2016 Subaru Forester: sudden loss of power

Filed Nov 30, 2024 · Engine · CA

While driving my 2016 Subaru Forester about 70mph on [XXX] , the engine suddenly stalled and I was stranded on the freeway. The fuel tank was about 3/4 full and no warning light flashed in the dashboard prior to the incident. I tried to move my vehicle to the right lane but was unable because of the vehicle's loss of power. I almost collided by a speeding truck behind me. I shut off the engine, was unable to restart. After 3 minutes later, I was able to restart and everything worked again. I suspected the cause was due to a bad fuel pump, took the vehicle to my local Subaru dealer for inspection. The technician could not find anything malfunction or repeat my problem. I just learned there was a recent lawsuit settlement of bad fuel pumps on 2017-2020 Subaru Foresters that could cause engines to stall. It sounded similar to the problem that I had just experienced, except my Forester is a 2016 model not covered by the settlement. I believe the 2016 Forester fuel pump was manufactured by the same company as in the 2017-2020 models. It probably has the same defects. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Oct 6, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · TX

While driving my vehicle on my daily trip to work, I experience sudden power loss. My interior lights began to blink erratically, as my vehicle loss power and caused me to panic, as I was entering the highway. Some highways have no shoulders, so as quickly as I entered the highway, I pulled off took the next exit. I went into a shopping center, to see what the issue was. I noticed that my radio and my air conditioning loss illumination. I turned the car off, opened the hood. I did not see anything of significance, I started the car up again, now the radio would not even start nor did the air conditioning. I phoned the Subaru dealer, to be told that this happens often! What, I thought to myself? I asked them if this was a well-known problem, why this has not become part of a recall, or why the dealership not contact Subaru of America, to work with their customer base and remedy the issue. I was told, that all that is done in the "diagnostic process", any codes are cleared, and this should get you back on the road. Are you kidding me, this is truly any motorist's nightmare. Losing power on a major highway, any road at night, or on a turn will literally bring catastrophic consequences to us Subaru owners, but all other motorists as well.

Filed Sep 19, 2023 · Acceleration, Engine · TX

This 2016 Subaru Forester PCV Valve does not regulate the combustion system properly, this allows oil to enter this chamber. It causes loss of power and acceleration when driving. Hazardous driving conditions can cause accidents. crankcase ventilation issues engine oil system issues

Filed Jun 16, 2023 · Electrical · WA

Battery drain due to CAN system. Has caused loss of power to functions of car resulting in vehicle dynamic control and airbags to be turned of in the middle of driving causing the ABS to become unusable in the case of an accident putting everyone in the car at risk of injury or death.

Filed Nov 22, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · MO

Check engine light, service emissions, dash lights blinking and loss of power!!! I was pulling out into a busy intersection and warning lights started to flash and i lost power to cylinder #2 (per the technician at Van Subaru, he told me the alternator was sending bad info to the computer) and i was almost T-BONED as i limped through the intersection.

Filed Aug 20, 2022 · Engine · CA

Since 2018 we starting noticing random power loss and every time we took vehicle to dealership for maintenance, they could never find an issue. The loss of power began at random as well went up hills. It felt as if there was something blocking the engine from preforming as intended. Maybe poor air flow or turbo lag. We would let go of accelerator because it felt as if the car was going to stall. This power lag or loss would last 5-10 minutes. Then more issues appeared during 2018-2022. The issues were always at random. Issues we witnessed were: loss of power (poor air flow/ bad compression), car seemed to want to stall at stops, weird metal clacking (which we were able to record), bopping car at stops (as a manual car would before stalling). A code was never available for dealership to know the problem at hand. Over the past years we continued to take in the vehicle for the issues we experienced. The dealership never found the root of the problem. The problem continued until 2022 and now the car is inoperable. 400 miles out of warranty and Subaru does not want to fix this issue that had been happening since 2018. I have been waiting for Subaru of America to contact me since 7/22/22. I could never get an answer from case worker. Subaru wants us to pay out of pocket roughly 4500 and then maybe they cover the rest.

Filed May 15, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · IL

While driving on highway using cruise control at 70 mph my car suddenly stalled …. I was able to get to apron of road , but my steering locked and I had no brakes.. I could put car into neutral but had to “jam” it into park , trying to get it to stop rolling . It would not restart . I had it towed to an auto repair center as there was no Subaru dealer in the area. Because I had kept trying to restart it , my battery was dead . They recharged my battery and the car then started . I took it to a Subaru dealer where I was told they could find nothing wrong …. Except I needed a new battery . This was NOT the reason that my car suddeney lost power ! It had happen once before while on the highway but I was able to restart it at that time . This could have caused a serious accident and I worry that it will happen again. I warning was indicated prior to episode . I have receipts from auto repair shop (In Lincoln, Illinois) and Subaru dealer ( in Columbia Missouri)

Filed Dec 15, 2020 · Fuel system · 39,000 miles · MA

This car will suddenly lose power when underway without any warning or predictability. Extremely dangerous if entering traffic or even when moving on congested roads. No ability to accelerate at all, the car just dies without warning. The problem is intermittent and has happened months and even years apart. All attempts by the subaru service team have failed to replicate the problem and fixing guesses at to what might be wrong have failed. I am the second owner and have come to find that the first owner returned this as a lemon for the same problem. Now subaru of america is refusing to acknowledge there is a problem and won't agree to take the car back and get it off the road permanently before someone dies or gets killed as a result of this issue. Since it is intermittent and the service people can't replicate the problem it must not exist and yet three drivers in my family have experienced it and a prior owner (I have no idea who this is) returned the car with the same independent experience. Do not buy this car under any circumstance. I am sure when this car was first returned as a lemon they couldn't isolate the problem since they couldn't recreate it. I suspect that they fixed what they 'thought' was the problem. Because the problem is intermittent a test drive of even a thousand miles might not reveal the problem. They put it back out there as fixed and like new. Now that the same problem has recurred it is unconscionable to not take this car back as a two time lemon and destroy it before a major accident occurs.

Filed Nov 25, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 50,000 miles · TX

2nd occurrence now of a sudden and complete loss of power while on highway at 80mph with no warning (see the federal safety agency id# 1131777). Low fuel warning light had just come on a few minutes earlier...same as last time. Thankfully had a shoulder to cost onto and let the vehicle sit. Tired to tart a couple times, but was like it was flooded with fuel. After :45 minutes of sitting...it reset itself and started again and we continued on our journey. This time road conditions were dry and clear.

Filed Aug 7, 2020 · Fuel system, Transmission · 66,000 miles · NC

Vehicle was traveling on highway around 70 MPH. Lost power to wheels/vehicle stalled with no warning. Engine revved to high RPM's when I hit gas, as I coasted into the grassy median. I turned off engine, waited for a few minutes. Tried to start again, starter would crank, but engine would not start. Towed vehicle to dealer they were able to start car next day. No error codes in computer. Have noticed this issue on the subaru message boards, dealership unable to diagnose issue now. Very serious problem, could have been a fatal accident on highway.

Filed Jun 27, 2020 · Fuel system · 48,000 miles · NY

While driving on the highway with cruise control on, 2016 forester engine revved while also losing power and the lights on the dash lit up. I pulled over to the side of the highway with the car still running, I shut the car off. After a few minutes, the engine started fine but the car still had no power. Was towed to the shop and they stated the car ran out of gas. The car stated there were 30 miles left to drive and the gas light came on 18 miles prior (at 50 miles estimated left to drive) . The second time this happened, I ran out of gas with 50 miles left to drive and only 5 miles after the gas light came on. I haven't let the car get below 1/4 tank due to this issue. Something is not reading right with the fuel system. The manual says there should be roughly 2 gallons left in the car when the gas light comes on so I should be able to at least go 40 miles at the bare minimum.

Filed Mar 12, 2020 · Engine · 44,500 miles · TX

Running in my 2016 subaru forester at 70 MPH on crowded interstate highway in texas and all power was lost. No warning, no warning lights, nothing...just lost all power and shot off while driving. . Car rolled to a stop and then I had it towed. Restarted after a while and drove fine. Saw a lot of comments online for a current subaru recall that has exactly the same symptoms, but for the 2019 year forester. Subaru recall item: wuw-08 and also notes as recall #: 19v856000 - engine and engine cooling:exhaust system:emission control:crankcase (pcv). Dealer doen't want to touch it sr ince it's a different model year. Could be very dangerous.