2025 Subaru Forester
This year drew an ordinary 88 complaints for a Subaru Forester — the model's median is 147. What they were about is the unusual part: 11.4% of them mention mirror, against 1.5% across the model's other years.
First year of a new generation. The Subaru Forester was redesigned for 2025. 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 | 88 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 147 |
| Involving a crash | 11 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- mirror — 11.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the model's other years (7.7×). Owners wrote it as: mirror, side mirror, vibration, distortion.
- may — 15.9% of this year's complaints, against 5.5% across the model's other years (2.9×).
- tank — 12.5% of this year's complaints, against 3.9% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: tank, gasoline, strong, safety features.
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
Driver side mirror and rearview mirror vibrate, visibility affected - especially at night with vibrating headlights. Confirmed by dealer. Rearview mirror replaced and continues with same vibration issue (actually a little more vibration). Driver side mirror co…
I have noticed my new Suburu driver side mirror shakes during highway speeds and this causes cars and backgrounds to look blurry. I didn't notice this on my other mirrors. It makes it difficult to drive and is distracting.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 25V033000 WHEELS Fixed free of charge.
- 25V419000 CHILD SEAT Fixed free of charge.
- 26V436000 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 2025 Subaru Forester? What happened to yours?
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