2008 Subaru Forester
This year drew an ordinary 50 complaints for a Subaru Forester — the model's median is 147. What they were about is the unusual part: 6% of them mention engine started, against 0% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Subaru Forester ran from 2003 to 2008, 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 | 50 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 147 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- engine started — 6% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (30×).
- open — 12% of this year's complaints, against 2.8% across the other years of this generation (4.3×). Owners wrote it as: open, injection, air injection, side door.
- malfunction — 10% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the other years of this generation (4.4×). Owners wrote it as: malfunction, secondary, secondary air, solenoid.
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
CODE P2441 - SECONDARY AIR INJECTION SYSTEM SOLENOID MALFUNCTION. PROBLEM OCCURED AT 87K MILES.
THE VEHICLE DOES NOT HAVE A KEY HOLE ON THE LIFTGATE OR PASSENGER SIDE DOOR. IN THE EVENT OF AN ELECTRICAL SYSTEM FAILURE, THERE IS NO WAY TO OPEN THE TRUNK. THERE HAD BEEN NO FAILURE TO DATE. THE VIN AND POWERTRAIN WERE UNKNOWN. THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 2,000.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 11V464000 SUSPENSION 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 2008 Subaru Forester? What happened to yours?
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