as it could, the engine shut off and I was able to get the car stopped. I had to put my hazards on and steer off to the shoulder to avoid getting hit from behind. This has happened to me twice. First time 10/8/15 the car would not start after I coasted to a stop and had to have it towed to the Subaru dealer. They hooked the car up to their computer for a diagnostic test and found no error codes. Second time this happened to me on 1/2/16 after stopping on the shoulder I was able to restart the car and drive home without using cruise control. The car is going back to the dealer for another test this Friday 1/8/16. This whole process probably takes about 30 second or so. But its very dangerous. Its almost as if the transmission is some how not engaged. Since the cruise is set at 65 mph it tries to increases engine rpm to maintain 65 mph speed but the transmission is not engaged so car does not accelerate. Cruise sees car slowing down so speeds up the engine to compensate. Cars still doesn't speed up. Eventually engine rpm maxes out for a few seconds and turns itself off. I feel like the problem lies with the transmission most likely or possibly the cruise control. I also notice when pulling out of a parking space going from reverse to drive it takes about 5 seconds for the transmission to engage. To the point that I roll back a few feet.


Other Vehicle Speed Control related problems of the 2016 Subaru Forester



Safety Ratings of Forester Cars
Fuel Economy of Forester Vehicles
Forester Service Bulletins
Forester Safety Recalls
Forester Defect Investigations