2014 Subaru Forester
Complaints about this year name coil far more often than the other years of this generation — 14% of them, about 19× the usual rate of 0.7%.
First year of a new generation. The Subaru Forester was redesigned for 2014. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 403 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 105 |
| Involving a crash | 48 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- oil — 13.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.8% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: oil, consumption, oil consumption, quart.
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.
Also unusual this year
- spring — 14% of complaints, 9× usual
- springs — 9% of complaints, 21× usual
- rear coil — 8% of complaints, 20× usual
What owners wrote
WHEN GETTING REAR WHEEL BEARING REPLACED MECHANIC ADVISED THAT BOTH REAR COIL SPRINGS WERE BROKEN. NO KNOWN CAUSE.
BOTH REAR COIL SPRINGS ARE BROKEN . THE LOWEST COIL HAS SNAPPED OFF EACH SPRING AND THE LEFT REAR SPRING HAS FALLEN OUT OF THE LOWER PAD SO IT IS NOT FUNCTIONAL AT ALL ONE SPRING MAY HAVE FAILED EARLIER, BUT THE LEFT FAILURE MADE THE PROBLEM APPARENT.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V149000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 13V159000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
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 2014 Subaru Forester? What happened to yours?
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