2020 Subaru Forester: What to check before buying

Windshields chip and crack with unusual ease, often in the first few thousand miles. Some cracks start from a small pebble strike, but many appear overnight while parked or when the defroster runs on a cold morning, then spread across the driver's view. Sun glare off a crack can blind the driver. Several owners are on their third or fourth windshield. Dealers often call the damage normal and refuse warranty coverage, and replacement requires recalibrating the EyeSight camera, with quotes near $1,500.

Windshields crack without any impact, usually starting at the lower edge or where the glass meets the trim, then running toward the center. Cracks show up while driving, in the rain, or after the car sits in a garage. Most reports fall between about 21,000 and 50,000 miles, though some come later. Replacement glass sometimes cracks again. Some dealers refuse coverage or blame the owner, and many owners never file a repair.

Batteries go dead after the car sits, sometimes within days, and replacement batteries do not cure the drain. Some owners keep a trickle charger attached. A weak battery can light up the whole dash, shut off safety systems, or prevent a keyless start. A second pattern is thermo control valve failure, which triggers low coolant warnings and disables driver assists. Other reports include a heated seat that stays warm when switched off and caused a minor burn, rodent-chewed wiring, and one engine fire days after a valve replacement.

Thermo control valve failure drives most of these reports. The check engine light comes on with codes such as P26A3, a flashing S appears, cabin heat stops, and EyeSight, lane keeping, and emergency braking all shut off. Failures cluster between about 27,000 and 70,000 miles, often just past the powertrain warranty, with repair bills from $1,500 to over $3,000. Owners cite Subaru service bulletins and call for a recall. A few describe transmission slipping and bouncing under acceleration, and one sudden acceleration crash.

Thermo control valve failure again leads, bringing warning lights, lost heat, disabled safety systems, sudden slowing on adaptive cruise, and engine stalls in traffic. Some owners got the valve replaced free under an extended warranty, while others paid about $1,600. One faced a head gasket bill after the repair. Auto start-stop sometimes fails to restart the engine at lights. Two reports describe fires after deer collisions, with flames spreading past the firewall within minutes.

Lane keep and lane centering pull the wheel unexpectedly, swaying the car within the lane or jerking it toward an exit or the next lane. One such event ended in a rollover. Other reports tie steering loss to the engine shutting off, either from auto start-stop at low speed or from thermo control valve failure at highway speed, with the replacement part backordered. Several crashes involve sudden acceleration with no steering or braking response. One owner reports vibration from 50 mph.

Sudden unintended acceleration is the pattern here, and most of these reports end in a crash. Drivers describe the car surging while parking, reversing out of driveways, or slowing behind traffic, often with the brake pedal pressed. Vehicles hit walls, buildings, trees, and parked cars, and several drivers were hurt. Mileage ranges from about 3,000 to 65,000. Dealers usually cannot reproduce the fault, and one report cites a class action lawsuit over the EyeSight throttle and braking features.

Front airbags fail to deploy in serious frontal crashes, including impacts with trees, deer, a building, and oncoming cars, and drivers and passengers are hurt. A separate pattern involves the passenger seat sensor, which does not enable the airbag for lighter adults or when a seat belt extender is used. Dealers tell these owners the system works as designed, with one setting a 120-pound threshold.

Automatic braking misbehaves in both directions. One report describes the system failing to stop the car before a frontal collision that was followed by an engine fire. Another describes the car braking on its own while pulling away from a green light with no obstacle ahead. A third owner reports the car surging forward when the brakes are applied. With only three filings, no wider pattern is clear.