Warnings Problems of Subaru Forester - part 1

[xxx] our 2025 Subaru Forester's eye sight stopped working. The screen went completely blue, no rearview camera of course and loss of the eye sight safety system, including radio. We only have approximately 4k miles on our vehicle. I tried a reset by holding the radio on and off button for 15 seconds (didn't work). I also removed the ground wire from the battery for a few minutes (approximately 5). . . . . Didn't work. So I started doing research on this and it seems it's there is a lawsuit against Subaru that entails this. I believe it has been happening for about 10 years now. Having eye sight shut down and not having the safety options that we paid for is a terrible thing to happen on the road. Our dealership is taking care of it with a loaner tomorrow and hopefully fixing it forever, but my question is. . . . . . Why have they not been shut down until this is fixed? ten years is a long time for this serious safety issue. Thank you for letting me vent. Sincerely, [xxx] & [xxx] [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

During severe stop/go, thick, holiday traffic on I-495 (DC beltway), during daylight hours, once again (this has happened several times before), the auto engine shutoff feature catastrophically malfunctioned, turning the car off, and simultaneously, activated the entirety of the dashboard to flash on/off, causing nearly every indicator light to come on, and then had difficulty restarting. This has been brought to Subaru's attention multiple times and they essentially have washed their hands of it and stating since they can't duplicate it, it essentially must not be occurring and they cannot repair it.

See all problems of the 2019 Subaru Forester 🔎.

Was stopped at traffic light. Start stop system was engaged. Engine turned off as normal. When I took my foot off the brake the engine did not engage and the eyesight warning light came on that the eyesight system was not functioning. Put the car in park and engaged the ignition button and the engine started. Turned off the start stop system and the car functioned normally after that. Have read postings on Subaru forum that this has happened to others.

See all problems of the 2021 Subaru Forester 🔎.

This happened to me a few days ago: the pre-collision braking system slammed my car to a stop when I was going 30 mph on a straight country road, and there was nothing in front of me or on the side of the road. No one anywhere around. It was 1 pm with good weather. Nothing to trigger the pre-collision braking system on my 2022 Forester. The sensors weren't dirty. The car suddenly slammed on the brakes. It felt like I'd slammed into something, but nothing was there! there was nothing anywhere around. I turned off the pre-collision feature and took the car to the dealer (where I bought the car and have it serviced). Cost me $135 to be told that there was nothing wrong. And they said that my extended warranty wouldn't cover the cost because they didn't find anything wrong and couldn't make it happen in a test drive. Having the brakes slam on like that was terrifying! imagine if I'd been on a highway and there had been someone behind me. They would have rear-ended me! and I've read many, many similar accounts by Subaru owners on reddit and the Subaru owners forum. Please do something about this. It's dangerous! thank you!.

See all problems of the 2022 Subaru Forester 🔎.

The vehicle dynamics control safety system malfunctioned and forced me to drive straight on a curved banked overpass into the concrete barrier.

See all problems of the 2015 Subaru Forester 🔎.

The check engine light and a flashing 's' and other lights stating the safety features such as eyesight, lane departure, rab, etc. Are turned off. This started on 1/15/25, and I took the car to the dealership on 1/16/25. The dealership stated the evap system leak detection pump sensor indicated a leak, and the evaporateleak check module needs to be replaced but is back-ordered until mid-March 2025. They turned off all the lights and told me I could keep driving the vehicle. On 1/20/25, all of the lights were back on. The car lags to accelerate and is using gas at a rapid rate. I feel unsafe driving the car for another two months with the check engine light on and the acceleration capacity decreased. The dealership will not allow me a rental vehicle unless I leave it on their lot for two months until the part arrives. I cannot agree with that. The dealership informed me that multiple Forester and crosstreks models have the same problem. This car was purchased brand new from the olympia dealership and it currently has about 22,000 miles on it.

See all problems of the 2023 Subaru Forester 🔎.

My sight turn off when out side temperature in cold, or raining hard, fog on wind shield. Sony when the weather seem perfect all safety systems turn off. I have told my dealer about this event with no real positive answer. The pit system on compute and said it was working as designed so best auto and most reliable on road does not seem to be true.

"check engine" light along with "eye sight" appeared suddenly on Nov. 22, 2024. All safety systems along with cruise control became inoperable. Took car to Subaru dealer and it was confirmed to be the catalytic converter. My VIN is covered under extended warranty, but I was never notified of this. Plus, now repairs are of an emergency nature. Also, I do a lot of driving including on the NJ turnpike, I-95, etc. , and while I am awaiting car to be repaired, I have no safety features to rely on--which was one of the reasons I bought a Subaru. They will not pay for a courtesy car loan. Another issue is the thermo control valve. I was notified that I have an extended warranty for this, but part has to fail before Subaru will make repairs. Once again this becomes an emergency repair situation instead of a proactive one.

See all problems of the 2020 Subaru Forester 🔎.

I got in my vehicle after getting gas. I was on my way to neosho, mo, hundreds of miles from home. Thes lights were all on and I couldn't get them to go off. I figured it was because my windshield was dirty. I turned my wipers on to find out one needed replaced. I paid $30 for 1 since I have an odd type of wipers and I had been to 3 auto stores to find it. The eye sight, brake, check engine, air bag, and lane assist lights never went off. Now they come on randomly and go off randomly. This causes all safety features to not work. No adaptive cruise control, nothing. I finally got them to go off somehow the day I came back home. I live nowhere near a Subaru dealer. It had no other effect on my vehicle as far as I could tell. Now when they come on. I pull over until they come back on or have to drive it home to sit.

I’ve owned the vehicle under a year and am already on my second window replacement. I drive the same route everyday and ever experienced windows cracking in any other vehicle before this vehicle.

2020 Subaru Forester just had a check engine light appear. The engine malfunction code is p26a3, which is a defective thermostatic control valve. This malfunction also affects the vehicle manufacturers advanced driver assitance systems such "eyesight" blind spot monitoring, lane keep assist, etc. Vehicle only has 51,000 miles on it.

I was driving very slowly in a long line of traffic due to a sudden downpour of hail, ice pellets, and frozen rain which blanketed the road in white. Suddenly, without warning, my 2016 Subaru Forester accelerated and veered to the right and into a grove of trees doing extensive damage to the front end. The vehicle was totaled by my insurance company. I suspect that there was sudden acceleration and because of the icy road conditions my car left the road instead of plowing into the car ahead of me. The airbags didn't go off and I wasn't hurt at all but the entire front end was beyond repair.

See all problems of the 2016 Subaru Forester 🔎.

Multiple dashboard lights are on including starlink, eyesight, check engine, thermostat, and a blinking s. A quick google search shows that this exact combination is a known issue. Safety concern is that all the accident prevention systems are down leaving me at risk.

On Sunday, February 11, 2024 we were traveling in our 2020 Subaru Forester on a trip from minnesota to florida for a vacation. Not long into cross country trip we found ourselves stranded on the side of the highway uncertain about the ability of our vehicle to continue to due to a defective thermo control valve failure. About 200 miles into our trip, while driving at highway speeds south of rochester, mn the dashboard lit up. The check engine light was on, and other safety features were lit up on the dash as disabled (eye-sight technology, lane assist, automatic vehicle collision braking). The heat would not work after this incident. We checked the owners manual, and then drove to an auto-parts store to have a scan done to determine the error code. The code "p26a3 - engine coolant bypass valve a range/performance" was indicated. In checking online we discovered that a thermo control valve replacement was needed ASAP and to continue driving the vehicle could risk severe engine damage. Since it was a Sunday, and we were essentially stranded if we couldn't use the vehicle. We continued on, stopping and checking the engine periodically for overheating. We were able to get an appointment at lou fusz Subaru in st. Peters, mo on Monday afternoon and they replaced the thermo control valve at a cost of $1,961. 51. We were told that this wasn't under warranty due to the mileage on the vehicle (76,358 miles). In researching this issue online, we found that the thermo control valve failure to be a common issue and certain year/model vehicles and Subaru should have recalled this part a long time ago (in our opinion).

All of a sudden, the eyesight and collision prevention stopped working, the check engine light came on, the blue light thermostat indicator came on. We had no heat. The flashing "s" (sportsmode indicator) came on. We were driving on the highway and still over an hour from home. It was snowing, we could not adequately clear the windshield of fog so our visibility was severely compromised. We lost all eye sight capability which meant that we were vulnerable if there was ever a crash or an obstruction in the roadway.

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.

The incident happened at my workplace parking garage. As I slowly turned left to park in parking spot at work, I heard the engine rev and my car unexpectedly lurched forward very quickly. I stepped hard on the brake but it did not seem effective at stopping the car. I recently replaced my brakes in late August, 2023. As far as I know, before today my car was in proper working order. My vehicle is equipped with eyesight driver assist technology and I don't believe that the warning collision activated even as the car plowed towards the wall. The car hit the concrete parking block/wheel stop and then the heavy wire barrier at front the parking spot. The wire barrier sits between the front of the parking spot and parking structure wall (I would guess about a 12 inch gap between wires and wall). The wire barrier probably prevented the car from hitting the wall and causing greater property damage or injury to myself. So far, damage looks cosmetic. The front bumper is scratched (some paint taken off) and scuffed from the wire barrier and the bottom half of my license plate frame broke off. I am feeling rattled and I'm unsure if I have injuries. I intend to contact my dealership and car mechanic for suggestions on next steps and will likely ask them to inspect my car.

See all problems of the 2017 Subaru Forester 🔎.

41k miles p26a3 p26a5 ****eyesight disabled*** ***forward collision disabled *** failed tcv and dealer will not cover because warranty period is over.

4 days ago my check engine light came on. In my car, when this happens, it disables all eyesight features - collision warning, lane departure warning, etc. Work hours being what they are, I drove home that night and back to work the next day with it on. I managed to get it scanned when it popped a code for the coolant bypass valve. Searching that code online lead me to dozens and dozens of forums, posts, stories of the same code popping up on other 2019-2020 Subaru's. They all had to take it in for a hefty repair. It also led me to a service bulletin issued last year, which showed that Subaru had rebuilt the tcv so it could withstand corrosion, unlike the previous version. So naturally I took it into my local dealership to have it looked at, and sure enough - the tcv needed to be replaced. Why hasn"t this part been recalled yet??? given there is no thermostat on my cars dash, I would have no clue whether my car was overheating due to this faulty valve, until its too late. It seems like this is a big potential safety issue that Subaru needs to address, and someone needs to force their hand.

While driving, the 202 Forester, the check engine light, collision light, eyesight function lights all went on at the same time. I brought vehicle to check diagnostics and it is showing engine coolant bypass valve "a"control circuit low in power train system. Their were no messages prior to all the lights turning on and I was able to bring into the dealer for oil change but not able to make an appointment for repair for a few days from now.

Error code (p26a3?)for - engine coolant bypass valve. Causes the "check engine" light to come on and automatically disables all of the safety and collision mitigation systems. The engine coolant bypass valve failure is common and a known issue and Subaru has already updated the part on newer vehicle models. The common failure of the coolant bypass valve should not be disabling the safety features and the collision avoidance systems.

While driving on interstate 75 north in florida, the forward collision warning came on indicating something in the road. The system brought the vehicle to a dead stop on the highway and there was nothing in the road. This happened 4 times! we figured out how to disable eyesight and the forward collision system. The weather was clear and sunny. We drove in and out of shaded road. We were able to disable the eyesight and front end collision system and continue our trip.

Driving home for 15 minutes. Parked on left turn lane, slight incline. When traffic light turned green, I stepped on the gas and the engine stalled. I remember seeing "eyesight disabled" warning light come on. I put vehicle in park, shut it off, and turned engine back on. I was able to drive home. Possible system failure - fuel system, auto/stop feature? yes, available to inspect safety - 5:30pm heavy traffic on 4 lane highway0. Blocked traffic turning left. No where to pull over. Have not taken vehicle to mechanic or been inspected. I saw no warning lights prior to vehicle stalling, or experienced any engine anomalies.

First problem was eyesight was not engaging. Had diagnostics run and they said there was no problem. That problem continued. Second problem was when I was sitting at a red light. When the light turned green and I started to go, eyesight engaged and totally shut the car off. It had to be placed in park and restarted. Dealer said they have never heard of this. Internet says it's a problem. I had contacted Subaru headquarters after 1st incident. They paid for diagnostics, but would not respond after I contacted them to say it continued. Dealer and headquarters blew me off.

The thermo control valve on my 2020 Subaru Forester is broken and needs to be replaced. I have owned the car for 2 years, am the first owner, and it has less than 19,000 miles. 90 minutes into a drive the "coolant temp low" indicator light came on. After I pulled over, turned off the engine, and turned it back on the check engine light and sport mode indicator light came on, and all adas were disabled. The coolant level was low so I refilled it and took it to the manufacturer the next morning. They inspected my car and confirmed it the thermo control valve was broken. It is still broken as I cannot afford the repair and it is available for inspection upon request. My safety was put at risk by not having access to the adas forward collision warning, emergency breaking, and lane departure.

Eye-sight system shutdown and the car, although it was drivable, ran rough. Since there is a huge reliance on the monitors as they are designed to "forward think" to aid the driver, this was a major disruption to the driving experience. Not knowing what the disabled components affected, was a huge cause for alarm. Upon seeing the check engine light come, my wife brought the car home and I hooked up my device to read the code (p26a3 - showed up). Then I looked up that code and was directed to multiple incidents where that very same thing has become frequent on this model and a few others like it. We called the winston-salem nc Subaru dealer (flow) and they suggested we bring the Forester in for a check. Once they checked the vehicle out and confirmed the code we mentioned, they told us the "tcv" problem was found on our vehicle and they have seen others with the same problem. They even had the parts in stock to make the repair that day! they kept the parts and said they were going to be sent back to Subaru of America for analysis. Interesting detail: once we drove the repaired vehicle, it ran better than it ever had and the only work they did was to fix the tcv issue (according to the repair paperwork).

Was slowly pulling into a parking spot when the "automatic emergency braking" and "collision avoidance systems" engaged. The systems said that there was an "object detected" and slammed the car to a stop. Shut off the car and got out, there was no object. Had to disable the aeb system to pull into the parking space. Vehicle and component have not been inspected for this issue. Vehicle received regular maintenance at a shop (oil change) about 1 month ago and new tires about 1 week ago. Problem has not been confirmed.

The check engine light illuminated and the thermo control valve failed at 3 years old. The defrost and heater stopped working immediately making visibility extremely difficult . The eyesight and automatic braking system were also disabled due to the tcv issue. My Forester mpg dropped to under 20 mpg. The Subaru dealer inspected and confirmed code p26a3 and stated the thermo control valve needs to be replaced.

Tcv valve failed and as a result rab and eyesight were disabled. The tcv has a known defective design and there is a bulletin about it. Mc-10208664-0001 https://static. Nhtsa. Gov/odi/tsbs/2022/mc-10208664-0001. Pdf.

This is about a problem of which your agency is already aware. Subaru of America has been aware of a defective thermo control valve for almost a year (part 21319aa010). The part was redesigned since the initial part was subject to extreme corrosion. The redesigned part has the same part number as the original part. Subaru did not do any recall but instead waited for the parts to fail. When it fails on a car with safety features (called "eyesight"), each and every safety feature is permanently disabled until the redesigned part is installed. In addition, the engine runs too cool and there is little or no cabin heat. My car has been on the lot of my local dealership for 2 months with no end in sight. My car is covered by the original warranty and an extended warranty. Managers at the dealership have told me that they have no idea when the part will arrive, that it may be many months and that there are many people already waiting for the part. A 6-page letter by me to the general counsel of Subaru of America did not result in any direct response. By information and belief, this involves thousands of cars nationwide. By information and belief, dealerships are initially telling people the cars are still drivable despite the loss of all safety features since this what was initially told to me. I refused to accept the car in a defective unsafe condition. There may be thousands of cars being driven in which said safety features are fully disabled. Subaru claims the part has been on "back order" since March. By information and belief, based upon Subaru's own February 2022 service bulletin, it appears that the newly designed part is currently being installed on new cars at the factory thereby putting into question the "backorder" label. This analysis was enunciated in detail in my letter to Subaru of America's general counsel and there was no response contesting that allegation. Your agency's investigation and intervention are immediately required.

Subaru has a known issue with a thermo control valve in Foresters. Apparently the part is failing all over the place and they redesigned the part and are replacing it. The problem is the part is backordered and the dealerships are telling people it is safe to drive the car. Our car completely shut off at highway speed. I have since learned this is happening to a number of other owners who were also told it was safe to drive it while the part is back ordered. This vehicle has a lot of advanced driver features and some or all of them are shut off when this happens. Very dangerous for them to tell people to keep driving it and the vehicle should be recalled to replace the defective part that is failing.

We have a 2017 Subaru Forester 2. 5i premium with eyesight with 58,582 miles. During the first week in June, 2022 the eyesight system failed and displayed an error message that stated to “see owner’s manual “. The owner’s manual stated ”take the vehicle to Subaru dealer for servicing” which we did on June 9, 2022. The Subaru servicing dealer’s statement from the diagnostic invoice states “checked for codes in all systems found code b2809 vdc malfunction in eyesight module. Checked code in vdc module found c1742 wheel cylinder pressure sensor ran test for code lead to needing vdc module replaced “. Subaru parts stated to the dealership that the part would not be available until July 30, 2022 when that date came I was notified that part would not be available until Aug. 8, 2022. I was notified again on Aug. 9, 2022 of another delay only this time indefinite as to when it may be available. Without the eyesight system the following safety functions that I am aware of do not work 1) adaptive cruise control, 2) emergency front braking, 3) lane departure and lane keeping assistance, 4) forward collision warning, and there may be other safety features that are connected to this system that I am not aware of.

Car accelerated while I was parking in a parking spot and hit fence and unoccupied storefront.

I was driving into the sunlight, and was slowing down due to utility pole work ahead. The car stalled, and engine shut off. The dash light indicated the eyesight was disabled. I was able to restart, but the incident was very concerning.

Unknown system that failed but vehicle equiped with eyesight and all of Subaru safety features. Air bag did not deploy. Pulling into curbed parking space at city park. Speed <10 mph while in parking lot. Applied brake while pulling in space to park and car accelerated jumping the curb. The car was out of control and luckily heading into the woods. Tried to apply brake again but car kept accelerating. Car went approximately 10-12 feet and crashed into a tree. I suffered only stiffness and sore muscles from the seatbelt. An accident report was filed with local police department. No warning lamps, messages or other messages appeared prior to the incident.

See all problems of the 2018 Subaru Forester 🔎.