Complaint volume
594 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2020 Subaru Forester Complaints
594 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Subaru Forester, grouped by component category.
594 Total complaints
25 Crash reports
7 Fire reports
13 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are visibility/wiper, unknown or other, visibility. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 25 crash reports, 7 fire reports, 13 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 272 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 10,312 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to visibility/wiper, unknown or other, visibility?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2020 Subaru Forester?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2020 Subaru Forester
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Subaru Forester complaints?
25 Crash
7 Fire
13 Injury
0 Fatality
23 Towed
10 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Subaru Forester complaint categories?
VISIBILITY/WIPER 234
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 68
VISIBILITY 49
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 44
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 16
ENGINE 16
POWER TRAIN 9
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 8
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER 8
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 6
594 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Purchased new on 5/22/2020. On Aug 8th after not driving the car for 3 days, attempted to start vehicle. Would not start. Battery dead. Charged battery with a jump. Drove car home. Next am. Car would not start. Battery dead. Currently trying to get car in for service. This is very dangerous stranding people randomly. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | STEERING,LANE DEPARTURE | Lane Keep Assist Feature The lane keep assist feature seems, in general, to over steer causing sway back and forth across the lane. While I find this bothersome, Most recently, at highway speed, the lane keep assist pulled the car (suddenly and somewhat violently) onto an exit ramp rather than holding the right lane. No one was hurt. No damage occurred. I was able to yank the wheel back to the lane with the entire incident over in less and a second. Safety at risk? highway speed with unanticipated veer of intended path. It was good that traffic was quite light. I have not reported this to the dealer. No special warnings other than that the system "worked". | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The battery on my 2020 Subaru Forester Premium /LFF14 drains within a week if not driven. There appears to be a parasitic battery drain problem. The car will not start. I replaced the original factory battery with a larger, after-market battery having been told by several sources that this problem is common to Foresters and is caused by defective batteries being supplied to Subaru. However, the new battery did not solve the problem. I regularly test the battery with a battery tester that indicates that the battery is OK, but is discharged and requires charging. I now keep a trickle charger on the car continuously. This seems to keep the battery charge up to 98%. I have retained the original battery which holds a charge indefinitely out of the vehicle. I am aware that driving the car to recharge the battery is extremely hard on the alternator and will cause it to prematurely fail. The car was purchased in August of 2020 and currently has less than 500 miles. This is a recurrent problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield cracked out of nowhere. It was parked and just showed up to a cracked windshield | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 mph, the front windshield developed a crack at the center of the windshield by the rear-view mirror mount. During the incident no object had contacted the windshield to cause the damage. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 11,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 11,000 |
| Aug 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield cracked without cause overnight while car was not being driven. Stress crack emanating from the bottom edge where the defroster element for the windshield wipers is located ending in about the center of the windshield. Dealer inspected and could not find an impact point. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked and unattended, the contact became aware that the front windshield had cracked from the top without impact. The contact called the local dealer however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 14,000. The VIN was not available. | Crash: No Fire: No | 14,000 |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY | 2020 SUBARU FORESTER. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO SEMI OPAGUE WINDSHIELD CAUSING ISSUES WITH VISIBILTY ON DARK ROADS. THE CONSUMER STATED THE DEALER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE BUT, DID NOT OFFER ANY ASSISTANCE. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Was just sitting in my car and the windshield just started cracking very quickly. Nothing hit it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | While driving back home from Sacramento to San Diego, my windshield cracked for no reason and with time it increased. I am 100% sure that no pebble from road hit the windshield. I went to the dealership and they didn’t report me that windshield had defect but issued me a quote of approx $1900. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the windshield cracked without impact. The contact had the vehicle repaired however, shortly afterward the issue recurred. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 23,195. | Crash: No Fire: No | 23,195 |
| Jul 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | My car shut down while stopped at a traffic light. Several dashboard lights flashed or lit up, including the battery indicator, the EyeSight indicator said it was turned off, and many others I don’t know. It felt as if the battery had died. The car was in standby mode while stopped and the air conditioning was running. The car stalled and died when I took my foot off the brake to drive. The battery has died 6 times in the past year. If the door was ajar, the hatch left open, or the engine turned off while parked in drive, the battery was dead the next day. If it’s left overnight with the emergency flashers on, the battery is dead the next day. This is too many for a brand new car. I’ve already bought a brand new battery after the first one died. What do I have to do to keep the battery alive? I’m a Lyft driver, and thankful this issue didn’t leave a rider and me stranded many miles from home. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | A small rock hit my windshield and seemed to crack it WAY more easily than it should have. I Was researching cost to replace it and found the information about the lawsuit and the fact that it applies to my year of Subaru. So I decided to file a complaint to be included in the lawsuit. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while attempting to park at a rest stop, the vehicle independently accelerated while the brake pedal was depressed. As a result, the vehicle ran into a stone wall. The front end of the vehicle was severely damaged. The air bags deployed. A police report was filed. The contact sustained a sore neck as a result of the crash but medical attention was not required. The vehicle was not drivable and was towed to a body shop. The vehicle was not diagnosed but was in the process of being repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 65,000. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed | 65,000 |
| Jul 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Windshield Repeated problem - windshield gets hit by a small rock and immediately cracks the whole windshield. It's becoming a regular replacement. I can't imagine if getting hit by something larger or being in an accident. Researching the problem, I found many others with the same experience. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Have a few chips in windshield. They happen very easily so I googled and found that it's a known issue with a lawsuit. I just bought the car on July 2. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | I tried to unlock my car but the remote didnt work- I had to use the blank key inside the remote to get in the car. I couldn't start the car- my husband tried to jump it- that did not work- I called AAA they tried jumping it - that didnt work-- AAA told me the battery was good but totally out of charge 0%-- I called the subaru salesman I bought the car from & he walked me thru alot of steps & we couldn't find anything wrong besides the battery!! he told me to have my husband try to give me a jump again & after 4 hours the car turned over! What caused it????? no idea??? the next day (7/5/21) I took it to an auto parts store & they tested it out- alternator-perfect--- battery @ 550 with the max 620--- today I read an article about Subaru batteries failing! well mine did for no apparent reason--- maybe they should all be recalled!! I missed my 1st day of vacation due to this!! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The vehicle was parked for about 30 minutes. When returning to the vehicle, the windshield had a large crack. We contacted our insurance company and a repair was set up for 07/06/2021. Our deductible for the repair was $250. I have since read that the 2020 Forester is included in a recall for windshields on this model. My Subaru dealer customer service stated it is not included in this recall. Can you please give some guidance in this matter? | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield got broken after 9k miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | My front windshield cracked without having an object hit it. I had it inspected and repaired by satellite auto glass per my warranty. I was made to pay eyesight calibration out of pocket. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while approaching the vehicle, he noticed that the front windshield was cracked on the center driver’s side. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 10,566. | Crash: No Fire: No | 10,566 |
| Jul 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Windshield cracked | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | CRACKED WINDSHIELD AND IT WAS NOT HIT BY A STONE/DEBRIS. CAUSED IMPAIRED VISIBILITY WHILE DRIVING. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Subaru Cracked Windshield | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield cracked within 1year of owning the vehicle while driving along the freeway. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |