general problems of the 2019 Subaru Forester - part 1

Dear national transportation safety board, I would like to bring a situation that happened to me while driving my 2019 Subaru Forester last Saturday March 7th, 2026 at 10:40am. I was coming back to my house from an errand. While waiting for my garage door to go all the way up, my car suddenly accelerated forcefully and lunged through the garage and into my home through the wall. There was a chest freezer that was against the wall in the garage which was against the back wall. This freezer was also taken through the wall and into my laundry room. The freezer was crushed. The front of the car and tires were up through the wall and in the home. There was a water spigot also in the garage that came into my home that broke and dispersed water. The furnace was crushed, water heater damaged, washer and dryer damaged, a water cooler damaged along with crushed metal bifold doors that were ripped off hvac closet. And other things in garage totally crushed. Thankfully, no-one was killed. I was barely able to get out of car as when it suddenly accelerated, and clipped the bottom of garage door that wasn’t finished being up, then it went towards the left and corner of garage instead of of how I would normally pull in and park which would have been straight and middle of garage. The car went so fast and would not stop until it had hit the items in house that would make it not be able to go any further. This vehicle definitely had something faulty with it that caused this car to suddenly take off and crash. And the air bags did not go off. Surprised with such a forceful impact. My car had 62,039 miles on it and was well maintained. I bought brand new at dellenbach Subaru in fort collins, CO in December 2018. Please contact me at [xxx] nk you so much in advance, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6) information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The thermal control valve on my Subaru Forester failed while I was driving recently. The failure caused the car to stop while making a turn. It was a very frightening experience. Luckily at that time the traffic was light. The car was towed to a Subaru dealer, and the thermal control valve was replaced at no charge because Subaru extended the factory warranty. Subaru should have had a recall notice put out because this problem could cause serious bodily injury.

The auto stop/start feature occasionally causes the entire vehicle to totally shut off. This happened 3 times 2 years ago and I was to it was a low battery. On 10/4/25, the car is stopped at a red light on a four lane highway and when my wife stepped on the gas to start, the vehicle totally shut off. After panicking, I helped her turn the electronics on in order to start the flashers, then move the vehicle from drive to park, and then restart the vehicle. With cars moving at 55 miles an hour toward a green light we were very concerned about getting hit from behind. Luckily, we were not hit. The Subaru dealer then suggested the problem might be the ecm and they charged us $203 for a software update. It is not clear what causes this total vehicle shutdown but it is a significant safety issue that puts the vehicle and occupants at risk. I hope the Subaru engineers have identified and fixed this issue in future models.

My Subaru smelled like gas and caught on fire while I was driving to work less than 72 hours after it left the service department at the local Subaru dealership. Earlier that week I dropped the car off for service due to a check engine light and multiple other warning lights on the dashboard. The check engine light was determined to be due to a faulty thermo control valve (a known issue on several models of 2019-2021 Subarus). During that service appointment, the thermo control valve was replaced under warranty, the 60000 mile service, state inspection, and an oil change/tire rotation were completed. The morning of the incident, the car smelled like gas, but there were no warning lights on the dashboard and the temperature and gas gauges were all in range. While looking for a safe place to pull over on the side of the road, the gas smell worsened, I heard a pop, the check engine light and every single other light on the dashboard lit up, it smelled like burning jet fuel, and the front of the car was smoking and there were flames, and all mechanical and electrical control of the vehicle was compromised. The car coasted to the side of the right lane. I was unable to operate the gear shift to put the car in park. I opened the driver’s side door, removed my seatbelt, grabbed my backpack, lunch bag, and phone, and exited the vehicle while it was still rolling. I ran around the back of the car to get onto the side walk. Flaming, melting pieces of plastic were coming off the bottom of the car. Flames and smoke were visible on the front hood of the car. I called 911 while the car continued to roll across several lanes onto the other side of the road. The burning car rolled and hit a guardrail on the opposite side of the road and continued to burn until the local fire department arrived on scene. Local police and the fire inspector wrote reports. My insurance declared the car a total loss. I have informed the local dealership and worked to get them access to the vehicle.

Cracked windshield - Subaru windshields are weak and crack easily. I've been driving 45 years, never had a cracked windshield. I bought a new 2019 Subaru Forester and have had 3 cracked windshields. Ridiculous and dangerous. They need to be recalled and pay for replacements. The first crack happened about 1 1/2 years after purchase, I took to dealership for replacement and paid ~$1,200. Then second crack was a star crack, and I had it sucked out/fixed (~$250). And now, vehicle is 5 years old 45k miles on it and has a huge crack in the middle of the windshield in front of the passenger side.

[xxx], driving home, dark at [xxx] in airway heights wa. About 10 mins to home, lights in dashboard suddenly lit (brake, check engine, battery icon, water temp icon, 2 yellow colored pictures that had the word “off”, park, abs, exclamation point next to a circle that had a symbol in circle like a Mercedes Benz, and another symbol colored yellow). I kept driving with very little power in the car and it was hard turning the wheels to left or right turns. I was so scared thinking I would be stranded in the middle of the street! made it to my carport and drove it in. Turned off car; attempted to restart but didn’t, and during the times I started the car, it would make a stuttering noise. The lights that lit up remained, wouldn’t turn off until attempt to start again when the lights all turned off. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Cracked windshield.

Upon getting a flat tire on the front passenger side tire, two of the vehicles wheel studs and lug nuts were seized together and broke off when using hand tools to remove the lug nuts. The metal was extremely soft and broke off easily. All 5 lugs and nuts needed replacement.

The rear window glass imploded while on the freeway. This created a loud bang noise and sent small pieces of glass throughout the passenger cabin creating a substantial distraction.

An electrical failure of the auto start/stop feature led to an unavoidable accident. I came to a stoplight, going slightly uphill, and the car shut off as designed. Releasing the brake re-engages the starter to continue driving, however when I released the brake, the car’s electrical system went haywire and the car immediately rolled backwards, damaging the car behind me. I took it to Subaru and the mechanic said the battery was low, but the car is designed not to initiate the start/stop feature, to prevent this from happening. They acknowledged that the accident was not my fault, but provided no further assistance. I was found at fault in the accident despite having no control over the scenario.

Car was sitting outside for the day (with camera observing it). Windshield had no issues when the car was moved to the street in the morning. Windshield was cracked from driver side bottom corner all the way past the half way point and about half way up the windshield. Review of camera video confirmed that no one or thing touched the car during the day. Suspect that the windshield is defective.

Start / stop feature. Multiple incidents. Continuing issue. Stop at a light or in traffic. The car turns off. Let off the brake the car completely looses power sometimes or dies. Need to move shifter to park to restart. When the vehicle dies completely. Unable to move shifter of use hazards. This has happened on the highway at stop lights leaving me stranded in the middle of the road with no vehicle power. Or having to restart. Battery, starter and alternator have been tested and are good. Safety issue.

Car had just been serviced by Subaru service dept on 2/27/2024. On 3/1/2024, while travelling in heavy rush hour traffic, we smelled a very strong odor of gasoline and were alerted by another driver that our car was leaking a large amount of gasoline in the roadway. We pulled over to a safe area, evacuated the car, and the car burst into flames. Fire was extinguished by the wantagh fire department. Police report by NY state police was obtained. Car was removed by tow truck.

My 2019 suburu Forester battery will not hold a charge. Whenever I want to use it, my husband must jump the Forester with cables from his car's battery. I am careful not to park it for long and use it for trips to dentist, doctor, and other necessities. We bought the suburu Forester brand new off the car lot in 2019. The car has under 3k miles of use--it looks in perfect condition. We've changed batteries but that did not solve the start up problem. It is a safety hazard depending upon where I have to stop the car. The "incident" is one of many recurrences. After 7 days of nonuse, parked in my garage, the car fails to start.

My windshield mysteriously cracked there was not existing damage. When I research my car's make model and year I learned that there was a class action lawsuit that was settled that requires Subaru to cover the cost of the windshield. At the time of purchase this defect was not disclosed to me. I reached out to the dealership and they seem to have no knowledge of this. Additionally, they are not taking any responsibility.

I am concerned as my car was safely parked, once I started it and it said eyesight off, flashing s symbol, the heat thermo stat changes back and forth from hot and cold, car is not warming up and check engine light came on. I am very concerned as it is the winter, and I have my baby in the car. Please advise. This seems very unusual and never happened before. The vehicle have around 23k miles.

When I am stopped at a traffic light or stop sign, and I have not manually turned off the auto stop-start feature, from time to time the car will not start when I depress the gas. Often this is accompanied by a screeching sound - the sound the car makes if you try to shut it off when it is in gear. The danger is that I cannot move the car forward without putting the car in park, turning the engine off, then turning the car/engine on, and then depressing the gas. If there were no other drivers on the road, this would be an inconvenience but not a safety hazard. But there are other drivers who have no idea why I am not moving forward and they get impatient and try to pass me in areas where drivers coming in the other direction do not expect it. I have witnessed several near accidents. I have taken it to the dealer who cannot reproduce the problem but an internet search reports many other suburu drivers who have experienced the same problem.

We were driving in 6 lane traffic in atlanta and the traffic came to a stop. The Subaru auto stop start turned off the engine. When the traffic started and I released the brake, the engine would not start and the battery died trying to start. This left us in the middle of 6 lanes of traffic with a dead car. It was a significant personal safety issue. Luckily were were on a slight down slope and was able to have the car start rolling forward while in neutral and made our way to the shoulder, with cars passing at 70mph and narrowly missing the car. Prior to this, the vehicle was working properly. This is the 5th time we have had issues with the Subaru restarting after the auto stop start turned off the engine. All prior times we were able to start the engine but had to turn off the car and then turn it on again. There is no way to turn off the auto start feature permanently, having to remember to turn it off each time you get in the car. There is also to no built in feature to not have the auto start stop not turn the engine off if the battery health is not 100% and there is a chance it will not turn on again. It is a significant safety issue not having a permanent way to turn off the auto on off feature or have the car disable the feature if the engine or battery are not 100%.

The engine cuts out and stalls while turning through an intersection (with danger of being rear ended) or driving through parking lots at low speed. The car will zoom forward right after that, usually while in a parking lot nearly hitting pedestrians on several occasions! this issue is a frequent occurrence becoming more dangerous the past 2 years. We have our car serviced at the Subaru dealership in prescott, az and have told them about this. They tell us the same thing when we tell them what it does, they say "no it doesn't".

On Friday, December 15, 2023 I started my car, Subaru Forester touring 2019. After starting these lights came on the dashboard: check engine, flashing s drive, no eyesight, rab off. I was reading online that there have been complaints to NHTSA similar to my problem ( NHTSA id # 11490232, 12479843, 11511658, 11490977, 11479843, 11499756, 11480952, 11491752, 11474804) to name a few reports. This has never happenedbefore. The mileage on my car is about 54,400 miles at time of incident. It seems to me that there is a pattern here that needs to be resolved and the owners informed so they can get if fixed before it happens and causes safety problems for Subaru Forester owners. I am kindly asking your office to seriously look into this specific problem and help us, the consumers, to inform Subaru to fix these issues. I thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

The eyesight feature went out and the heater went out and I took the car to a mechanic and he said it had a faulty thermo control valve that needs replacement.

2019 Subaru switched from a thermostat to a "thermo control valve" (tcv). They eventually redesigned it in 2022 due to so many failures. Mine failed rendering the cars "eyesight", lane assist, cruise control and brake assist useless. Check engine light and oil temperature light remain on. Engine code is p26a6 and p26a5. Subaru has known about this issue for years yet charge $600 for the new "thermo control valve" and $1,000 to install it. These "tcv" valves fail indiscriminately with mileage not being a factor, rather the product itself. Any search online and you will find hundreds (if not thousands) of people affected in and outside the warranty. No recall has been given.

Three times in the last week or so, coming to a stop, in traffic, the car throws a warning about the eyesight not working and it shuts the car off. The first time I was still rolling and had not come to a stop. The other two times I was just barely stopped and it happened. It would be horrible if it happened while driving fast. You have to put it in park and hit the start button to turn the electrical off and then hit the button again to start the car. Windshield is clean. No visible obstruction to the camera system. Clear weather every time. No rain. Daytime driving.

This is the second time I am reporting this issue in the past few months. Three times this week my car has gone into the "gas saving" mode at a stop sign or red light and has not turned back on. I get a warning and need to turn the car off and then back on. This has put me in very u safe situations as people assume I'm going to start driving once the light changes and I've been nearly rear-ended multiple times, screamed at, cursed at, etc. This has happened an uncomfortable amount of times and I think you should do an investigation before I, or someone else gets hurt!.

2019 Subaru Forester with 38,000 miles. Heat stopped working. 30 minutes later, check engine light came on. Warning on dash stating that eyesight cannot turn on. Lane assist and adaptive cruise control will not turn on. Mechanic found it needs the thermo control valve replaced or the car will have no heat and the engine can overheat. Quoted a $2,000 repair cost and 3 weeks before we can get the part.

Thermo control valve went bad causing car to have no heat in the cold can’t use the defroster for windshield and no safety features Subaru knows about issue but not recalling it leaving us the high service payment.

1 . Termal control valve 2. Traveling out of state and engine light came on 3. Warning light (check engine was on) 4 confirmned by dealer 5. All lights on dash boards on.

I came out to my parked vehicle to find a large crack on the windshield.

Vehicle was parked in a private single-home garage near houston, TX. While parked overnight the windshield cracked spontaneously. Crack is ~18 inches long and goes to the bottom edge of the glass around the middle of the windshield.

All side windows and the sun roof have become scratched. This vehicle is garaged, has 28,000 miles and never goes off road. The scratches extend into the door gasket area thus reaching to very top of the glass. Scratching of the windshield and rear window do not show this. We use a touchless auto wash. The paint is near flawless. There are no such scratches. I believe the glass is defective. We also own a 2015 Subaru Forester. It does go into dirt and grit. The side windows have no such tendency to scratch.

2019 Subaru Forester failed thermo control valve. There are literally 1000s of complaints on this issue and soa refuses to issue a recall. Subaru has issued a bulletin to replace the faulty design with redesigned part. When this fails the car goes into limp mode and all lights come on. Very dangerous and quote frankly completely irresponsible that Subaru refuses to recall this failure. I am out of warranty and it's minimum 2k to fix. I have a 2019 vehicle parked that I can't get inspected and can't afford to fix because Subaru of America is trying to save money. Just a matter of time before this causes a tragic accident before they own up to recall.

Car would not restart after engine turned off multiple times at intersections. All warning lights came on. Had to turn off vehicle completely and restart. Very dangerous. Required new battery.

While driving on the highway my car started to stall and rough idle, it wouldn't drive past 2 rpm sometimes less and would stall. My car constantly stalling made multiple cars/semi-trucks almost hit me and cause them to swerve. The problem was confirmed to be the thermo control valve eroding, which grayson of Subaru verified. The manufacturer inspected it and confirmed this needed replaced. The only warning signs or messages that appeared appeared after the vehicle stalled when the check engine light, and all lights on the dashboard lit up. Subaru of America has even admitted that this is a problem and offered to pay part of the cost to fix it, therefore knowing they are at fault. They have said they would email me/contact me but haven't returned any correspondence.

At 70594 miles tcv (temperature control ) failed check engine light came on and sfety features like eyesight were disabled. Subaru has known for a couple years these valves were bad and redesigned them for replacement. Because I was out of warranty it cost me over 2100 dollars to get it repaired.

Front window has a hairline crack inside glass about 6 in. Long. There is no impact point from a rock or object, it just suddenly appeared.