2019 Subaru Forester
Complaints about this year name engine light far more often than the other years of this generation — 6% of them, about 13× the usual rate of 0.5%.
First year of a new generation. The Subaru Forester was redesigned for 2019. 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 | 831 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 105 |
| Involving a crash | 35 |
| Involving a fire | 11 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
Also unusual this year
- rock — 12% of complaints, 3× usual
- control valve — 7% of complaints, 7× usual
- replacement — 10% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
The Thermo Control Valve has failed and threw a check engine light. This disables the Eye Sight System and causes no heat or defrosters. There seems to be a huge backorder with no ETA in sight for the replacement part. When this part fails there is no defroste…
I started my vehicle and the check engine light came on. In addition, my eye sight turned off and the letter S started blinking. I also had clicking noises when I turned the vehicle off. I read some forums and this is a thermo control valve problem that happen…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V263000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 19V856000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 19V065000 STEERING 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 2019 Subaru Forester? What happened to yours?
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