2013 Subaru Forester
This year drew an ordinary 77 complaints for a Subaru Forester — the model's median is 147. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.4% of them mention anything, against 3.6% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Subaru Forester ran from 2009 to 2013, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 77 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 147 |
| Involving a crash | 13 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 12 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- anything — 10.4% of this year's complaints, against 3.6% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: anything, car just, able get, creating.
- avoid — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (4.5×).
- looked — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.8% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: looked, swinging.
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
When the clutch is depressed the engine kills without indication anything is happening. All the dash lights come on and the power steering goes out. It has been happening repeatedly since last June. More frequently over time. If it happens on an off ramp or at…
AFTER READING OTHER COMPLAINTS ON THIS SITE - PROMPTED ME TO WRITE THIS. 2YRS INTO OWNING MY CAR HAD OIL CONSUMPTION TEST DONE BECAUSE IT SEEMED THE SYNTHETIC OIL IS DISAPPEARING. WAS TOLD CAR IS FINE. I STILL NEED TO PUT OIL IN - IN BETWEEN CHANGES. THE ENGIN…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V007000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V009000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V008000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V297000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 18V012000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V738000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V311000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 14V830000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 12. 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 2013 Subaru Forester? What happened to yours?
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