2012 Subaru Forester
This year drew an ordinary 105 complaints for a Subaru Forester — the model's median is 147. What they were about is the unusual part: 12.4% of them mention driving mph, against 4.1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Subaru Forester, which began in 2009 and ran to 2013. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 105 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 147 |
| Involving a crash | 15 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 15 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- driving mph — 12.4% of this year's complaints, against 4.1% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: driving mph, accelerator pedal, verified, drained.
- month — 10.5% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: month, period, automobile, brakes locked.
- writes — 7.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.5% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: writes, consumer writes, regards, writes regards.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
2012 SUBARU FORESTER. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO STUD FAILURE. THE CONSUMER STATED THE 3 OF THE 5 WHEEL STUDS EXPERIENCED A SHEARING FAILURE. THE CONSUMER REQUESTED TO BE REIMBURSED FOR THE FAILURE DUE TO IT BEING A KNOWN ISSUE.
VEHICLE TRANSMISSION SHIFTED INTO NEUTRAL WHILE IN CRUISE CONTROL ON THE HIGHWAY. THE VEHICLE HAD TO BE POWERED OFF AND BACK ON BEFORE THE TRANSMISSION WOULD REENGAGE. DTC WAS P2138. THIS IS THE FOURTH INCIDENCE OVER A 14 MONTH PERIOD. AFTER POWER CYCLE RESET,…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V008000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V007000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V009000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V297000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 17V014000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V738000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 18V012000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V311000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 15. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Forester was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2012 Subaru Forester? What happened to yours?
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