Owners filed 4,033 complaints about the 2015–2025 Subaru Forester with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 22nd-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2019 model year drew the most (833), and the single most-reported problem area is wipers / visibility, named in 26% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2019, with 833 complaints, led by wipers / visibility (370).
- Spike years: 2019 (2.0× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: wipers / visibility complaints came at a median of 9k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 50 complaints mention a fire and 264 mention a crash; owners reported 148 injuries and 2 deaths.
Subaru Forester complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 606 | Engine (131), Air bags (98), Transmission / powertrain (94) | 44k mi | 49 | 7 |
| 2016 | 413 | Air bags (99), Electrical system (93), Engine (60) | 39k mi | 39 | 3 |
| 2017 | 586 | Air bags (164), Electrical system (106), Wipers / visibility (104) | 30k mi | 40 | 1 |
| 2018 | 494 | Wipers / visibility (135), Air bags (96), Electrical system (71) | 16k mi | 26 | 1 |
| 2019 | 833 | Wipers / visibility (370), Electrical system (134), Engine (106) | 9k mi | 37 | 11 |
| 2020 | 601 | Wipers / visibility (252), Electrical system (102), Engine (80) | 6k mi | 26 | 9 |
| 2021 | 207 | Wipers / visibility (76), Electrical system (33), Engine (32) | 8k mi | 16 | 5 |
| 2022 | 98 | Wipers / visibility (20), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (15), Electrical system (10) | 6k mi | 8 | 6 |
| 2023 | 73 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (13), Wipers / visibility (11), Electrical system (7) | 9k mi | 8 | 4 |
| 2024 | 29 | Air bags (7), Wipers / visibility (5), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (4) | 5k mi | 4 | 1 |
| 2025 | 93 | Wipers / visibility (13), Fuel system (13), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (10) | 3k mi | 11 | 2 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Subaru Forester problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wipers / visibility | 1,029 | 26% | 9k mi | Wiper replacement cost |
| Electrical system | 646 | 16% | 27k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Air bags | 508 | 13% | 34k mi | — |
| Engine | 507 | 13% | 36k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Transmission / powertrain | 307 | 8% | 31k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Speed control / acceleration | 253 | 6% | 20k mi | — |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 176 | 4% | 13k mi | — |
| Fuel system | 172 | 4% | 39k mi | Fuel pump repair cost |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Subaru models in the index
- Subaru Outback (5,835)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.