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.
2016 Subaru Forester engine complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 60, newest first, as owners wrote them.
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
My 2016 Subaru Forester is having acceleration and possibly fuel propulsion issues. It stays in low gear, high RPM when accelerating. This happened after a Yellowstone week long road trip from San Leandro, CA. The MPG has dropped from 24mpg to 12mpg and has been at Hayward Subaru since 8/15/2023. They have not provided a known issue. Still trying to figure out what is wrong. There was a low oil warning light on the way home and we stopped for an oil change in West Sacramento within 15 miles of the light coming on. The issue has been happening since the oil change. Only oil change and air filter replacement done on 8/8/2023. Thought maybe its a fuel injector issue. Still at dealership. We did fill the fuel tank with 85 octane in Elko, NV once.
The car caught on fire while in operation. A complete loss. It started in the engine
Subaru Forester 2016. Sitting at red light with foot on brake. Car lunged forward. Was able to brake and stop it however it did continue to acceletate briefly.
parked in angle space and turned off car. went into store for about 15 minutes. got in car and started it. heard a noise sounding like a car revving engine and looked behind me to see if it was another vehicle. realized it was my car. tried to push foot on accelerator but it was all the way to floor and would not come up. immediately put foot on brake and turned off car. looked at floor mat and found that was not the issue. waited about 30 seconds and turned car back on and found that the accelerator was not all the way to the floor like before. It ran like it always has. drove 10 minutes back home with no issue. when home, went in house for 15 minutes; came back out and started it and ran like normal. i then searched the issue and discovered SEVERAL complaints about this issue. Thankful that I didn't run into a building as anyone else (there was a man walking into a house DIRECTLY in front of where I was parked.....I would have hit him if i had put the car in drive.) No warning lights or anything else visible on car. no issue prior. not been inspected by anyone else or the dealer at this time. Not reported to police department or insurance company. I am NOT an elderly person and I KNOW I did not accidentally do anything wrong when this issue occurred. purchased this subaru in 2018 as they are highly rated as far as safety goes and very dependable. I am extremely disappointed that there has NOT been a recall on this issue. Do people have to die before subaru will issue recall?!?! I was planning to trade in for a newer Subaru but am definitely hesitant to do so at this time. I drive with my young grandchildren in vehicle and am even hesitant to do that in the future. PLEASE, Subaru, issue a recall for this issue.
Engine oil and coolant were mixing. This caused coolant to drain and engine overheat. Resulted in several blown gaskets. Yes, available for inspection upon request. My safety was put at risk because of engine overheat while driving on highway. Problem has been evaluated by a car repair shop. Vehicle has been inspected by car repair shop, but not by manufacturer, police, or insurance. Red engine overheat warning light turned on only as the overheat occurred; no yellow check engine light turned on prior to overheating.
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.
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.
Our Subaru Forester is slow to respond on acceleration and then surges quickly. This problem just started to surface. Our concern is when stepping down on the accelerator the car is very slow to react and then surges forward quickly, creating a serious concern over a potential accident. On August 17, 2022 I was reversing up my driveway to the garage and as I depressed the accelerator the car failed to respond. I was reluctant to depress the pedal further over concern it might suddenly surge backward too fast. What was concerning is that the accelerator did not respond as normal. August 18th, I started the car, drove out of the garage and onto the street. When I stepped onto the accelerator the car showed no response, then suddenly without warning surged forward at high speed, catching me off guard. I stepped on the brake and the car immediately stopped. I carefully tried to drive forward, again the car surged forward. I drove back into the garage. Our neighbor’s nephew took it for a drive and experience the same unexpected surge of acceleration. It was towed to the Subaru Dealership. The Dealership has consistently maintained our Forester since purchased. I asked if the car had surged and the Service Advisor shared that the technician had noticed an irregularity in acceleration. However, Diagnostic tests found nothing. The shop manager said he put almost 40 miles on it but found nothing. The service adviser called and suggested we come in and ride with the shop manager, which we did. He test drove it for a few miles and the acceleration appeared normal. He did say after the test drive that he sensed something irregular about the acceleration when leaving a stop sign. We asked they keep the car and test the car after sitting over the weekend. I asked service advisor and the shop manager if he had ever heard of a Subaru with this issue of being slow to respond on acceleration and then surging quickly. They both said they had never heard of this issue
The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving approximately 80 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power. There were unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to pull over safely and restart the vehicle. The failure reoccurred several times. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and diagnosed; however, the cause of the failure was not determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.
Was Backing up and car started excelling and the throttle stuck hitting 2 cars It was out of control I got it in drive and it took off forward running full throttle up over the pavers around a tree and ran up on the side of a BMW which was sitting on the side of The hostess paved driveway coming down the side of the car My car was on 2 wheels . Came off the BMW and slammed into a tree trunk which stopped it. I got out of my car in disbelief . It happened on private property and We did call the police. But since it happened on private property They did not come but told us to get each others info for insurance Purposes
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)
Car turns itself off soon after starting when you try and put it into gear. Even after a tune up the car just stalls out when starting or low idle while sitting at light
Key stuck in switch when car is put into park. Steering locks up and then can not restart or remove key. This happens almost daily at this point
Context: We were driving on the freeway at ~30-40mph when the car in front suddenly braked and stopped. We hit the breaks at the same time that the automatic brakes kicked in. The car stopped, as needed. Issue: After stopping, we pressed the accelerator to start the car moving again but the car revved instead of accelerating. We pulled off/slowly drifted to the side of the road and turned the car off and then back on before the accelerator started to function. This seemed like an engine problem. Safety risk: During this incident we were stopped on the freeway with no way to accelerate, which was very dangerous. We were lucky to be next to the shoulder lane. Otherwise, we would have been stuck in the middle of a freeway with a speed limit of 60mph. Inspection by Subaru result: "FOUND NORMAL OPERATION ON TEST DRIVE. NO CURRENT CODES OR RELATED HISTORY CODES. LIKELY A TEMPRARY FAULT UNDER EXTREME CONDITION. PLEASE MONITOR".
Subaru accelerates occaisionally when one hits the break and the motor races until one puts car in neutral .
Forester accelerates too fast on going from stop to moving to normal speed. The cars does not accelerate smoothly. Too much power on a light touch to soft acieration. If on light snow it spins the wheels. Going from idle on a turn in snow it spins the tires. All actions are from a stop or no acceleration to placing light pressure on the accelerator.from a stop the cars jumps ahead with accereration.
The contact owns a 2016 subaru forester.the contact states that his vehicle is not safe to be on the road ,the contact stated that his lights on his vehicle are not properly working. The vehicle has been to 3 different dealers for repair and the problem is still occurring .the contact stated the engine stops on its own without any notification
Vehicle stalled in intersection. Car has a rough idle, this is the second time it has stalled. Dealership has looked at the car but not resolved the issue.
2016 subaru forester 2.5 premium while driving there on the highway at approximately 70mph with 80 miles left per the vehicle the car 'stalled' acting like it went to neutral and provided no response to the accelerator being pushed. *bf consumer stated happened twice more while driving approx 70 MPH and had to pull over, vehicle started shutting down. Car restarted approx 30 minutes later. Vehicle was taken to the dealer, consumer was told there were no issues.
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.
When stopping/stopped it will suddenly accelerate/surge forward and I need to slam on brakes
My 2016 subaru forester has twice experienced a sudden engine stall while cruising at approx. 70 MPH when the fuel was low. In both cases the low fuel warning light was not on and the vehicle showed fuel in the tank with fuel range of 70-100 miles. In both cases once the car was stopped it started again and ran normally until and after refueling. This has happened only at high speed which makes the condition especially dangerous in traffic. After the first incident (@ 42,000 mi.) I took the vehicle to a subaru dealer who checked the vehicle and found no explanation. Of course the dealer was not able to duplicate the exact circumstance of the power failure. The vehicle is currently under examination from the second incident which occurred yesterday (@ 50,000 mi.). I do not know if this is a fuel pump problem but I have seen other posts that suggest that may be the cause.
The vehicle was maintained regularly in dealer's service center. It is a local commute vehicle and has less than 40000 miles. In nov 2019, the vehicle was found out of alignment, four tires were worn out and two breaks were out too. All four tires and two breaks were replaced. In june 2020, I reported bad smell to the service center but nothing was found. In sep 2020, bad smell was noticed again. The service center found oil leak in the engine front and back. The engine was opened and some parts were replaced. Service center also found the condenser was leaking and replaced it. In less than a year, three defects happened and two were rare but major defects. During this time, the car was only driven around 2000 miles. I reported to subaru customer service. They just told me to keep an eye on it.
Please recall the 2016 subaru forester for failure of the accelerator at high speeds. Our 21-year-old daughter, a nursing student, took her 2016 forester into grayson subaru in knoxville, tn for a recall service on rear coil springs, oil change and tire rotation. Within an hour of leaving the service department she was driving 70 MPH on the interstate when her "low fuel" warning light came on. According to the subaru, that means 2.6 gallons of gas remain. Assuming 20 mpg, that means she could drive approximately 52 miles before running out of gas. Within a minute of the low fuel light coming on, the accelerator failed to work and all the warning lights came on the dash. While traveling at 70 MPH on the interstate, she had to cross 3 lanes of traffic to pull over on the shoulder. Very shaken and crying, she called grayson subaru and they sent a tow truck. After steve kachelrie of grayson's service department assessed the car, he concluded, "your daughter just ran out of gas. There is nothing we can do other than put gas in the tank." when I told him that the gas meter said she had 50 miles of driving to go before empty, he dismissed it and repeated that she "just ran out of gas." I researched the 2016 subaru forester on and found 20 reports of identical incidents of the car showing 50-70 miles to go before empty and the accelerator completely failing at high speeds on the interstate and all warning lights lighting up. When I told grayson service that was an unacceptable response, they referred me to the owner of the dealership, walter grayson. He agreed to fulfill subaru's guarantee to pay us the trade-in value of the car, $14,800. The dealership sent us a check for the 2016 subaru forester and we purchased a new toyota.
Sudden acceleration while parking. All low speed <5 MPH. Car was in drive, braking, made a hard left turn then stopped. Car was shifted to reverse, moved 25 feet, brake and stopped. Car was shifted to drive (low), applied acceleration (light), hard right turn, brake applied, car accelerated, jumped curb, shifted car to park, turned off ignition. Restarted car, stability control light on, shift would not engage even with brake depressed. Remove shift lock cover (small button near shift) depressed release and move shift to neutral and then reverse to back off curb. Incident over, car functioned as designed at this point. Floor mats were not any where near pedals, mats were in the retainers to hold position. I am sure that my foot was on the brake at the time the acceleration occurred. It remained there even after the car was turned off because I looked at my passenger to see if she was ok and then looked at the position of my foot, still on brake. There were no codes flashing. I brake and accelerate with only my right foot. Checked to see if this is a problem and saw several reports and issued this one. Taking this to my dealer would be a waste of time, they always find nothing but the money in my wallet. This is subaru number 6 for me.
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.
Around 75k miles, the "at temp" light began to appear when driving the car for more than 35-40 minutes on the highway at continuous speeds. No code was stored when it was brought to the dealership. I have pictures of this light being on numerous times. This happened between may 2019-august 2019 then the vehicle began to shudder when coming to a complete stop, with occasional stalls/shutdowns. No lights would come out during shudder or stall. This happened between may 2019-february 2020 at 98k, vehicle began to jerk and shudder during shifting, around 2500rpm upon acceleration. I had a transmission service/ CVT fluid change done at 90k at johnston's subaru in middletown, ny. Transmission service was done 2/3/2020
Vehicle feels as though it is about to stall. This occurs sporadically when stopping or when under acceleration on the freeway. I have taken the vehicle into two separate dealerships, neither could diagnose a problem. However one did suggest it may be a pcv valve. This appears quite similar to the recent recall (19v856) which does not include this model year.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2016 Subaru Forester?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history