The ignition cyclinder will not release vehicle key. Upon turning off vehicle and attempting to remove key from ignition the key will not turn past on to the off position. It can take several tries of cycling on and off before the key can be removed. Issue is intermittent, moving shifter from park to drive and back eventually allows key to be removed.
2014 Subaru Forester electrical complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 42, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The horn would intermittently work then ceased to work at all. If you turned the steering wheel the horn would work but not work if the steering wheel was stationary. This symptom meant it was a high probability the clock spring/ roll connector was bad.
My backup camera only works periodically. When I put the car in reverse the dashboard screen sometimes just shows a black screen with the distance lines displayed. Other times it works fine. Doesnt seem to be a pattern. Many people seem to have the same problem in posted message boards and it seems like certain other subarus were recalled for this issue.
My 2014 subaru forester has recently started having warnings about SRS. Passenger seat sensor occasionally does not recognize a passenger is seated and therefore the airbag is 'off' even if seat is occupied. Both front seats are heated and it looks like this is the same issue that lead to a recall for 2015 subaru foresters. Please extend the recall to include 2014 models. Very unsafe and costly ($900-$1,200 according to other complaints) to repair this sensor in order to have the passenger airbag operational. Passenger seatbelt warning also occasionally comes on even if there is no one sitting in seat.
The horn stopped working.
I have 2014 subaru forester xt and past couple of months the key has been getting stuck in the ignition on a regular basis. I have to play around turning the car back on, putting it in drive and then back to park, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I have to move the car in reverse or drive forward a few inches and quickly put it in park and it releases the key. It takes a while for the key to come out after trying different things and/or all of them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2014 subaru forester. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to flow subaru (485 silas creek pkwy, winston-salem, nc 27127), for an inoperable air condition system. It was determined that the compressor failed and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 130,000. The VIN was unavailable.
The ignition cyclinder will not release vehicle key. Upon turning off vehicle and attempting to remove key from ignition the key will not turn past on to the off position. It can take up to 30 tries of cycling key to remove key. Moving the shifter and starting the car seem to have any effect on this issue.
Tl* the contact owns a 2014 subaru forester. When the contact parked the vehicle and released the brake pedal, the rear brake lights remained illuminated. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 68,000.
Driving 65 MPH on highway. Car suddenly no longer responsive to accelerator and speed drops. Recovered in a few seconds. Dealer examined and states it was due to defective condition in brake light switch that was installed 6 months earlier due to recall. Dealer states car went into "limp" mode. Switch condition resolved without replacement according to dealer.
January 2019. The issue started as cel came on. Rough idle, surge of power and then cam timing became issue. Was at a stop sign idling when surge occurred lurching vehicle forward. Took to dealer waited weeks for a technical representative to give advice to dealership. Took to other dealer to confirm. They replaced timing chain., cam phasers and other required. Didnt solve issue. Next step was internal oil filters that supply avsc timing. No fix. Replaced ECM as final step in subaru matrix. Ran for 3 weeks and several thousand dollars. Again cel, rough idle, cam issues. Subaru points to dealer. Dealer points to subaru. And I have a inoperable vehicle. I replaced all required parts and have ongoing issue. Soa has been involved but not resolution. It has been 8 months of disappointment. Great car but this is too much to continue to deal with. The xt has been known to have issues, recall on possible cyclinder cracking and issues relating to engine performance.
2014 subaru forester. The SRS airbag light has come on. I took the vehicle to the local subaru dealership and they claim the cause is a sensor within the passenger seat being broken. This is a safety concern and should be reviewed.
Takata recall: the ignition switch will not release the key when I turn off the motor and push it in to release the key. This happens when I park the car, have turned off the motor and prepare to exit the vehicle.
Repeated issue with headlights failing after very shorty period of time from installation. Replaced headlights 3 times in the past 11 months (have replaced at least 1 additional time since may 2017). Bulbs installed correctly without making contact with any part of bulb except plastic end with bulb grease applied to rear connector.
When trying to close sunroof, normally the roof window would slide back and a set of pin will push the rear side of the window up to seal the gap between the window and rooftop. However the device is defective and the window will not go back to its supposed location. Water may leak in to wiring and cause further damage.
I noticed that (while in cruise control mode) the system does not account or compensate for downhill travel at all. While set to ~60mph, the vehicle accelerated in a moderate downhill incline to reach 70mph. As I began to notice and correct this technical error, I was stopped by a police officer and written a ticket for speeding 70mph in a 55mph zone.
The stop light switch failed which rendered the car inoperable due to not being able to move from park. The stability, hill decent and ABS warning lights came on.
I have a 2014 subaru forester 2.0xt touring with push start and eyesight. My car wouldn't start with the push start button and the brakes were locked. I couldn't push the brake pedal all the way down. When this first happened months ago, the dealer said it was the battery and that was replaced in november of 2016. At that time the vehicle was parked in a shopping center parking lot and I had the radio on for 30 minutes while sitting in the car. I couldn't start the car afterwards and the brakes were locked up at the time as well. I could not press the brakes all the way down. The second time it would start was last saturday, october 21, 2017 in the morning. The vehicle was parked overnight and I had trouble starting it in the morning. And the dealer could not replicate the issue. They replaced the brake light switch with no guarantees this will fix the push start issue.
Tl* the contact owns a 2014 subaru forester. Upon taking the vehicle to don miller subaru (west 5822 odana rd, madison, wi 53719) for an inspection, the dealer diagnosed that rodents had chewed the soy-based wiring in the electrical harness and damaged the wiring. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,000. Updated 12/13/2017 *ln consumer stated vehicle remains @ dan miller west as of 10-30-17 being repaired. Contacted suburu of america on 9-26-17 service request #1-26823068140 updated 7/20/18*jb
Fuel gauge registers 3/4 full even when filled to capacity. I drove 50 miles on may 8, 2017 and it still registered the same when I returned. I tried adding additional gas but the gas pump shut off as it will do automatically when the tank is full.
When parked for a two week period, the battery goes dead. Has left us stranded at a parking garage at the airport. This has happened multiple times. Subaru service claims that it is "normal" for a car battery to go dead when it hasn't been run for two weeks.
I was out of the country and didn't start my car few about ten days. When I come back the battery was dead. I had it jump started. As I was leaving the lot and going up a slight incline the car stalled while in drive - the battery was dead again. I could not move the transmission from drive to park with a dead battery. Fortunately I was able to get the car restarted with another jump. In the meantime the car rolled backwards until I applied the emergency brake.. So there were two issues, you cant move the transmission from drive to park if the battery is dead and the car rolls backward in drive (which I have experienced on other occasions).
Lift gate: the lift gate button on the dash when depressed does not always open the lift gate. Several parts have been replaced by the dealer, and it still fails occasionally. Using the key fob opens the the lift gate 100% of the time, but not using the button on the dash.
Safety problems from summer 2014. The car abruptly loses power when accelerating. This is dangerous when overtaking log trucks and other slow traffic on steep two-lane highways. We have taken the vehicle to dealerships several times for repair and except for updating the engine control unit firmware; they have been unable to isolate the cause. In february 2016, subaru of america (soa) mailed us recall wqw-58r. The dealer did not respond to our recall appointment requests. We asked for soa assistance. The dealer was hostile, yet claimed to perform the recall. Later, a dealer employee informed us that some employees sabotaged the vehicle with the intent of having the engine explode. Another shop confirmed facts and corrected some damage. California bureau of automotive repair case (sa2016005132) cited the dealership . The sudden power loss remains and it is unsafe to operate. It has failed to start on occasion. We are afraid that the original problem or other acts by the dealership may cause us or to be injured or killed in a head-on collision when power fails. It may strand us in an isolated area during a snowstorm or in some dangerous location. We have requested that soa accept the car back as a lemon. They have refused. The instructions toservice departments includes the following: 'reminder: engine assembly replacement will only be required in a very limited number of cases.' [soa instructions to dealers includes the words 'reminder' and 'very limited' in bold type] in our opinion, the 'reminder' to dealers was intended to suppress corrective action and reduce costs to subaru of america. The subaru of america wqw-58r recall does not appear on the list of safety recalls. From our experience, this is a very dangerous vehicle to operate, and we request that the federal safety agency include this recall as a safety issue for this make and model.
Upon starting the vehicle or while driving it the following warning messages appear (it has happened multiple tines over the past few months, they will go away and ten reappear days or weeks later): vehicle dynamic control system needs to be checked ABS system needs to be checked hill start assist system needs to be checked took car to dealership for normal maintenance in july (bay ridge subaru) they could not find anything, messages started reappearing. Issue with theses messages is car will not go into gear upon starting unless you pump breaks multiple times.
While driving my car on the highway, (approximate 65 MPH) I got a message on the console that indicated that SRS system had shut down and the red air bag light went on. I drove it home and then turned the car off. When I restarted it, the red air bag light went away. The next day while I was riding on the passenger side, the red airbag light went off and a note on the console said that the front passenger side airbag was not operational. I took the vehicle to the subaru dealer who could not recreate the issue and turned the car back to us.
The eyesight, adaptive cruise control and pre-collision braking systems do not recognize stopped vehicles - hard braking is required to stop vehicle in time. When systems do function they do not gradually slow vehicle and come to a stop, but do so suddenly and dangerously, causing me to brake hard to come to a stop at a safe distance behind stopped vehicle. Same systems are also dangerously affected by bright sunlight and fail to function without warning. Dealer said they checked systems out and found nothing wrong. Gave me print-out from operating manual stating it is the responsibility of the driver to operate the vehicle safely at all times and that the eyesight system is never a substitute for active driver involvement and may not operate optimally under all driving conditions!!!!!!! Subaru corporate customer relations representative said there was no software upgrade/fix available for the forester model. Certain subaru 2015 models are advertised to have an upgraded eyesight system that recognizes lighted taillights, among other improvements. I was told the 2015 system was not available for the 2014 forester. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. A response to my complaint would be greatly appreciated.
This problem has been getting progressively worst. The car has been having troubles turning over on cold starts, and has experienced a loss of propulsion and stall going up hill including a loss of brakes since I bought it a year ago. On 9/6/2014 the car was started and was idling high (approximately 4000rpm), check engine light was on, speed control light was on, incline alert light on, sport mode light was on and check emissions system light was on. Had to move the car out of the garage and it barely made it up the incline in the underground garage as it was not responding to the accelerator, called for a tow which never arrived and tried to restart out of frustration all lights were off and car I made it to the dealer which was not far away. Have already had the dealer inspect the car once to get to the bottom of the problem and they reported their diagnostics showed nothing was wrong and that car electrical\computer problems cannot be fixed until they break completely (or someone is hurt or injured perhaps). There was one more report similar to this on carcomplaints.com that occurred at high speed. Seems to me that car is not safe at this point.
Starting from a cold or warm temperature the vehicle cranks excessively and will not start until a second or third attempt. This has happened at random and about a dozen times in the past five months.
At cold starting, approximately one time out of 20, the car is very difficult to start. It cranks for up to 10 seconds before starting. I don't know if it's a fuel delivery or an ignition problem. It has happened at ambient temperatures from 35 to 65 degrees. If I didn't continue cranking the engine to an extent that I think is harmful to it, it wouldn't start. I consider that a safety issue, if I needed to get the car going quickly.
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