The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the vehicle started shaking abnormally. The contact pulled over, stopped, turned off, and restarted the vehicle. After the vehicle was started, smoke started coming from the vehicle while several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the spark plugs needed to be replaced. The vehicle was then taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 38,000.
2018 Subaru Forester fuel system complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 21 of 21, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I took our 2018 Subaru Forester through a car wash. The usual washing procedure went just fine with me in the car idling in neutral as it went through. When it came to the end of the wash cycle, I coasted out and then shifted into drive. Instantly the car surged forward at an alarming speed and I could not stop it. The car crossed a busy street. I fortunately did not collide with cars. The car continued into a field next to a Ford dealer’s lot at a high speed and I was unable to stop it. I managed to swerve right to avoid crashing into the cars parked on the Ford lot. This sent the car back toward the road. Fortunately I hit a lone fire hydrant along the road, shearing the hydrant completely off. The hydrant was dragged along under the front left tire until it hit the curb stopping the car. The air bag did not deploy and I was not injured. This all occurred in a matter of seconds.
While turning in a parking lot car accelerated and hit a tree. Foot was on brake and airbags didn’t deploy despite extensive damage. Body shop estimator said computer wouldn’t confirm problem. It was not caused by floor mat! No warning lights prior to incident.
At around 35,400 miles on the odometer, the vehicle first started backfiring as I was driving. I began an uphill climb through low mountains and the check engine light began flashing, the "emissions control systems" warning light came on the screen, the engine began seriously sputtering and lost a lot of its power, all occurring at the same time. Luckily I have a standard transmission and was able to downshift through gears to regain some power and was able to drive 10 miles, seriously sputtering the whole time, to a safe location. I turned off the engine and it wouldn't start back up again, therefore, I had to have it towed home. The next day I had it towed to a Subaru dealer. It took them 5-6 days to diagnose the cause and fix. I was told it was a VERY rare occurrence; it was pinpointed to the fuel injector and coil, they went bad in cylinder #1. The parts were replaced with new ones and a new spark plug was installed as well. ALL codes are gone and the problem was completely fixed. Thankfully, the service was covered by manufacturer's warranty of 5yrs/60,000 miles power train. For being such a fairly new engine, this problem should not of occurred. A defective fuel injector. However, I can understand that there can always be some sort of flukes. As of this writing, I have not gone to the dealership to pick up the vehicle.
The 2018 Forrester XT was taken to Subaru Dealer (Gwinnett) for a routine 42,000-mile service. There were no issues with the car. Shortly after picking up and driving approximately 30 miles the car stalled twice at traffic lights. The engine was restarted but started to exhibit sluggish and erratic acceleration, especially from 0-45 MPH. The car was taken back to Gwinnett Subaru the next day. They did some data retrieval and found a mass airflow event, cleaned the air filter, test drove the car, and released it to us. The next few days, the same problems were experienced but the car did not stall. At one point, at a traffic light, the car would simply not accelerate even with full pedal pressure which was gradually increased. When it finally did, it was uncontrolled and erratic. Highway driving once speed was reached seemed normal, but any acceleration from a slower speed was problematic. On Monday 6-14-2021 the car was taken back to the dealer due to serious concerns about safety and the possibility of the loss of power when critically needed or when on the highway. The dealer promised to investigate the problem further. That evening, we were informed that it was their assessment that the car would need a brand new CVT transmission. The car has approximately 41,100 miles and we were told that it would be covered by the 5 years/60,000 miles powertrain warranty. Expected to take 7-10 days for repair.
When applying gentle gas pressure at low speed car does not respond for 2-4 seconds, then lurches strongly forward as tho full throttle has been applied. Happens at random times. Dealer said nothing wrong when first happened 2 years ago. Was rare until today when it happened 6 times within 50 miles of city driving. Will see dealer tomorrow. No warnings of any kind. Grave safety hazard as could be hit by traffic when trying to enter street or get out of somebodies way when car does't respond.
Vehicles driver seat rail has become loose causing seat to slightly move when laying back.. Could be hazardous while driving.. At initial take off, acceleration jerks, acceleration is not smooth, after slightly pressing on the acceleration pedal, I have to sometimes brake because acceleration is jerky and rough. I just purchased this pre-owned 2018 subaru forester with 14k miles and it is already blowing smoke at start up.
As it stands in p (park) it has a really high idle even in neutral as if it wants to go. Then in drive it will lurch really fast. Or I have my foot on the break and it starts to rev high then after 3-5sec of seeing rev cycle in the 2000-3000s it calms down. I almost rear-ended a car yesterday. If you slightly pull off the brake the car will want to jolt forward. When it revs high and I take my foot off the brake it jolts forward then slows as if it recognizes I never had my foot on the accelerator. In all of these times I never had my foot on the gas pedal. I don't have pictures because obviously it's scary and I'd rather focus on the driving then my car acting strange. But I realised that when this was happening more and more frequently my brakes completely wore out. I went from a 7/10 to a 1/10 in between a 3000 mile service! It all became more apparent after the 30,000 mile mark
Strong fuel odor is detected in garage after parking as well as within the cabin while driving. Believe fuel is entering oil from undetermined location as odor is especially pronounced around dip stick. If oil is changed the issue dissipates but returns within 1000 miles. There are plenty of online reports from other 2015 - 2018 forrester xt (turbo) owners reporting the same issue and in most cases their dealer is unable to determine an issue or provide a solution. In one report, however, the owner indicated their dealer finally resolved their issue by replacing a faulty injector seal.
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 subaru forester. While changing the oil in the vehicle, the contact noticed fuel inside the engine oil. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The contact noticed fuel fumes inside the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to subaru of corvallis (located at 800 nw 5th st, corvallis, or 97330, (541) 754-1515), but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 6,000.
When attempting to accelerate to make a left-hand turn the car stopped - the engine would not get above idle, even when the accelerator was pressed to the floor. The car stopped in oncoming traffic. It did accelerate after completely removing pressure from the pedal and pushing it partially down again it began to pick up speed.
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