Adaptive Cruise Control problems of the 2025 Subaru Forester

Leading up to a windshield replacement, my eyesight cameras that help with adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist kept failing. This feature would turn on and off repeatedly. When I got my windshield replaced, it took longer than expected because of the camera calibration. The microchip(s) inside one of the three cameras was fried and they had to put in a new camera. This failed camera was an original to my car and the justification provided was that "this sometimes happens. " for the fuel/propulsion system, I was topping off my car with gas one day when something went very wrong. My fuel tank was just shy of full, and when the gas pump handle tripped to stop pumping gas, a large amount of gasoline came flooding out as I removed the gas pump handle. This was scary and highly concerning because I have never experienced this with any previous vehicle before. The dealership, in cooperation with corporate, identified one other instance of this issue occurring somewhere in the midwest. Their best guess as to what happened is that the air relief valve of my gas tank somehow became blocked and that is what caused the overflow of gasoline. The solution was to turn the air relief valve around from facing the outside of my car to the inside metal frame. July 2026 marks one year since acquiring my car, and these experiences thus far make me question the safety and longterm viability of my car and the Subaru brand. This is ironic, because Subaru's legacy and strong reputation of safety and build quality was my primary incentive for getting one in the first place.

While driving wth adaptive cruise set to 50mph I attempted to adjusted the setting for distance between us and rage car in front of us. While the car in front of us was maintains a steady speed our Forester started to slow down dramatically to a near stop; pressing the accelerator had no effect on the slow-down. Fortunately there was a new, closed lane next to us so we were able to roll out of traffic into that lane. Brought the car to a complete stop and turned the adaptive cruise off. After testing that the accelerator worked ok, pulled back into traffic. All was well the rest of this trip. This happened again when I tried to increase the distance between our car and the one ahead of us. Same fix…pulled over, shut off adaptive cruise and successfully pulled out into traffic. Lesson learned…leave the distance setting alone when using adaptive cruise….

My Subaru issues, false warnings to “keep hands on steering wheel” while both hands are holding the steering wheel. The warnings are inconsistent and follow varying sequences. In most cases, the warning begins with a yellow outlined warning, on the instrument panel, to keep hands on the steering wheel with the accompanying beep tones. In most cases, with no change in hand position, the light will go out. In other cases, the outline on the warning will change to red and then go out. In still other cases, the warning will proceed to the cid and be displayed in red with audio. In all of these cases there has been no change in hand position. Usually the light will go out in a few seconds with no change in hand position. In the opposite case, if hands are completely removed from the steering wheel, no warning is given for approximately 12 seconds. In all cases, these false warnings are a distraction to my driving. I consider that a safety issue. In only one case so far has automatic breaking been applied with no reason. My previous car was a 2020 Subaru forrester and I experienced none of these false warnings with that car. It is not clear to me if the false warnings I am experiencing in my car are unique to my particular car or if it is a generic defect in all Subaru. It is my understanding that my current car originated in asheville, north carolina which experienced hurricanes, helene and milton. I wonder if exposure to those hurricanes compromised the electrical system in my car.