Complaint volume
589 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
589 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Subaru Forester, grouped by component category.
589 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 67
VISIBILITY 49
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 44
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 15
ENGINE 15
POWER TRAIN 9
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 8
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER 8
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 6
589 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2021 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked inside the garage, when he noticed there was a crack on the windshield. There was no impact to the windshield that could have caused the crack. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The dealer and manufacturer were made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 8,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 8,000 |
| Jun 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | On June 4, 2021 me and my famliy went for a 3 days road trip from Cirlce Pines Minnesota going to Duluth MN . The drive was approximately 2hrs plus. 12 mins. before we reached our destination the windshield suddenly showed a crack about 12 inches out from no where and blocks my visibility while driving. I went to my car dealer on 6/8/21 at Morries Subaru brooklyn park and asked for a replacement warranty but they denied it. 2020 forester windshields is so Dangerous because even a small rock will make it crack and blocks clear visibility while driving. This is happening to more and more subaru cars with eyesight technology. NHTSA should investigate if there is manufacturing defect or engineering defect with this windshield for a safer road and driving experience. I have a dashcam video of the said incident. I am more willing to submit it for your reference. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving 60 mph, she noticed a crack starting to form at the center bottom of the windshield and continued to expand up the windshield. The contact stated the crack was not caused by an impact. The contact called and made the local dealer aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 6,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 6,000 |
| Jun 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Within a few months my 2020 Subaru forester windshield is riddled with multiple (4) chips and cracks. Being that I've driven the same roads with a different car for years with no issues, and my car only had 1,000 miles at the time of the crack and 3,000 during the second crack, I believe my windshield is faulty and prone to damage. There were no sound indications or objects hitting it, it cracked from the side and spread all the way across the windshield. I've gone through proper channels to no avail-- submitted a BBB claim with no answer and told my local Chico subaru dealership and they were no help. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Battery is completely drained and I was unable to commute. Vehicle picked by Subaru roadside assistance to nearest dealer (Victor Subaru) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Windshield cracked for no reason. I can not get dealer service department to answer the phone Subaru of Macon Ga. I parked my car and two hours I found the windshield cracked. I starts below the windshield wiper on passengers side and goes up and to the middle of the car. It is below the level of the hood of the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? - The original battery on our 2020 Subaru Forester died after some repairs related to getting rear ended. The battery died for the first time in March 2021, 8 months after we purchased the car with around 5500 miles on it. That battery was replaced with a brand new Subaru battery. The battery has died 3 times since being replaced. The current battery is available for inspection. In addition to the battery dying, we have recently noticed two situations where the rear hatch has not properly latched. I have a video of the rear hatch trying to latch and popping back open over and over again. I've only noticed this twice, but the first time I noticed this I realize we had been driving with the rear hatch open and our dog could have been put in serious risk if the rear hatch opened. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Issues with the battery dying multiple times puts me at risk of being stranded. The issue of the rear hatch means that anything that is placed in the rear of the vehicle may not be properly secured and could potentially fly out of the vehicle if the unlatched rear hatch opens while driving. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? The original dead battery was initially identified by a body shop. The dealer was not able to find anything wrong with the vehicle upon first inspection, but we are going to take it in again. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? The vehicle was inspected by a body shop (recommended by our insurance) and the dealer. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? The only symptom we are able to routinely detect is a low voltage on our battery, which we believe indicates a parasitic draw. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield cracks spontaneously. Driving on well maintained roads and brand new car has windshield damage that shows abnormal cracks with no or unknown cause or normal road conditions. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that there was a small chip present on the front windshield. Overnight, a large crack had developed on the windshield. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 9,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 9,000 |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the windshield was cracked at the bottom of the windshield near the windshield wipers. The crack started to expand upwards. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was contacted and confirmed that a special recall for the failure had expired. The approximate failure mileage was 23,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 23,000 |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield cracked for no reason | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Windshield cracked without any impact from an object | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Subaru eyesight technology has a pre collision feature along with lane departure feature. Latter can be turned off permanently, the pre-collision feature cannot. Number of instances where this has malfunctioned in a way that is unsafe. Driving in upstate NY on foggy morning, winding hilly roads, 50mph roads. Road had a driveway with a parked car not moving, parked and the pre collision system tried to break, so slowed down the car but there was another coming behind from a hilly turn, not aware I would suddenly slow, especially as I did not anticipate the car would try to put on breaks on its own for a parked unmoving car. No collision resulted fortunately, but unsafe if the car behind had not been able to slow to accomodate for the faulty detection by subaru’s eyesight, thinking the parked unmoving car was a sudden stopping vehicle in front of me, when the winding road was actually clear for me to continue driving. Another incident on another road where a series of 4-5 cars driving constant speed, fixed distance from each other, then first car signalled to turn right and stopped; cars behind just went around them slightly as they were waiting to turn, and I was going to follow suit, the train of cars in front of me, when suddenly eyesight pre collision detected that turning vehicle as something to try to brake for, and the car behind me did not expect the sudden breaking attempt to slow down, and again, close call, no collision resulted but unsafe when the human driver was expecting to continue along with the other train of cars and not expecting a sudden stop. I have called subaru both dealership and main office but informed there is no way to permanently disable the pre collision setting in the car. Concerned that if this feature is on, and erroneously detects an object in front, such as that parked unmoving car, in other situations the cars behind me may not be able to accomodate the attempts at sudden breaking by the subaru eyesight technology. Dangerous. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Driving at low speed heard a slight noise. Didn’t see any damage but the windshield cracked. Within about 2 minutes the crack spread approximately 3 inches. Within another couple minutes the crack extended vertically and then turned horizontally running another 10 inches. I have never had a crack occur and extend in this matter. Replacement and calibration of Isight technology according to satellite and the dealer costs are around 1900 dollars. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | purchased new vehicle 10/23/19, 1st battery failure 6/15/2 jumped and ok 2nd battery failure 12/4/20 jumped, Subaru replaced battery 3rd battery failure 2/16/21, Subaru said battery was "fine" 4th battery failure 3/31/21 Subaru replaced battery 5th battery failure 5/14/21, appt with Subaru on 5/21/21 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | BATTERY WAS DRAINED FOR NO REASON AND CAR WOULD NOT START. WHEN TRIED TO START DASH LIGHTS ETC., WENT CRAZY. GAUGE FOR TACHOMETER AND SPEED WHIPPED FROM SIDE TO SIDE, LIGHTS FLASHED ON AND OFF. THE STARTER GAVE THE CLICKING NOISE YOU HEAR WHEN BATTERY IS DEAD. CALLED AAA TO JUMP AND THEY COULD NOT GET IT TO START. I CHARGED BATTERY OVERNIGHT AND THE ENGINE STARTED. TOOK CAR TO DEALER THEY COULD FIND NOTHING WRONG WITH THE BATTERY OR CHARGING SYSTEM. THEY COULD NOT EXPLAIN WHY THIS HAPPENED. I PURCHASED A BATTERY TENDER TO MAINTAIN CHARGE IN BATTERY. I ONLY HAVE 1 CAR AND IT NEEDS TO START WHEN I NEED IT. THIS HAPPENED ON DAY I NEEDED TO TAKE WIFE FOR COVID VACCINE SHOT. | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,200 |
| May 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | WHEN ATTEMPTING TO LEAVE OUR HOME DRIVEWAY ON FRIDAY, APRIL 2ND, 2021 (APPROXIMATELY 4PM LOCAL TIME), THE IGNITION BUTTON FAILED TO START THE CAR. INITIALLY, POWER WAS RUNNING TO THE DASH. I CALLED THE SUBARU EASTSIDE DEALERSHIP IN KIRKLAND, WA WHERE THE CAR WAS PURCHASED. THEY TOLD ME TO CALL ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE, WHICH I DID THE FOLLOWING MORNING. WHEN MY WIFE AND I MOVED OUR CAR SEAT AND BELONGINGS TO THE OTHER CAR IN THE DRIVEWAY, THE REAR LIFT GATE STARTED TO MALFUNCTION AND WOULD NOT OPEN (RESULTING IN A REPEATED 3 BEEP SOUND), BLOCKING ACCESS TO MY JUMPER CABLES, WHICH WERE IN THE TRUNK. EVENTUALLY, THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM STOPPED RESPONDING ALL TOGETHER. WHEN ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE (SENT OUT BY SUBARU ROADSIDE) EVENTUALLY SHOWED UP THE FOLLOWING MORNING, A JUMP START BY THE TECHNICIAN STARTED THE VEHICLE. | Crash: No Fire: No | 1,000 |
| May 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | WINDSHIELD CRACKED WITH NO CAUSE. DRIVING ON HIGHWAY WITH NO CARS AHEAD. | Crash: No Fire: No | 26,000 |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | I HAVE NOTICED SEVERAL CRACKS IN THE WINDSHIELD OF MY 2020 SUBARU FORESTER. I FIRST NOTICED A SMALL CRACK ON THE UPPER DRIVERS SIDE. I HAVE NOW SEEN MULTIPLE CRACKS THAT DO NOT APPEAR TO HAVE AN ORIGINATION POINT OF IMPACT FROM AN OBJECT. ADDITIONALLY I HAVE A CRACK THAT IT FORMING IN THE AREA OF THE CAMERAS FOR THE EYESIGHT WHICH MAY LEAD TO DEGRADATION OR FAILURE OF THE EQUIPMENT TO OPERATE PROPERLY. THE EVENT THAT CAUSED THE CRACKS IS UNKNOWN. | Crash: No Fire: No | 22,000 |
| May 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | MULTIPLE DEAD BATTERIES OVER PAST YEAR. WHEN REAR LIFT GATE IS LEFT OPEN FOR LESS THEN AN HOUR WITH ALL LIGHTS INCLUDING INTERIOR OFF IT DRAINS BATTERY. 2019 LIFT GATE MODULE RECALLED DUE TO 'DARK DRAW' BUT DIDN'T INCLUDE EARLIER 2020 MODELS WHICH DID NOT HAVE NEW MODULE INCORPORATED YET. PLEASE INVESTIGATE TO INCLUDE THE EARLY 2020 MODELS IN RECALL. THIS IS HAPPENING TO MANY PEOPLE AND IS A HAZARD TO BE LEFT STRANDED OVER SUCH AN EASY FIX THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN INCORPORATED IN THE 2019 MODELS WITH THE RECALL ... MY CAR IS IN THAT 'GREY AREA' ONLY CAUSE IT IS NOT A 2019 BUT BEFORE THE FIX WAS ADDRESSED ON THE 2020 YEAR. | Crash: No Fire: No | 25,000 |
| May 2021 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | BOTH MY WIFE AND I HAVE RUN OUT OF GAS ON THIS VEHICLE WHICH HAS LESS THAN 5,000 MILES ON IT. THE LOW GAS INDICATOR IS LIMITED TO A BRIEF WARNING IN THE SCREEN BEHIND THE STEERING WHEEL. WE BOTH FIND THIS VERY EASY TO MISS AND THERE IS NO PERSISTENT VISUAL OR AUDITORY WARNING. RUNNING OUT OF GAS UNEXPECTEDLY IS AN EXTREME SAFETY HAZARD, WE WERE LUCKY TO AVOID BEING REAR ENDED, BUT HAD TO PARK AT SOME RISK. NEITHER OF US CAN RECALL RUNNING OUT OF GAS IN OUR OTHER VEHICLES FOR OVER 20 YEARS. | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,000 |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | 1IN TO 2FT LONG CRACKS ARE BEING CREATED ACROSS THE WINDSHIELD AT THE SLIGHTEST IMPACT OF ANY SMALL PEBBLES. WINDSHIELD IS EXTREMELY EASILY COMPROMISED. VEHICLE WAS IN MOTION ON THE HIGHWAY WHEN A SMALL PEBBLE HIT THE WINDSHIELD, INSTANTLY CREATING A 2FT LONG CRACK ACROSS IT. THE SECOND OCCURRENCE WAS ALSO ON THE HIGHWAY WHILE IN MOTION, WHEN ANOTHER SMALL PEBBLE IMPACTED THE WINDSHIELD, INSTANTLY CREATING A 1 INCH CRACK. | Crash: No Fire: No | 16,000 |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | MY WINDSHIELD IS CRACKING FROM THE TOP DOWN BEHIND THE REAR VIEW MIRROR FOR NO APPARENT REASON, NO ROCK DENT , NO IMPACT , THE VEHICLE WAS IN MY WORK PARKING LOT AND I NOTICED THE CRACK UPON LEAVING WORK AT 4 PM, DROVE TO WORK AT 8 AM WAS DAYLIGHT AND NO VISIBLE CRACK NOTICED | Crash: No Fire: No | 12,000 |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,LANE DEPARTURE | I JUST WALKED OUT TO MY CAR PARKED IN MY DRIVE WAY THERE WAS A HUGE CRACK IN THE WINDSHIELD I HAVEN'T HIT OR BEEN HIT BY ANYTHING THIS IS A NEW CAR HAVEN'T EVEN HAD A A YEAR YET DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY WINDSHIELD WOULD CRACK SO BAD GOES FROM THE PASSENGER SIDE TO THE MIDDLE OF THE WINDSHIELD | Crash: No Fire: No | 10,348 |
| May 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | GIANT CRACK HAS APPEARED ON WINDSHIELD LESS THAT 12K MILES OF DRIVING. THERE IS A SMALL CHIP FROM A FEW DAYS AGO THAT HAS FORMED INTO A LARGER CRACK. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |