2025 Subaru Forester

After reversing, the car will shift into drive but will not drive. The power steering signal pops up and takes restarting the car and opening and closing the door to get the car to actually drive. When taken to a dealership, I was told there was nothing they can do about it. This is a major safety concern that almost caused an accident by having the car unmoving in the middle of the road.

NHTSA ID

11776853

Incident

Oct 23, 2026

Rear right trailing arm failed. There is rust seen at spot of failure. Snapped while braking for a red light. Lost total control of vehicle. Rear end of vehicle fish tailed multiple times and vehicle wouldn’t stop. Almost ran the red light due to inability to stop and lost control. I had 4 children in the car. If other cars were around us or we ran the red light, we very easily could have collided with full speed vehicles in intersection and died. Yes problem can be inspected and confirmed by independent service provider - Firestone in [XXX] on [XXX]. Vehicle was towed to Ciocca Subaru in [XXX] since it is not safely drivable. Subaru will inspect it during normal business hours tomorrow. No warning lights or messages. Did hear clicking last week while son was practicing parallel parking (XXX). Reported it to mechanics at Ciocca Subaru last week (XXX). They inspected and couldn’t reproduce sound, said nothing was wrong. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11776611

Incident

Nov 8, 2026

The contact leased a 2025 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked in the driveway with his wife seated in the front passenger’s seat, the passenger’s air bag status indicator displayed that the air bag was off. The vehicle was taken to a local Subaru dealer for inspection. Initially, the dealer stated that the passenger did not meet the required weight threshold and that the Occupant Classification System (OCS) did not recognize the passenger in the seat. After performing diagnostic testing, the dealer determined that the OCS needed to be recalibrated. The contact stated that Subaru Advocacy stated that the passenger’s seat met the weight specifications. When the contact and a dealer representative sat in the seat, the light worked as designed due to meeting the weight requirements. The contact was concerned that the passenger air bag may not deploy as intended in a crash, increasing the risk of injury to the front passenger. There was no indication of an issue during the inspection at the time of leasing. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000.

NHTSA ID

11774488

Incident

Oct 27, 2026

Mileage

7,000 mi

There have been intermittent failures of numerous vehicle systems over the last 4 months. Some of these systems have impacted the cars safety systems including but not limited to steering, braking, collision avoidance, inability to enter vehicle in an unfamiliar location and stranding owner hundreds of miles from home.

NHTSA ID

11773146

Incident

Sep 4, 2026

my car came to a sudden and immediate stop, causing the car behind me to collide with my rear end. in researching this, i have discovered that my car make and model are subject to a class action suit for what is called "phantom braking." I was not injured but the driver of the other car claimed that his son in the back seat was injured. There were no warning indicators going off, either visual or audio. the vehicle's condition was observed by a XXX Police Officer at the scene, and an accident report (XXX) was filed, to be available sometime next week. I contacted my insurance company, State Farm, about 8 PM, after having been directed by an officer to pull around the corner to a side road. they issued a claim # XXX and told me to have the car towed to their approved body shop Bucci's Auto Body in [XXX]. [XXX], the principal at Bucci's inspected the car the following morning and provided an estimate for repairs which State Farm accepted and I authorized to begin. He has not touched any of the electronic data system modules, nor disconnected the battery, and has been instructed in writing not to, so that the forensic evidence can be retrieved. Therefore, there is no information available yet on the mechanical or systems causes of the crash, but it is being preserved for future retrieval and analysis. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11771699

Incident

Oct 9, 2026

On October 7, 2026 at approximately 7:40 PM, the EyeSight system inexplicably stopped working with a warning light notification. Prior to the EyeSight failure, the touchscreen froze completely with subsequent inability to control the climate and other control options. After pulling over and stopping the engine and then restarting several times, the problem did not resolve. After parking and shutting the engine and then restarting after a hiatus of not driving, the problem resolved. The EyeSight system failure created a risk due to loss of pre-collision braking and throttle management, lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control. No incident occurred. I am scheduling a visit to Subaru dealer on October 13, 2026.

NHTSA ID

11769828

Incident

Oct 7, 2026

I never ride in the back seat and very infrequently have back seat passengers. However, every time I do they all complain about how difficult it is to "buckle up", I never thought much about it until I started visiting my grandkids and would have to buckle them; it is very difficult to access the clip. That in itself is bad enough, but there have been two occasions now where the seatbelt has come undone after I know it was properly latched, causing my grandsons booster to not be restrained while I was driving. I scheduled an appointment with AutoNation Subaru in Carlsbad CA on 30 September to see if the seatbelt clips could be extended for better access. When I showed up for the appointment, I was told there was nothing they could do to correct the issue. I looked online and discovered this is a common problem with this vehicle and others are complaining about similar issues such as the clip not fastening, the clip being difficult to access and an alarm sound/not sounding. As far as I could find, there are no recalls for this issue. I feel this is a significant safety issue. I'm not sure if it is the difficulty in accessing the clip, or faulty clips, but if these can't be relied upon to be stable during routine driving, I am terrified as to what might happen in a collision. This is the first time I have ever purchased a Subaru, and I did so because of their reputation for safety. I am now second guessing my choice. Could you please look into this for me and the other owners. Thank you

NHTSA ID

11769050

Incident

Aug 24, 2026

The contact owns a 2025 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while her husband was driving on a road trip at interstate speed with the contact and her daughter inside the vehicle, the vehicle started shaking violently from side to side. The driver pulled over to the side of the road momentarily. The driver resumed driving, and upon accelerating to overtake a vehicle, the engine made an abnormal sound; the vehicle started shaking violently and pulling from side to side and made abnormally loud and rumbling sounds. The driver pulled over to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was test driven, and the failure was duplicated. The vehicle was diagnosed with engine failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure by phone and by email. The failure mileage was approximately 15,000.

NHTSA ID

11767533

Incident

Sep 19, 2026

Mileage

15,000 mi

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