2014 Subaru Forester: sudden loss of power

Filed Jun 24, 2024 · TX

The vehicle had 2 dangerous incidents on the interstate, once in 2021 and 2024. After longer 3+ hours of driving, and low on gas, the vehicle lost power, forcing me to coast to the shoulder. Once shut off and restarted, it was perfectly fine. The first time it was on cruise control, driving from Illinois to Texas. The most recent time it was not on cruise control, driving from Houston to Dallas and back. The dealer service center has not found the issue, and I recently traded it in for a newer 2024 model.

Filed Oct 6, 2021 · Brakes, Electrical · WA

Several warning messages appeared on the dash at the same time: Check engine, Check emissions control system, Hill start assist system needs to be checked. In addition, the pictures of a car climbing a hill and a car with swerving skid marks behind it lit up. (I don't know the official names of these icons.) The engine then either lost power and would not accelerate when I pressed the gas pedal or would rev and accelerate on its own, even when I had the brake depressed. I have taken my car into the dealership 4 times over the past two years for this same issue. I do not have the exact dates of the first two instances, but the last two were on July 7, 2021, and September 17, 2021. Each time the dealer has been able to verify the warning lights and unintended acceleration. They say the problem is with the brake pedal assembly and have replaced it with a new assembly 3 times. They're working on the 4th one right now.

Filed Sep 23, 2020 · Transmission · 112,000 miles · CT

A few weeks ago the vehicle began to have difficulties shifting/accelerating from a stop it would feel like it was slipping and not responding to the accelerator . It has been evaluated as a transmission failure at a cost of $10,000. I purchased the vehicle new and purchased an extended warranty that would cover the power train up to 100,000 miles. The vehicle has had all scheduled maintenance performed and all of it at the same dealer service center with documentation. This includes a 90,000 mile service where the transmission was included in the preventive maintenance check and indicated as no issues. The vehicle has only been used for normal driving. No hauling or towing and no heavy cargo. The transmission should not fail only 12,000 miles outside of the warranty that I purchased and having been serviced appropriately and inspected within 20,000 of the current issue. Subaru of america is not covering the replacement under warranty for what appears to be a known safety issue that required them to extend this same 100,000 warranty coverage to all vehicles from this model year under what I understand to be a class action lawsuit settlement. The loss of acceleration and slipping in the shifting when powering away from a stop is dangerous if the vehicle stalls or suddenly slows due to loss of power and this is due to a known CVT issue. Subaru should be held accountable for all the vehicles they produced with this defect and not be able to hide behind a a lawsuit settlement that allowed them to leave vehicles like mine on the road as ticking time bombs all because the symptoms of the issue didn't show up before 2018 or a only 12,000 miles outside of their own warranty that they sold.

Filed Nov 18, 2019 · Engine, Fuel system · 85,000 miles · OR

2014 subaru forester stopped running while driving down the freeway at 70 miles an hour. Engine just quite running. Lost power. Had to pull over in median. Very scary. This is second time this has happened. Did not throw a code message. Dealership can not detect problem. First time was 4 years ago when driving at 35 MPH on city street coming into town. Did not throw error message at that time was told to drive it until it did it again.

Filed Nov 17, 2019 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 68,000 miles · NE · crash

At/about 1230 central time on 31 oct 2019, my wife [xxx] experienced an uncommanded acceleration event in our 2014 subaru forester and narrowly escaped being killed. Context: my wife was taking the car through an automated carwash at the caseys gas station at 9911 s. 71st st in papillion ne. When she reached the end of the conveyor belt and when signalled by the attendant to move forward, she stepped on the brake and attempted to move the automatic transmission from n (neutral) to d (drive). She encountered resistance moving the gear lever but was able to move it to d. Upon doing so, the car abruptly accelerated and lurched forward despite her foot remaining on the brake. The car rapidly accelerated and tore through the closed garage door at the end of the carwash and continued outside, across an access road and up a small hill, before losing power and rolling backwards down the hill to stop in the access road. No other vehicles or persons were involved or injured. My wife was uninjured other than being sprayed by glass fragments from the windshield as it was punctured by the garage door as the car tore through it. Our insurance company (usaa) declared the car a total loss. Neither my wife nor I had ever experienced anything like this incident before; we both have excellent driving records. Weather at the time of this incident was clear, dry and sunny. The car to the best of our knowledge was in excellent mechanical condition. The papillion ne police dept responded and filed a report, and we filed a drivers motor vehicle accident report. Both are on file with the papillion ne police dept. There were also several witnesses to this incident per the police report. *ln*jb information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Aug 13, 2018 · Transmission · 71,000 miles · NV

Transmission/computer malfunction. Initially driving through mountains, using sport # mode in low speed curves on old road. Had one 'surprise' episode where in a straight section of highway, transmission dowshifted suddenly, with rpms racing up to nearly 5000rpm, although I didn't touch the paddles, and didn't even have my hands on them. After reaching a normal straight highway out of the mountains, an hour later, while simply driving at 75mph, the engine lost power, gas pedal became unresponsive, rpms fell, vehicle was coasting down from highway speed, and transmission did several odd shifts with varying rpms, and decelerations. Coasted to a stop, flashers on, off the highway. Engine was not running. Starter motor worked. Engine would not start. Flashing lights on cruise control, check engine, and "at temp", and possibly others not recalled. Called spouse. Contacted towing service. Opened hood: fluids, oil level, etc all appeared normal when checked. Temp display in vehicle showed normal (219 degrees radiator temp). Tried turning key on/off repeatedly to see if computer would reset: no luck. Spouse called 30 min later: online research found removing plug next to transmission shift lever in center console, and using long screwdriver to press switch at bottom might reset some device. Tried it different times: key 'on', key 'off', etc, reset appeared to take effect with key 'off', then turned on. Vehicle now cooling down (45 minutes on roadside, not running). Now restarts when cranked. Various lights "check engine', 'at temp', cruise control light no longer flashing. Warning on panel stating "vehicle hill start assist not available" no longer showing. Car appears to run. Drove ~ 5 miles to roadside business. Cancelled tow. Checked car again. Drove gently to home city. Rescheduled flight to alaska vacation because of the delay.

Filed Feb 20, 2017 · 92,000 miles · CT

While driving on a highway at 60 MPH, the car suddenly lost power, the check engine light came on, and I was unable to accelerate. I was able to safely pull over to the right side, turned off the car, and restarted it - it worked. This happened again, two days later under the exact same circumstances. It happened once before, about a year ago, while driving on local roads at about 25 MPH, and the "error code" said that the accelerator module needed to be replaced.

Filed Sep 30, 2016 · Engine, Fuel system · 34,000 miles · CA

I was on an on ramp onto the highway when the computer in the center of the dash started alerting that several systems needed check. All the dashboard indicators went off and the vehicle lost power even when I pressed the gas pedal. After turning the car off and then back on again it was idling hard and it several warning lights remained on. The car was towed under warranty to the nearest dealership. Upon investigation the dealer said there was a bad coil. After replacing the coil the vehicle still didn't work. Now they claimed there was a bad fuel injector. After replacing that the car continued not to work. The problem they kept seeing was a misfire in cylinder 4. They changed o-rings, they cleaned the engine, they even ordered a new engine and replaced the engine and it still suffers from the misfire. The car has now been in the shop for 34 days and they have no idea what is wrong or how to fix it.

Filed Jun 13, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 16,320 miles · CA

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.

Filed Mar 24, 2014 · Acceleration, Electrical · 7,700 miles · FL

This vehicle is a forester xt turbo. I was operating on cruise control at 78 MPH, approximately 900 miles from home, when a sudden loss of propulsion occurred. Dashboard had multiple warning lights. Engine was still operating, though at very low RPM so I was able to maintain steering and braking control. After maneuvering to the side of the road, I noticed the tachometer was fluctuating between 500-800 RPM. I turned off the engine and was able to restart. The following warning lights were still illuminated: check engine, hill control, cruise control, and operating mode. Operating mode was stuck in "sport" mode. I was able to drive vehicle at normal speed to nearest dealer approximately 10 miles away. The service technician stated I had an error code of p0606. This is a voltage issue on the engine control module, (ECM). The corrective action is to re-flash the ECM computer chip. This is a restricted action, requiring a field service engineer to come to the dealer to do the procedure. The technician stated they had already experienced this with a vehicle they sold but the problem with the module usually occurs on engine start. The technician cleared the error codes and I continued on my trip. Upon returning to my home, I took the vehicle to my dealer to be serviced. My dealer stated they were one of the first to experience this issue. I am wondering why there has been no recall/notice to owners of this problem since it has been known for a while. It is frightening to lose power when cruising at highway speed.