2026 SUBARU FORESTER

2 recalls, 17 complaints - 5/5 safety rating

VISIBILITY:SUN/MOON ROOF ASSEMBLY

Defect Description

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2026 Forester and Forester Hybrid vehicles. The sliding glass panel of the power moonroof assembly may have been improperly bonded to the sliding frame, allowing the glass panel to detach from the vehicle.

Consequence

A detached glass panel may become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy

Dealers will inspect the power moonroof glass panel for proper adhesion and, if necessary, replace the glass panel assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed July 24, 2026. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this reca... Read more

69,663 vehicles affected

Manufacturer: Subaru of America, Inc.

STRUCTURE:BODY:HATCHBACK/LIFTGATE:HINGE AND ATTACHMENTS

Defect Description

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2026 Forester vehicles. These vehicles may have been manufactured with an incorrect and/or incorrectly oriented rear hatch support bracket which can detach without prior warning.

Consequence

A rear hatch support bracket that detaches can allow the rear hatch to fall unexpectedly during use and increase the risk of injury.

Remedy

Dealers will inspect the rear hatch support brackets and, if necessary, replace the stay and support bracket, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 29, 2026. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WRG-25. Vehicle Iden... Read more

5,603 vehicles affected

Manufacturer: Subaru of America, Inc.

Complaint Statistics

17 total complaints 1 crashes 1 fires 2 injuries 1 deaths

Top Reported Components

Component	Complaints
UNKNOWN OR OTHER	4
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM	3
ENGINE	3
POWER TRAIN	2
STEERING	2
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM	1
EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE/TRAILER	1
AIR BAGS	1

Incident date: Jun 26, 2026

Got in the car around 8am. Sat down, shut the door and then BOOM! The rear hatch glass shattered into a thousand pieces. Nothing touched nothing hit it , it just shattered. Luckily no one was in the back seat. Brought it to the dealer. Interesting , at the exact time I pulled into the dealer another... Read more

Incident date: May 22, 2026

Brand new 2026 Forester's factory amplifier system completely failed within a week from purchasing at approximately 570 miles, disabling hands-free communication. California law strictly requires drivers to use phones in a hands-free manner. Drivers are prohibited from holding or physically touching... Read more

Incident date: May 22, 2026

I have replaced my rotors and my brakes soon as I got the car I’ve had the car for a month now I was in a major accident. Someone walked in front of my car. My emergency brake system did not work my rotors and my brakes, have been scrubbing ever since I got the car. And I don’t know how to fix t... Read more

Crash 2 injured 1 deaths

Incident date: May 22, 2026

My transmission failed the week I got it it was inspected by the dealership and I was told that they could not do anything about it I’ve been calling them for a whole year I’ve made notes and complaints I’ve contacted my lender they contacted the dealership to trade me in a new car and was tol... Read more

Incident date: May 30, 2026

Engine 6.2L failed going down the highway. Very Scary

Incident date: Jun 4, 2026

Check engine light (MIL) came on while driving and vehicle lost power. Would not accelerate. Had it towed to Mercedes Benz of Mrytle Beach. $8000 repair. Mercedes Corp would not help. This is a copy of a TSB (LI05.20-P-080257) for this issue: Complaint engine vibrations perceived at low rpm.... Read more

Incident date: Apr 9, 2026

Norcold N641.3FL refrigerator (serial #XXX) installed in an Arctic Fox truck camper caught fire on June 2, 2026 due to cooling unit failure. This model is subject to a known Norcold fire risk recall. The unit had not been repaired under the recall. I extinguished the fire myself. I have photographic... Read more

Fire

Incident date: Apr 25, 2026

Vehicle suddenly locked the steering wheel at approximatelyn20-25 MPH dash displayed a front camera failure and the motor stopped. I had to put the vehicle in park and restart. It happened again with in a minute. Then a third time after driving apron. 120 miles. As I slowed to a stop light the sa... Read more

Incident date: Feb 16, 2026

LA TRANSMISSION AUTOMATICA CVT USADAS EN LA MAYORIA DE LOS TOYOTAS, NO PUEDES REVISAR SI ESTA EL ACEITE SUCIO , YA QUE ES COMPLETAMENTE SELLADA, Y CUANDO PREGUNTAS EN EL DEALER TE DICEN QUE CON ESTAS NUEVAS TRANSMISSIONES NO NECESIAS CAMBIAR EL FLUIDO(ACEITE ), RESULTA QUE ESTAS TRANSMISSIONES LA M... Read more

Incident date: Jan 7, 2026

25V-636 This has been unresolved for 6 months with no sign of a fix. It’s a starter motor, not the space shuttle.

Incident date: Jan 7, 2026

The vehicle experienced hard steering and intermittent loss of power steering assist while driving. The failed component was diagnosed by an independent repair facility as the electric power steering rack and pinion assembly and steering module. The repair shop replaced the rack and pinion assembl... Read more

Incident date: May 1, 2026

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Power Steering While driving yesterday, doing shopping and online order deliveries, the steering wheel started having slight resistance during turns. It became worse shortly after. As I attempted to... Read more

Incident date: May 1, 2026

vehicle unknowingly loses power and shuts off while driving. A wrench appears on dash with check manual message.

Incident date: May 1, 2026

ICCU / 12‑V failure & repair – 2025 Ioniq 5 (Illinois) Bought my 2025 Ioniq 5 new in Feb 2025. On 4/21/26, at about 8,653 miles, I suddenly got a red battery icon and “Stop vehicle and check power supply” while driving. I pulled over, limped it home, and it wouldn’t reliably go into READY... Read more

Incident date: Apr 7, 2026

I purchased my truck brand new in July 2022 from Auto Saver Ford in New York. Roughly between 5000 and 10,000 miles at a certain speed the 10 R 80 transmission in my truck would unexpectedly violently slam into a lower gear, causing my truck immediately go to a slower speed, and that I was not ready... Read more

Incident date: Nov 29, 2025

The 62kWh High-Voltage Lithium-Ion Battery Pack. The vehicle is currently in my possession in Santa Fe, NM, and is available for inspection. It exhibits physical degradation (40.07% Hx) directly linked to the cell defects described in Recall 25V655. The vehicle is a documented fire risk. Per Recall... Read more

NHTSA Safety Ratings, 2026 SUBARU FORESTER

2026 SUBARU FORESTER SUV N/A AWD

Category	Rating
Overall Rating	5 / 5 ★★★★★
Frontal Crash	5 / 5 ★★★★★
Frontal Crash, Driver	5 / 5 ★★★★★
Frontal Crash, Passenger	5 / 5 ★★★★★
Side Crash	5 / 5 ★★★★★
Side Crash, Driver	5 / 5 ★★★★★
Side Crash, Passenger	5 / 5 ★★★★★
Rollover	4 / 5 ★★★★☆
Rollover Risk	17.4%

Safety Technology

Feature	Status
Electronic Stability Control	Standard
Forward Collision Warning	Standard
Lane Departure Warning	Standard

Source: NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings Program. Ratings are based on crash tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

NHTSA Safety Investigations, SUBARU FORESTER

Investigations opened by NHTSA into potential safety defects. These are separate from recalls and may or may not result in a recall.

PE, Closed , Model Year: 2016

Occupant Detection System (ODS) Failure

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE19-009 to investigate 51 complaints and additional Early Warning Report (EWR) data related to allegations of front passenger seat Occupant Detection System (ODS) malfunctions in model year (MY) 2016 through 2018 Subaru Forester vehicles. These vehic... les use a capacitive type ODS, which is intended to classify the occupant of the passenger seat as either full-sized, small stature, a child seat or other object. The complaints reported the ODS failed to operate properly, the SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) warning light illuminated, and/or the ODS incorrectly suppressed (turned off) the front passenger air bag when the seat was occupied by a full-sized passenger. In a frontal crash that is sufficient to warrant deployment, a suppressed air bag may increase the risk of injury to the occupant of the seat.On August 14, 2019 ODI sent an Information Request (IR) to Subaru requesting information on the subject vehicles and MY 2014-2015 Subaru Forester vehicles.On October 3, 2019, Subaru submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR) to NHTSA describing a safety defect in the passenger-side front airbag Occupant Detection System (ODS) harness of 366,282 MY 2015-2018 Subaru Forester vehicles equipped with seat heaters.The DIR stated that over time, due to a decrease in contact pressure between the terminals in the ODS sensor mat harness, a temporarily unstable electrical connection may be possible. If the connection is temporarily unstable, the ODS may not properly determine the status of the right front seat occupant. If the ODS is unable to correctly determine the status of the front occupant, the airbag warning light may illuminate, and the front passenger airbag may deactivate even though the seat is occupied, increasing the risk of injury to the front passenger in the event of a crash.Using vehicle production data and field occurrence frequency, Subaru determined the potentially affected vehicle production range to be between January 20, 2015 ?and August 1, 2017.In addition, Subaru indicated that over 99 percent of the related MY 2015-2018 field reports with vehicles in the production range involved vehicles with seat heaters.NHTSA's analysis of complaint and warranty claim data showed 1,440 of the complaints and 11,672 of the claims involve vehicles with seat heaters that were built within the production range covered by Subaru's recall.In addition, NHTSA's analysis showed a complaint rate of 393.1 per hundred thousand vehicles for the recalled population and 89.0 for MY 2014 through 2018 vehicles that are not included in the recall. Analysis of warranty claim data found a claim rate of 3.2 percent for the recalled population and 0.3 percent for MY 2014 through 2018 vehicles that are not included in the recall.Subaru will instruct owners with Subaru Forester vehicles produced in the affected vehicle production range, to bring their vehicles to a dealer to have the sensor mat harness, inspected and replaced with a new part, including the seat cushion assembly, if necessary.Based on ODI's analysis, the actions taken by Subaru mitigate any unreasonable risk to safety posed by ODS sensor mat failures in the subject vehicles. For subject and peer vehicles outside the recall population and those equipped without seat heaters, ODI's analysis indicates that there is currently no safety-related defect trend. Given these circumstances, further use of the agency resources in this matter does not appear to be warranted. Accordingly, this investigation is closed.Read more

PE, Closed , Model Year: 1999

SEAT BELT ANCHORAGE SEPARATION

ODI HAS ONE COMPLAINT ALLEGING THE PASSENGER'S SIDE SAFETY BELT ANCHORAGE, LOCATED BETWEEN THE SEAT AND CENTER CONSOLE, BECAME DETACHED WHILE DRIVING.IN ADDITION, THE OWNER INSPECTED THE DRIVER'S SIDE SAFETY BELT ANCHORAGE AND FOUND THAT THE BOLT WAS PARTIALLY BACKED-OUT.THE COMPLAINT VEHICLE WAS EQ... Read more

SUBARU FORESTER - All Years Overview

Complete safety history for the SUBARU FORESTER across all model years (1998, 2026).

114 Total Recalls

8,633 Total Complaints

2 Investigations

784 Reported Crashes

135 Reported Fires

10 Reported Deaths

SUBARU FORESTER - Year by Year

Compare recalls and complaints across model years. Click any year to see full details.

Year	Recalls	Complaints
2026 (current)	2	17
2025	2	108	View
2024	2	38	View
2023	1	102	View
2022	1	137	View
2021	0	285	View
2020	0	798	View
2019	3	1,084	View
2018	3	669	View
2017	1	789	View
2016	3	609	View
2015	3	894	View
2014	2	576	View
2013	12	94	View
2012	15	140	View
2011	16	195	View
2010	17	307	View
2009	18	228	View
2008	1	67	View
2007	1	89	View
2006	2	121	View
2005	1	105	View
2004	2	270	View
2003	3	238	View
2002	1	109	View
2001	0	169	View
2000	0	95	View
1999	1	156	View
1998	1	138	View

Other SUBARU Models

Model	Recalls	Complaints
IMPREZA	321	3,425	View
LEGACY	307	4,132	View
OUTBACK	288	12,131	View
SOLTERRA	259	109	View
WRX	190	1,208	View
ASCENT	112	1,248	View
TRIBECA	70	51	View
CROSSTREK	42	1,453	View

Vehicle Safety

Consumer Safety

Infrastructure

Public Health

2026 SUBARU FORESTER

Complaint Statistics

Top Reported Components

NHTSA Safety Ratings, 2026 SUBARU FORESTER

Safety Technology

NHTSA Safety Investigations, SUBARU FORESTER

SUBARU FORESTER - All Years Overview

SUBARU FORESTER - Year by Year

Other SUBARU Models