2010 Subaru Forester: jerking or lurching

6 of the 262 complaints about the 2010 Subaru Forester describe jerking or lurching.

owner complaints: 6
of this car's complaints: 2%
typical mileage: 89,000
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 16 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Jerking or lurching by model year

2025
2
2023
2
2021
3
2020
4
2019
10
2018
15
2017
6
2016
12
2015
23
2014
9
2013
1
2011
1
2010
6
2009
1
2008
2
2007
2
2006
5
2005
2
2004
2
2003
1
2002
7
2001
2
2000
4
1999
2
1998
1

What owners say

Filed Dec 30, 2019 · Engine · 89,000 miles · NC

Hesitates when driving off or slowing down ,goes dead when pulling into traffic.sometimes the engine jerks and shakes. Plugs have 30,000 on them after tuning up.yellow lights will not come on and nothing shows up on diagnostic check. Extremely dangerous.

Filed Nov 16, 2018 · Engine, Fuel system · 184,320 miles · NY

When driving the car starts to jerk and hesitate alot when accelerating happens quite frequently which causes the check engine light to come on so then you take it get it plugged in on little machine tells you something so you fix that issue thinking it's all better but nope still continues to happen might be good for a few weeks to a month but always continues to happen and makes it impossible to go up hills or anything because there is barely any acceleration.

Filed Sep 19, 2015 · Acceleration · 90,000 miles · NY · crash · 1 injury

A family member was re-parking our car next to the house. She put the car in reverse, pressed the accelerator lightly, and the car suddenly lurched backwards and kept going even after she took her foot off the accelerator, and hit the house, causing damage to both the car and the house (and causing my daughter a concussion). Earlier, my son had a similar experience with the same car. He had the car in reverse, lightly tapped the accelerator, the car jolted backward but he did not hit anything because he was not close to any objects or structures.

Filed Aug 30, 2014 · Engine · 45,000 miles · NJ

While cruising at 40 MPH up a slight incline, the engine suddenly jerked a few times, then stopped. I was able to pull to the side of the road. The car was towed to my mechanic's garage where he diagnosed the problem as a failure of the air conditioning unit to open the valve which allows cool air to enter the cabin. The air conditioning unit literally froze, resulting in the belt which engages the engine stopping and causing the pistons to stop while the valves kept moving. Severe engine damage resulted which required machining of cylinder heads and replacement of many parts. If this incident had happened going at high speed on a highway, serious injury or fatality may have occurred.

Filed Apr 4, 2014 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 44,000 miles · NY

At 40 MPH front left brakes " self-applied" at maximum force. Abs prevented complete skidding of the tire, so no flat spot on tire. The vehicle lurched into a " nosedive" onto the left front wheel. After incident steering wheel cocked to left at about the "10:00" position. Flatbed to dealer. Dealer showed me bent tie rod end, anti sway bar and lower control arm. Vehicle 100% fine before incident. I believe the sudden violent weight transfer onto front left caused damages. Dealer unable to road test car with bent components. Parts on order to dealer. Will road test after repairs got case # from subaru of america. Waiting to hear from them.

Filed Nov 26, 2010 · Acceleration, Brakes · 21,797 miles · PA

We experienced brake failure twice on a trip 11/4/10 - 11/6/10. The first incident occurred on 11/4 while using cruise control. To slow for a vehicle in front of us, I hit the brake pedal. The brakes were not responsive and the cruise control remained active. Pumping the brake pedal in a few seconds deactivated the cruise control and the brakes returned. This occurred with a noticeable jerk. The second incident occurred 11/6 while on heading east on rt 30 coming down sidling hill. The cruise control was not in use. While attempting to brake to reduce speed going down the hill, the brakes completely failed. Repeated attempts to use the brake pedal failed to provide any braking. I used the parking brake to slow us down; however, the parking brake did not seem very effective. It took a considerable distance to come to a stop. I proceeded down the hill in a lower gear and at some point the brakes returned to use. There does not appear to be any reason as to why they failed or how or why they returned. The car has over 20,000 miles on it and this was the first incident of brake failure; although the situation with the cruise not deactivating had occurred once before. The car was taken to the dealer on 11/7. The dealer checked both the cruise and the braking system and found no problems. The dealer reported consulting with subaru on the problem as well. On 11/12 at the suggestion of the dealer, I contacted subaru customer service (ref#1-1157948155). Subaru's follow up was that the car was checked and found to be ok and we should drive it and see if it happens again. This was not acceptable and we opted for a replacement vehicle at considerable out of pocket expense. This vehicle should not be sold to someone else. It should be returned to subaru to determine what caused the failures described.