Subaru
Forester

Sirius XM popping up ads in the interior screen while driving is dangerous and ridiculous

8/25/25: Seat Heater came on by itself on a hot day this Summer, it got so hot it burned my Right thigh. Seat Heaters are burning people. I drove directly to Subaru Dealership Service and the Service person, Dave confirmed the Seat heater was off and felt that the seat was hot and getting hotter as the heat began going up into the back of the seat. The service personnel inspected my car and could not duplicate the incident and everything tested "normal" ~ I requested they unplug the heater and they said they could NOT as it will effect the computer. Subaru Corporate connected me with a Customer Advocate who arranged inspection by a corporate service person. Scheduled 11/25/25: He did NOT drive my car -I dont know what he did besides remove my car seat covers, he left a message for me that everything tested normal he couldn't duplicate the issue and the seat covers were not allowed (Subaru sells the same type covers for my Forester :/ finding this odd I began researching and found others are getting burn by the SAME issue!! ) There were NO lights on- the Seat heater was in the OFF position ~Subaru Service personnel can confirm. I am requesting an emergency "Kill Switch" be installed in all vehicles with Seat Heaters to prevent further injury. Thank you

I have a 2025 Forester. The new Forester has unexpectedly thrown on its brakes in a major way three times in 24,000 miles. The last incident was on a divided highway with a sweeping curve to the right. There were orange barrels closing off the lane to the left of me in the curve for maintenance work. In the middle of the curve to the right, the eyesight system saw the orange barrels in the other lane as a threat and unexpectedly threw on the brakes. I had concerns about being rear ended. I am reporting this because internet Subaru Forester blogs and facebook groups all have owners reporting the same dangerous issue.

The contact owns a Chicco Keyfit 360 Convertible child seat installed in a 2025 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the harness strap had detached from the T-bar in the rear of the child seat. The contact stated that the child was in the seat during the failure. The contact was unable to reattach the strap after speaking to the manufacturer. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that a replacement chest clip would be sent for the repair. The cause of the failure was not yet determined; however, the contact stated that the child seat manufacturer had not sent a replacement child seat. The VIN was not available.

Vehicle suddenly lurched forward while vehicle was pulling into a parking space, causing a collision with a building.

After my purchase of my 2025 Subaru Forester, I finally drove it for the first time at night. I was driving on local roads which have no street lights and is very hilly and dark. My headlights were on and I was shocked to see how poorly they were operating compared to my former 2016 Subaru Forester which I never had a problem with. My headlights even had strange dark marks projected onto the road surface. My headlights in the low beam settings, appears to be too low on the road surface especially if there’s a hill up ahead. There is a very dark area above the lit road surface and you can not see if there is a road hazard there or not. It’s very scary, especially when there are many deer in my area. This leaves me to have to keep my high beams on which I never had to do on my 2016. But my vehicle has a feature where my high beams automatically go on and off during night driving. At first, I did not realize I had this feature until I saw it operating on its own one night while driving on a dark lever road surface. The high beams would go on automatically and then go off when another vehicle was approaching from the opposite direction. But when I turned off to drive on hilly local roads, that feature stopped working and I didn’t understand why. That’s when I had to use the high beams manually. Being frustrated by this, on October 15, I took my vehicle to the dealership and had one of the salesman explain to me why my high beams do not always work. He then looked at the vehicles settings and everything was in proper order. He told me that the service department could possibly raise the headlights, but he said that doesn’t always work. All in all, I feel that these headlights are a hazard when driving at night on dark hilly road surfaces. I try not to drive at night because of this, but now that it’s getting darker earlier, that’s going to be difficult.

I find that the headlights on my 2025 Subaru Forester pose a safety concern. When on dims there is a distinct black line above which you have no light and cannot see. There is also some black shadows in the line of sight that bounce up and down as the car moves causing a major distraction. I complained to the dealer who said there wasn’t much they could do, however they adjusted the lights on August 26, 2025. There is little improvement and now I get flashed on the dim setting all of the time. I called Subaru and registered a complaint on October 3, 2025. Subaru contacted me on October 13, 2025 and took down my information and said they would check further into the problem. They said they wanted to do some research and contact the dealer to see what can be done. They are supposed to call me back on October 20, 2025. I also have read hundreds of complaints the same as mine online. One person even said he almost hit some deer as they were not seen in the black area. I will not drive this car at night as I am afraid because of the horrible visibility issue. The car was purchased new this past February and has about 7000 miles on it. I cannot trade the car as I would lose so much money, yet I don’t feel safe driving at night.

While there were no reported incidents, it appears there may be manufacturing defects with this vehicle. The rear seat safety belts are reportedly quite difficult to fasten, as the receptacle is positioned deeply within the seats, sometimes making it impossible to secure the belt. This then triggers an alarm, which can be quite bothersome for the driver. Furthermore, there seems to be an issue with the fuel gauge, as it may display an inaccurate reading. For instance, upon filling the tank, the meter might show 470 ml, but while still at the gas station, it could indicate 330 ml. Additionally, the reading can fluctuate after a trip. Finally, the air conditioning vent on the driver's side does not seem to be functioning correctly. In one instance, despite a minor road hazard that was not immediately noticed, the left rear tire was completely damaged. Despite multiple attempts to address these issues at the showroom and contacting Subaru headquarters, the problems persist. Note the purchase of vehicle forced upon me ,in addition Hallmark Subaru refuse to address the issues with vehicle. I have reported the matter to AL state Attorney general. Still no response made by state AG. Thank you.