general problems of the 2016 Subaru Forester - part 1

Subaru forrester was misfiring and sputtering as if it was going to stop running. The car was shaking. Had car towed to Subaru dealer for service. At first we thought spark plugs and ignition coils but this did not fix the issue. Service determined a spring valve was broken which caused the issues. I have escalated the issue with Subaru corporate, waiting for their response. Other Subaru models have had this issue with the spring valves.

My car has required multiple jumps and batteries, since I bought it new. I have records of the services for jumps, and new batteries. The car continues to have a parasitic battery drain, that has caused me to be stranded multiple times. The car is currently at the dealership, and they want to do a dcm test to see if this is cause. I was not informed of battery class action lawsuit, and extension of dcm warranty by Subaru. The dealership staff never discussed this with me as a possible cause, and that I may be eligible for warranty.

While driving my 2016 Subaru Forester about 70mph on 880fwy in san jose, CA, the engine suddenly stalled and I was stranded on the freeway. The fuel tank was about 3/4 full and no warning light flashed in the dashboard prior to the incident. I tried to move my vehicle to the right lane but was unable because of the vehicle's loss of power. I almost collided by a speeding truck behind me. I shut off the engine, was unable to restart. After 3 minutes later, I was able to restart and everything worked again. I suspected the cause was due to a bad fuel pump, took the vehicle to my local Subaru dealer for inspection. The technician could not find anything malfunction or repeat my problem. I just learned there was a recent lawsuit settlement of bad fuel pumps on 2017-2020 Subaru Foresters that could cause engines to stall. It sounded similar to the problem that I had just experienced, except my Forester is a 2016 model not covered by the settlement. I believe the 2016 Forester fuel pump was manufactured by the same company as in the 2017-2020 models. It probably has the same defects.

When parked on a slope, driver attempted to back SUV out of parking space. Before starting car, with key inserted, ignition on and foot on brake, driver attempted to remove gearshift from park. Car drifted backward rapidly and uncontrollably. The brakes completely failed even with foot on brake. The car was a hazard to anyone in its path and could not be stopped. The emergency brake was attempted but failed to stop the car. Power steering failed. Gearshift could not be put back into park. SUV crashed heavily into a sign protecting the gas pump, but auto suffered major damage: rear wrap around bumper, entire power lift door, and frame, were included in the damage. Driver was the wife of a couple. Very importantly, the husband had experienced the exact same uncontrollable roll-back in the same vehicle at the same place a few weeks earlier, but somehow missed the gas pump and sign. At that time, the car was uncontrollable and caused panic for both drivers in separate incidents. That's not all--of key importance was a conversation we--as a couple--had with the salesman and the dealership's lead mechanic when the auto was purchased in 2017. We pointed out that when backing out of a space on a slight downslope and changing gears, the car drifted backwards uncontrollably a number of feet--at least three to six feet. At that time in 2027, we told them we did not like this feature, and it could be a danger to children playing in the driveway. They said that the manufacturers' engineering department knew about this. And were making improvements. Subsequently we investigated this engineering/design fault online, discussed it again with the dealership, then dropped the issue. The bottom line: this seems to us to be a genuine manufacturing fault. We both experienced this uncontrollable drift back when attempting to brake the car. It is frightenening and dangerous to be in a vehicle weighing tons without any ability to control it. Please investigate.

[xxx] driving on [xxx] at 70 mph car stopped running. Engine died. Pulled over. No warning lights, it just died. Waited for a tow but after an hour, tried to start and it started right up. Had 1/4 tank of fuel left, but got more and got home ok. Hideously dangerous thing to happen!!!!! I see there are at least 13 complaints already filed with you about this issue. Do something, willya ? information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

As I said earlier: car stopped dead in the middle of I-94, going 70 mph. No reason--had 1/4 tank of gasoline, alternator working, etc. Come to find out that you all recalled 2018 Subaru Foresters for this exact same problem--cars stalling while driving. That was for a faulty fuel pump. Discussion boards by owners are full of the same exact problem from 2014-2019. You should issue a recall there too, imho, since obviously the 2018 are the tip of the iceberg!.

My car accelerated on its own while I was driving slowly through a parking lot and had to slam on the brakes.

I backed out of a parking space, put my foot on the brake and shifted into drive to finish maneuvering out of the space. Although I didn't remove my foot from the brake, my Forester immediately accelerated at extremely high speed, striking the two cars parked next to me, and seriously damaging both. Rather than slowing down after hitting the other two vehicles, my car continued to speed up, only coming to a stop when it hit, head-on, a cement barrier surrounding the lot. My car hit with such force that every airbag in it deployed, and its front end was totally destroyed. No one was in the other two cars; I suffered minor injuries.

The cam carrier seal was leaking oil into the car and potentially causing damage to the engine. It was a $3,806. 20 repair cost.

Continuous leaking of oil even after Subaru tested and verified it's "normal. ".

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at 60 mph, the vehicle stalled and hesitated. The contact stated that she was able to safely drive the vehicle to her residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The dealer replaced the battery for the third time and has not duplicated the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the battery had been replaced three times in less than two years. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 19,000.   VIN unavailable.

While driving my vehicle on my daily trip to work, I experience sudden power loss. My interior lights began to blink erratically, as my vehicle loss power and caused me to panic, as I was entering the highway. Some highways have no shoulders, so as quickly as I entered the highway, I pulled off took the next exit. I went into a shopping center, to see what the issue was. I noticed that my radio and my air conditioning loss illumination. I turned the car off, opened the hood. I did not see anything of significance, I started the car up again, now the radio would not even start nor did the air conditioning. I phoned the Subaru dealer, to be told that this happens often! what, I thought to myself? I asked them if this was a well-known problem, why this has not become part of a recall, or why the dealership not contact Subaru of America, to work with their customer base and remedy the issue. I was told, that all that is done in the "diagnostic process", any codes are cleared, and this should get you back on the road. Are you kidding me, this is truly any motorist's nightmare. Losing power on a major highway, any road at night, or on a turn will literally bring catastrophic consequences to us Subaru owners, but all other motorists as well.

The car caught on fire while in operation. A complete loss. It started in the engine.

My 2016 Subaru Forester is having acceleration and possibly fuel propulsion issues. It stays in low gear, high rpm when accelerating. This happened after a yellowstone week long road trip from san leandro, CA. The mpg has dropped from 24mpg to 12mpg and has been at hayward Subaru since 8/15/2023. They have not provided a known issue. Still trying to figure out what is wrong. There was a low oil warning light on the way home and we stopped for an oil change in west sacramento within 15 miles of the light coming on. The issue has been happening since the oil change. Only oil change and air filter replacement done on 8/8/2023. Thought maybe its a fuel injector issue. Still at dealership. We did fill the fuel tank with 85 octane in elko, nv once.

Subaru Forester 2016. Sitting at red light with foot on brake. Car lunged forward. Was able to brake and stop it however it did continue to acceletate briefly.

Engine oil and coolant were mixing. This caused coolant to drain and engine overheat. Resulted in several blown gaskets. Yes, available for inspection upon request. My safety was put at risk because of engine overheat while driving on highway. Problem has been evaluated by a car repair shop. Vehicle has been inspected by car repair shop, but not by manufacturer, police, or insurance. Red engine overheat warning light turned on only as the overheat occurred; no yellow check engine light turned on prior to overheating.

Parked in angle space and turned off car. Went into store for about 15 minutes. Got in car and started it. Heard a noise sounding like a car revving engine and looked behind me to see if it was another vehicle. Realized it was my car. Tried to push foot on accelerator but it was all the way to floor and would not come up. Immediately put foot on brake and turned off car. Looked at floor mat and found that was not the issue. Waited about 30 seconds and turned car back on and found that the accelerator was not all the way to the floor like before. It ran like it always has. Drove 10 minutes back home with no issue. When home, went in house for 15 minutes; came back out and started it and ran like normal. I then searched the issue and discovered several complaints about this issue. Thankful that I didn't run into a building as anyone else (there was a man walking into a house directly in front of where I was parked. . . . . I would have hit him if I had put the car in drive. ) no warning lights or anything else visible on car. No issue prior. Not been inspected by anyone else or the dealer at this time. Not reported to police department or insurance company. I am not an elderly person and I know I did not accidentally do anything wrong when this issue occurred. Purchased this Subaru in 2018 as they are highly rated as far as safety goes and very dependable. I am extremely disappointed that there has not been a recall on this issue. Do people have to die before Subaru will issue recall?!?! I was planning to trade in for a newer Subaru but am definitely hesitant to do so at this time. I drive with my young grandchildren in vehicle and am even hesitant to do that in the future. Please, Subaru, issue a recall for this issue.

Check engine light, service emissions, dash lights blinking and loss of power!!! I was pulling out into a busy intersection and warning lights started to flash and I lost power to cylinder #2 (per the technician at van Subaru, he told me the alternator was sending bad info to the computer) and I was almost t-boned as I limped through the intersection.

Our Subaru Forester is slow to respond on acceleration and then surges quickly. This problem just started to surface. Our concern is when stepping down on the accelerator the car is very slow to react and then surges forward quickly, creating a serious concern over a potential accident. On August 17, 2022 I was reversing up my driveway to the garage and as I depressed the accelerator the car failed to respond. I was reluctant to depress the pedal further over concern it might suddenly surge backward too fast. What was concerning is that the accelerator did not respond as normal. August 18th, I started the car, drove out of the garage and onto the street. When I stepped onto the accelerator the car showed no response, then suddenly without warning surged forward at high speed, catching me off guard. I stepped on the brake and the car immediately stopped. I carefully tried to drive forward, again the car surged forward. I drove back into the garage. Our neighbor’s nephew took it for a drive and experience the same unexpected surge of acceleration. It was towed to the Subaru dealership. The dealership has consistently maintained our Forester since purchased. I asked if the car had surged and the service advisor shared that the technician had noticed an irregularity in acceleration. However, diagnostic tests found nothing. The shop manager said he put almost 40 miles on it but found nothing. The service adviser called and suggested we come in and ride with the shop manager, which we did. He test drove it for a few miles and the acceleration appeared normal. He did say after the test drive that he sensed something irregular about the acceleration when leaving a stop sign. We asked they keep the car and test the car after sitting over the weekend. I asked service advisor and the shop manager if he had ever heard of a Subaru with this issue of being slow to respond on acceleration and then surging quickly. They both said they had never heard of this issue.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving approximately 80 mph, the vehicle lost motive power. There were unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to pull over safely and restart the vehicle. The failure reoccurred several times. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and diagnosed; however, the cause of the failure was not determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.

Was backing up and car started excelling and the throttle stuck hitting 2 cars it was out of control I got it in drive and it took off forward running full throttle up over the pavers around a tree and ran up on the side of a BMW which was sitting on the side of the hostess paved driveway coming down the side of the car my car was on 2 wheels . Came off the BMW and slammed into a tree trunk which stopped it. I got out of my car in disbelief . It happened on private property and we did call the police. But since it happened on private property they did not come but told us to get each others info for insurance purposes.

While driving on highway using cruise control at 70 mph my car suddenly stalled …. I was able to get to apron of road , but my steering locked and I had no brakes. . I could put car into neutral but had to “jam” it into park , trying to get it to stop rolling . It would not restart . I had it towed to an auto repair center as there was no Subaru dealer in the area. Because I had kept trying to restart it , my battery was dead . They recharged my battery and the car then started . I took it to a Subaru dealer where I was told they could find nothing wrong …. Except I needed a new battery . This was not the reason that my car suddeney lost power ! it had happen once before while on the highway but I was able to restart it at that time . This could have caused a serious accident and I worry that it will happen again. I warning was indicated prior to episode . I have receipts from auto repair shop (in Lincoln, illinois) and Subaru dealer ( in columbia missouri).

Key stuck in switch when car is put into park. Steering locks up and then can not restart or remove key. This happens almost daily at this point.

Car turns itself off soon after starting when you try and put it into gear. Even after a tune up the car just stalls out when starting or low idle while sitting at light.

Subaru accelerates occaisionally when one hits the break and the motor races until one puts car in neutral .

2nd occurrence now of a sudden and complete loss of power while on highway at 80mph with no warning (see NHTSA id# 1131777). Low fuel warning light had just come on a few minutes earlier. . . Same as last time. Thankfully had a shoulder to cost onto and let the vehicle sit. Tired to tart a couple times, but was like it was flooded with fuel. After :45 minutes of sitting. . . It reset itself and started again and we continued on our journey. This time road conditions were dry and clear.

When stopping/stopped it will suddenly accelerate/surge forward and I need to slam on brakes.

Please recall the 2016 Subaru Forester for failure of the accelerator at high speeds. Our 21-year-old daughter, a nursing student, took her 2016 Forester into grayson Subaru in knoxville, TN for a recall service on rear coil springs, oil change and tire rotation. Within an hour of leaving the service department she was driving 70 mph on the interstate when her "low fuel" warning light came on. According to the Subaru, that means 2. 6 gallons of gas remain. Assuming 20 mpg, that means she could drive approximately 52 miles before running out of gas. Within a minute of the low fuel light coming on, the accelerator failed to work and all the warning lights came on the dash. While traveling at 70 mph on the interstate, she had to cross 3 lanes of traffic to pull over on the shoulder. Very shaken and crying, she called grayson Subaru and they sent a tow truck. After steve kachelrie of grayson's service department assessed the car, he concluded, "your daughter just ran out of gas. There is nothing we can do other than put gas in the tank. " when I told him that the gas meter said she had 50 miles of driving to go before empty, he dismissed it and repeated that she "just ran out of gas. " I researched the 2016 Subaru Forester on NHTSA. Gov and found 20 reports of identical incidents of the car showing 50-70 miles to go before empty and the accelerator completely failing at high speeds on the interstate and all warning lights lighting up. When I told grayson service that was an unacceptable response, they referred me to the owner of the dealership, walter grayson. He agreed to fulfill Subaru's guarantee to pay us the trade-in value of the car, $14,800. The dealership sent us a check for the 2016 Subaru Forester and we purchased a new Toyota.

Sudden acceleration while parking. All low speed <5 mph. Car was in drive, braking, made a hard left turn then stopped. Car was shifted to reverse, moved 25 feet, brake and stopped. Car was shifted to drive (low), applied acceleration (light), hard right turn, brake applied, car accelerated, jumped curb, shifted car to park, turned off ignition. Restarted car, stability control light on, shift would not engage even with brake depressed. Remove shift lock cover (small button near shift) depressed release and move shift to neutral and then reverse to back off curb. Incident over, car functioned as designed at this point. Floor mats were not any where near pedals, mats were in the retainers to hold position. I am sure that my foot was on the brake at the time the acceleration occurred. It remained there even after the car was turned off because I looked at my passenger to see if she was ok and then looked at the position of my foot, still on brake. There were no codes flashing. I brake and accelerate with only my right foot. Checked to see if this is a problem and saw several reports and issued this one. Taking this to my dealer would be a waste of time, they always find nothing but the money in my wallet. This is Subaru number 6 for me.

Forester accelerates too fast on going from stop to moving to normal speed. The cars does not accelerate smoothly. Too much power on a light touch to soft acieration. If on light snow it spins the wheels. Going from idle on a turn in snow it spins the tires. All actions are from a stop or no acceleration to placing light pressure on the accelerator. From a stop the cars jumps ahead with accereration.

Context: we were driving on the freeway at ~30-40mph when the car in front suddenly braked and stopped. We hit the breaks at the same time that the automatic brakes kicked in. The car stopped, as needed. Issue: after stopping, we pressed the accelerator to start the car moving again but the car revved instead of accelerating. We pulled off/slowly drifted to the side of the road and turned the car off and then back on before the accelerator started to function. This seemed like an engine problem. Safety risk: during this incident we were stopped on the freeway with no way to accelerate, which was very dangerous. We were lucky to be next to the shoulder lane. Otherwise, we would have been stuck in the middle of a freeway with a speed limit of 60mph. Inspection by Subaru result: "found normal operation on test drive. No current codes or related history codes. Likely a temprary fault under extreme condition. Please monitor".

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact states that his vehicle is not safe to be on the road ,the contact stated that his lights on his vehicle are not properly working. The vehicle has been to 3 different dealers for repair and the problem is still occurring . The contact stated the engine stops on its own without any notification.

2 separate incidents of complete engine power loss while on highway at cruising speeds. First incident occurred while the vehicle was going about 70mph on a highway. We heard a loud bang then engine died and we lost all power to the car. There was a lot of smoke but we were able to coast it to the shoulder of the road. When we opened hood there was oil everywhere and a giant crack and hole in the engine. We had to tow it 170 miles home where it was in the shop 5 weeks getting fixed. After having the car only 3 weeks the second incident occurred where the car lost torque when trying to accelerate into oncoming traffic. It went up to 60 normally but then faltered and dropped down to 20mph. We went to the side of the road, turned off the car and started it back up and it was fine driving normally then did the same thing again. We drove it to the Subaru dealership and right in front of the dealer we heard a loud bang, tons of smoke, and as soon as we pulled up to Subaru we opened the hood and sure enough there was oil everywhere and a crack in the engine in what appears to be the same area. Extremely scary incidents.

I have had very similar issues to the gentleman whose NHTSA # is 11161972. On three occasions when I was driving on the highway at approximately 70 miles an hour and usually going up and incline, my engine would sputter and the car would die. All three times my car screen showed that I had between 60 and 80 miles left in my tank and my fuel gauge which show two clicks to the right of empty. The first time I thought it could be due to the fact that I needed gas in my car . At that point I contacted aaa and they brought me 2 gallons of gas to get me to the next exit to so that I can fill my tank. The second time I had moved over to the emergency lane as my car was dying. I had waited about 10 minutes while I was waiting on aaa again to show up when I decided to start my car and the engine started. I was literally 2/10 of a mile from the gas station so I headed in that direction to fill my tank. The third time as I was inclining on a hill in the fast lane, the engine suddenly died as I was driving about 70 miles an hour. Fortunately I thought fast and hit the emergency flashers as I had a semi right behind my car. This time I moved over into the left side emergency lane and waited about 10 minutes and my car started again. This seems to always happen when the car is showing between 60 and 90 miles of gas left in my tank and always with two clicks on the full gage. I am not sure as to why this is happening and have taken it to my Subaru dealership and they are unaware of any problems yet we're unable to re-create the problem when they tried to drive it. As someone who puts a lot of road miles on their car for work, this is a little bit scary as my travels are on the highway and not always in large cities. One thing that I have noticed is that the VIN number on NHTSA ticket # 11161972 matches mine exactly based on what is shown on your site. All hwy driving.

2 separate incidents of complete engine power loss while on highway at cruising speeds. Both in incidents occured with low fuel about 1/8th tank (2-3 gallons) verified based on amount refilled to full. Fuel gauge was reading 2 bars (1/8) and low fuel light on but showing 70 miles of fuel remaining. Both incidents occurred at highway speeds going up very slight incline. Sudden non-response of accelerator pedal and subsequent deccelration as car was driven to shoulder. Engine shit down completely on its own while on side of road. In first incident on interstate 78w in PA, the car could not be immediately restarted until adter approximately 40 minutes after tow truck arrived. The car was towed to local Subaru dealer and inspected but no root cause found or reported. The car was operated for another ~20,000 miles until second event on NJ garden state parkway south where engine lost all power and the car was coasted to the shoulder. After about 5-10 minutes the car was restarted and driven to nearest gas station and filled up, requiring 14. 1 gallons. This event occured on Nov 28th, 2018. As of this writing, this second event has not yet been communicated to Subaru yet was posted by me on an online forum in response to other users reporting similar engine issues at highway speed with similar low fuel conditions in order to effectivlet troubleshoot the issue. I am reporting the issue here beause it seems my incidents are not unique and present serious safety hazards due to sudden loss of power at highway speeds.