2023 Subaru Forester: What to check before buying

Front windshields crack with no apparent impact or chip from small pebbles, often within the first few months and as early as the first 1000 miles. Cracks grow quickly. One appeared during sharp temperature swings. A rear window burst while the car sat at a stop light. Several owners say dealers denied warranty coverage, so they paid through insurance. One replacement windshield cracked again from another pebble the day after it was installed.

Batteries drain and fail to hold a charge after a few weeks of storage, leading to repeated jump starts. EyeSight driver assist also fails repeatedly. Owners report missed warnings, no automatic braking, many recalibrations, and in one case a full EyeSight replacement. One report describes the engine shutting off at a red light with alarms and EyeSight alerts, leaving the car stuck in traffic. A fire that started at the battery wiring totaled one vehicle.

The front passenger occupant sensor turns the air bag off for lighter adults, so small adults or teens may ride without passenger air bag protection. Dealers say the seat measures weight correctly but cannot say what weight turns it on. Other reports describe seat cushions collapsing, covers splitting, and chimes the dealer tied to seat air bag sensors. One injury crash filed here involves unintended acceleration while the brake pedal did not respond.

Hard automatic braking happens with nothing ahead, sometimes bringing the car to a full stop at 35 to 65 mph. That creates a real risk of being rear-ended. One event came before 2500 miles. Adaptive cruise also brakes abruptly when the driver lifts off the gas after passing above the set speed, which the dealer calls a design feature. Lane keeping can miss lane shifts and needs firm steering correction.

Low-beam LED projector headlights throw dark spots and a sharp cutoff line that owners mistake for animals or objects in the road. Drivers on dark, winding rural roads say the low beams light too little of the road, while oncoming drivers flash their brights as if the lows are too bright. Dealers say the lights are at factory settings and no other headlight is offered. One report also cites hard automatic braking while reversing.

Unintended acceleration while parking, with the brake pedal pressed, appears in both reports. The car jumped a curb and hit a tree in one case and struck a building in the other. One driver was treated for whiplash. In the first case the car also surged backward in reverse with the brake applied. Neither vehicle received a diagnosis or repair afterward.

One car caught fire after a dealer oil change when oil leaked onto the catalytic converter, and it was a total loss. The owner blames the inverted oil filter design for making leaks more likely. The other report describes sudden acceleration in reverse that hit a parked car and a concrete wall, also totaling the vehicle. Subaru diagnosed that car but did not share the findings with the owner.

Lane-keeping steering pulls the car out of its lane on its own. In one injury crash, it steered into the center divider on a mountain highway, then back across two lanes into the mountainside, and the owner says it had pulled out of lanes before. Another report describes the blind spot warning and other safety features shutting off suddenly with multiple dash warnings. The dealer found code P0455 and reset it.