Wiper problems of the 2021 Subaru Forester - part 2

Having the car less than a year already have several chips on the windshield. In doing research it seems that there are a lot of issues with new Subaru windshields with chipping and cracking.

While driving home 1/21/2022 I heard a rock hit the hood of my car, when I arrived home I checked for damage. . . Nothing I could see. When I went out the next morning I had a 14 inch crack in my windshield. I took my car to have inspected at the dealership repair and they said it was due to a chip the size of a pinhead. I have contacted my insurance and filed a claim so the windshield will be repaired but I have to pay a $500 deductible. There's got to be some kind of fault with the windshield that it would sustain this kind of damage from such a small chip in the glass. I have included pictures magnified at 10x.

There was a tiny pebble hit the windshield on Friday Jan 21st 2022. There was a minor chip in the windshield due to that and later in an hour or so it expanded into a 8-10 inches one. This is while I was driving, I still haven't got home.

Windshield cracked with no impact. Started at top center and is expanding down the center of the windshield. I reached out to Subaru but no response.

Today I replaced my windshield for the second time in less than 6 months of owning the vehicle. The first crack happened a few months after I bought the car with no impact while driving. The second one also happened a couple weeks ago with no impact while driving. After seeing the other complaints, I'm shocked that there isn't a recall on these windshields. It's very dangerous to have windshields constantly cracking, especially without impact while driving.

With no impact from flying debris the windshield developed a bubble/crack potentially in the interlayer. There crack/bubble cannot be felt on the inside or outside parts of the windshield.

Crack in the windshield in line of sight. There is no entry point and upon research I’m seeing a lot of people complain about the 2021 models of the Subaru Forester with cracks. Living in the cold this is highly dangerous.

I purchased this vehicle one week ago and the first four miles I was on the interstate a small rock cracked my windshield. The issues with the Forester windshields extend to the 2021 models.

Windshield easily cracks, without an impact site. I will be putting my 3rd windshield in and have owned the car for 7 months. 1st windshield cracked while parked at work. Not driving. May 5th, 2021. Had 1805 miles. 2nd windshield cracked while parked at home last night. Not driving. Have approx 9k miles now.

Rock damage to windshield. Subaru advises to replace with oem glass to guarantee safety systems operate correctly making this a safety issue. The problem is that Subaru windshields are back ordered. There are two problems here. First, Subaru windshields are very susceptible to damage, perhaps more than others. Second, Subaru fails to maintain critical safety system parts.

1100 miles on vehicle. Went inside business came out and 18 inch crack on windshield across my vision. No apparent reason.

I bought my vehicle and less than 24 hours later I was driving in the middle lane of the highway when my ears popped, and my windshield cracked down the middle. No rock seen or heard. Bought 8/26. Windshield cracks over 12 inches 8/27.

Windshield cracked without impact. This is on a new Forester, less than 1000 miles.

Intermittently, wipers do not function, even after 2 repairs. The first time, (3 weeks after vehicle purchase) after driving approximately 5-10 minutes in the rain, the wipers (front and rear) stopped working. After approximately 10 minutes, function resumed. The second time (later the same day), after driving approximately 5-10 minutes in the rain, the wipers (front and rear) stopped working. After approximately 17 minutes, function resumed. Wiper motor replaced by dealer. (3. 5 weeks after vehicle purchase) the third time (9 weeks after purchase), after a heavy dew, the wipers (front and rear) did not function. After approximately 10 minutes, wipers began to function. The fourth time (12 weeks after purchase), rain began after driving 1. 5-2 hours and wipers (front and rear) did not function at all. Dealer located and fixed a loose connection. (12. 5 weeks after vehicle purchase) the fifth time (13 weeks after purchase), rain began after driving 1. 5-2 hours and wipers (front and rear) did not function. After approximately 15 minutes, wipers began to function. The sixth time (15 weeks after purchase), rain began after driving 15 minutes and wipers (front and rear) stopped functioning after approximately 5-10 minutes of use. After approximately 30 minutes, wipers began to function.

Windshield cracked only 3 months on road 2600 miles. Long crack in middle of windshield distracts vision. Yes it was estimated for repair of 1425. 00. History of incidences are very high with cracked windshields since Subaru change to acoustic glass. Windshield seem more prone to crack damage than other vehicles.

Cracked windshield while car was parked and nothing hit it. There is a separation in the glass that is not normally seen when caused by debris.

The windshield cracked in the center while driving in a heavy rain storm. The temperature dropped from about 86 degrees to 73 degrees during the storm. I was operating my a/c at the time. The dealer inspected the windshield and found no external indication of damage. The repair was performed by the dealer under the new car warranty. Subaru America customer service was contacted and coordinated with the dealer for repair after inspection. Repair was listed as windshield install for stress crack.

The windshield was hit by a small stone on highway and show a minor chip mark a while ago. Nothing else happened and the chip mark remain as it happened on my other vehicles. I parked in my indoor garage as usual on the July 4 weekend. When I pull out the vehicle to work on Tuesday. I was terrible surprised by finding long cracks appeared on my windshield. One of them is more than a foot long.

This is the second cracked windshield on our new Subaru Forester in the past four months. We purchased the car new just over six months ago (12/29/2020). The first time, the windshield cracked, something hit the windshield while driving. The crack was extensive and we paid to replace the windshield on 3/22/2021. The second time something hit the windshield while driving (on 6/8/2021), it just chipped the windshield, and since the chip was a small star, less than the size of a quarter, we had the chip repaired to prevent further damage (on 6/10/2021). Today (7/4/2021), the windshield cracked while the car was parked in the driveway. The crack extends from the original chip. Since an intact windshield is critical to the safety of the vehicle, we will replace the windshield again. See attached photos and receipts. It is disappointing to have to replace the windshield twice within the first seven months we have owned the car. This seemed so unusual, I searched online to see if other Subaru owners have had similar problems. There is evidence that this has happened to others as well, so this may be a bigger issue. . Read more...

The windshield cracked for no reason. It’s hotter than average today, about 102 f at the time of the incident.

Cracked front windshield location is bottom passanger side by wiper up left to towards the rear view mirror. Car is a new 2021 Subaru Forester.

Windshield on the car has a 18" crack after no impact. It was brand new when we got it just over 2 months ago. Only 1500 miles on the car and already the windshield cracked so badly that it's beyond repair and needs to be replaced. This is a known issue with Subarus that they have not addressed.

For no observed reason, the windshield cracked while the car was parked in the shade between the hours of 11:56 - 12:43 pm. The crack appeared to originate from the lower right corner and spread diagonally towards the center of the windshield.

This is for a car only 18 days driven. Windshield cracked from bottom, under retaining gasket, with no strike, impact, or previous ding. Car hood flexes up and down, more than 2-inches, when large trucks pass in opposite direction. Automatic fuel stop at pump did not work properly, causing fuel spill one time, and underfill another time. Windshield visibility and possibility of total failure. Car hood could fly up and obscure visibility and break windshield. Have not contacted dealer or insurance company yet about issues. Windshield problem is a known defect for Subaru, and subject of many lawsuits. No warnings before problems.

The windshield cracked at 1,700 miles, while parked. The car had no visible chips/cracks and is brand new. After researching, it is apparently a common defect with the Subaru windshield. Crack is comparable to photos of other Subaru Forester owners. Seems that Subaru should already be aware of this problem and issue a recall on the windshield.

Purchased brand new from dealer. Less than 3 months later a tiny pebble came up and hit the center of the windshield, immediately you could see an indentation and a spider web. Now the whole windshield has multiple spider web cracks. The splits go from edge of driver's side all the way to edge of passenger side of the car. As well as 3 separate rings going around center indentation. Only had the car 3 months when this occured. Have had 3 instances that I could not start the car. Now the cigarette lighter charge port will not work. Moon roof malfunctioning and will not close sometimes when fully opened. Now I am having issues with the brakes sticking. It's 1 year old and this is way too many issues for a brand new car! never again!.

The windshield on my Forester continues to chip and crack. I'm not understanding how and why. The first time it happened I repaired it. Now this is the 2nd time and there are multiple scratches and cracks in the center of the windshield. They are currently small. I am going to have to repair it again. I just bought my car in December 2020. It has been 5 months with two windshield incidents. I've owned cars for years and never had this issue.

Unknown crack in front windshield.

Windshield cracked without warning. There was no damage to the windshield at 9am when I walked in to my office building, when I came out at 5:15 pm there was a large crack stretching from the passenger side towards the center. The vehicle had been parked all day, in a very slow office building complex (there were 3 of us at work) parked along the front walkway, there is no foot traffic around our building.

Windshield cracked at passenger side wiper arm area. There was no impact and no other vehicles in the immediate area. Crack quickly spread in a j shape to the driver's side.

Unknown the windshield began to crack from the top during drive and has continued to crack down the middle.

My windshield just cracked for a second time within 6 months of buying my car. I had it replaced when it cracked the first time less than a month after I bought it. It just cracked for a second time less than three months after having it replaced at an authorized place.

A crack appeared for no reason on my front windshield. I have recently been dealing with an issue where the car alarm would go off at random so I took it to the dealership service center to have the sensitivity turned down. Last night while the car was sitting in the parking lot it went off for no reason again. This morning when driving my car I noticed a ~12inch crack on the front windshield. It curves from the edge at the middle over to the driver side. Photo attached. This crack must have happened while sitting stationary parked outside.

Windshield cracked when vehicle was 5 weeks old.

March 2021: windshield - cracked from a small stone on roadway (rt 1). Crack is from top edge of windshield down and past the middle. Needed to be replaced. Paint chip needed to be repaired. Had to pay deductible of $500. Replaced with new oem windshield. July 2021 weekend on highway(turnpike). Stone caused a star shaped crack. Two days later the small damage radiated into 3 cracks covering more than half the windshield. Paying another $500 for replacement. Damage of two new oem windshields in less than 5 months on a brand new car causes fear of driving freely in case the next pebble might come through. Police can ticket for driving with a cracked windshield. Loss of time and effort to replace. Causes anxiety driving even after the windshield is replaced since it is so prone to damage and costs $500 each time. Weakness in Subaru windshields known since 2015. I would expect such problems would have been resolved six years later. Have not experienced such a problem in 30 years of driving various model cars. Benefits of buying a new car is mostly lost both in expenses and peace of mind. Verified by insurance representatives.