Subaru Forester headlights problems

Filed Oct 26, 2026 · Lights · 7,000 miles · CO

The contact owns a 2026 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at 70 MPH, the headlights activated but failed to illuminate beyond 80 ft. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was determined that the headlight aim adjustment was low, and that an auto-headlight leveling beam computer system reinitialization was required. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH in a construction zone, the vehicle was pulling toward the construction cones. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the EyeSight computer programming was unfinished. The dealer performed an EyeSight calibration A-DC ratio from 0 percent to 99 percent. The computer system then displayed "Finished". The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that the failure was a factory defect. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000.

Filed Oct 2, 2026 · Visibility · NY

I am experiencing a serious visibility defect in my 2026 Subaru Forester. When driving at night with headlights on, a dark curtain or shadow drops down over more than half of the windshield. This occurs consistently and severely reduces forward visibility. It is dangerous and makes it difficult to see road signs, street signs, vehicles up ahead, and orienting landmarks. My Subaru dealer test drove the vehicle at night and confirmed the problem. He stated that he “definitely saw the issue duplicated.” (I have this recorded in a voicemail he left me.) They attempted a minor adjustment, but the defect remains essentially unchanged. The dealer then told me “That’s just how 2026 Subarus are,” and refused further repair. (He did express openness to having a Subaru Field Service Engineer (FSE) inspect the vehicle, which I am interested in pursuing, but I wanted to establish a case with the federal safety agency and Subaru of America’s Regional Case Management first, as I wasn’t sure how much an FSE simply represented Subaru’s, rather than the customer’s, interest. I included a request for an FSE to Regional Case Management.) This appears to be related to the EyeSight camera housing, windshield lamination/coating, or internal reflections from the auto dimming mirror. The problem is not cosmetic — it is a major safety hazard that affects nighttime driving and could lead to a collision. I am requesting the federal safety agency review because the defect persists, the dealer acknowledges it but will not repair it, and Subaru customer service has been unreachable. This is a serious visibility obstruction that makes the vehicle unsafe to operate at night. My vehicle can certainly be available for inspection upon request. (Please note: this problem only reveals itself once it is dark outside.) There were no warning lights or messages prior to or during the failure.

Filed Aug 15, 2026 · Airbags, Body · CA · crash · fire

While driving my grandbaby home I was unable to avoid hitting a deer when it ran into the road. Neither the automatic braking nor the airbags deployed when I hit the deer at the front left side. It destroyed the headlight and damaged the fender and quarterpanel lightly and slightly bent the hood. I was able to pull over safely. When I got out to look at the damage, I could not open the hood but I could see a small flame on the passsenger side of the engine (this would be on the other side of the engine from where I hit the deer.) I grabbed a fire extinguisher from the back of my car but could not get the fire out. I got my grandbaby out safely at that point. Another driver stopped and tried to get the fire out with his fire extinguisher but to no avail. We called 911 and the fire department promptly got there. By then the entire car was in flames. The fire dept put out the car and nearby weeds that were burning. Besides the safety equipment not working, what concerns me most is that a minor accident caused the entire car to become engulfed in flames within 3-4 minutes. I had enough time to get myself and my grandson out but not his carseat base or diaperbag. The car was burnt down to the frame.

Filed Jul 18, 2026 · Driver assistance, Electrical · CA

I have been having problems with my 2025 Subaru Forester since I purchased it. It has failed multiple times to alert me of people and cars when I am backing up. I have RCTW on my vehicle .Sometimes it alerts me when there is a car or person is coming behind me ,sometimes it doesn't. I have a video dated June 4th 2026. Three times people walked right behind my car when I was backing up. I almost hit them! I decided to video tape it. The back up camera also doesn't always work and did not go off when I was backing into the curb until I hit it without an alarm going off. The lighting alert system was also messed up because the light was on green until I almost hit the curb. This also happened on June 4th and I have a video. I could have hit a small animal or child or damaged my car. I have brought this to the attention of my Subaru Service department and they claim they can not replicate this problem.This is of great concern for me and I have filed a Lemon Law Case as I am too fearful I will hurt someone or myself because of these issues. In addition to this, my headlights are aimed down at the ground and I live on curvy country roads. Hard to see at night. My service department said Subaru of America would have to approve the adjustment. They never got back to me on this issue. The tech specialist told the service department manager that I had electrical problems with my vehicle as she witnessed the HVAC working improperly. My radio, navigations, phone and sound systems also cause distracted driving. The Radio would blast on high volume randomly . The navigation, phone and radio volume would be blasting without being able to turn this down. There is no way to turn off the radio. If you do, the whole navigations screen won't work. My navigation system is not functioning properly and has blacked out . Subaru has seen my vehicle 6 times for these issues . They claim they can't replicate the problem. My car is sitting in the garage. It is too unsafe to drive.

Filed Jul 18, 2026 · Driver assistance, Electrical · CA

I have been having problems with my 2025 Subaru Forester since I purchased it. It has failed multiple times to alert me of people and cars when I am backing up. I have RCTW on my vehicle .Sometimes it alerts me when there is a car or person is coming behind me ,sometimes it doesn't. I have a video dated June 4th 2026. Three times people walked right behind my car when I was backing up. I almost hit them! I decided to video tape it. The back up camera also doesn't always work and did not go off when I was backing into the curb until I hit it without an alarm going off. The lighting alert system was also messed up because the light was on green until I almost hit the curb. This also happened on June 4th and I have a video. I could have hit a small animal or child or damaged my car. I have brought this to the attention of my Subaru Service department and they claim they can not replicate this problem.This is of great concern for me and I have filed a Lemon Law Case as I am too fearful I will hurt someone or myself because of these issues. In addition to this, my headlights are aimed down at the ground and I live on curvy country roads. Hard to see at night. My service department said Subaru of America would have to approve the adjustment. They never got back to me on this issue. The tech specialist told the service department manager that I had electrical problems with my vehicle as she witnessed the HVAC working improperly. My radio, navigations, phone and sound systems also cause distracted driving. The Radio would blast on high volume randomly . The navigation, phone and radio volume would be blasting without being able to turn this down. There is no way to turn off the radio. If you do, the whole navigations screen won't work. My navigation system is not functioning properly and has blacked out . Subaru has seen my vehicle 6 times for these issues . They claim they can't replicate the problem. My car is sitting in the garage. It is too unsafe to drive.

Filed May 15, 2026 · Driver assistance · WA

My Subaru Forester has a significant safety defect. If my web searches are representative this software problem affects multiple models and years of Subaru. I have addressed this problem with the local dealer, Subaru America, and Subaru Japan and have been told "that is the way it was designed and it is supposed to do that." As you may imagine that is not a satisfactory answer to a significant safety issue; I can only imagine Ford saying the Pinto was designed with a gas tank that explodes in a collision or a more recent Takata claiming that their seatbelts were designed that way. So here is the problem in a nutshell (and I have a host of Emails from various levels of Subaru if you want the details of how I have attempted to get them to address the issue.) There is a sensor on the gas cap that detects if it is not fully closed since that is a pollution control issue. (More on that later) When that sensor is activated, it disables the Subaru Eyesight system and when the Eyesight system is disabled it disables every safety feature except the seatbelt and it lights up the dash with a dozen alarms none of which have anything to do with the gas cap. That takes down collision avoidance, lane changing, and autodim headlights among others. It also wants you to check the engine and consult the users manual. None of that has anything to do with the actual situation. Now I have taken the car to the dealer who assures me it is operating as designed and there is no fault in the sensor. When you close the gas cap there are audible clicks and as a 190 pound man I can assure you that the cap is fully closed when I close it. But on a random basis the dashboard lights up despite the fact that the gas cap is fully engaged and the safety systems become disabled. Usually it stays lit up until I refill the tank, but its behavior is not predictable - occasionally it just resets as I drive. Besides the obvious hazard of having safety systems which do not work, havi

Filed Apr 3, 2026 · Lights · PA

Significant issues with adaptive headlights having a large shadow in middle of beam as well as two smaller dark shadows at end of beam that are very distracting. It also dims very low at times severely reducing my visibility especially at different grades of the road. The headlights were so bad from the first week I tried to get the sales manager at Ciocca Subaru in Allentown to take this car back and to return my old car with no luck. I fear for safety driving this forester and I see it is a common complaint online for the 2025. Oncoming cars it shrinks the headlights significantly impairing my visibility for my side of road especially since in Pennsylvania we have a significant amount of deer that get hit and need clear visibility ahead of us. My coworker drove with me the one night and said how difficult it was for her to see at times and said I had to log a complaint because she was concerned for my safety. No car should have such significant shadows or adjusting the beam so significantly. I am afraid I will get into an accident because of the visibility of these headlights.

Filed Jan 24, 2026 · Lights, Transmission · TN

I bought a used 2015 subaru forester with 117,000 miles from an auto shop/used car dealer in March of 2024. In September of 2025, 11,000 miles of driving later, a bunch of lights came on my dash. Check engine, traction control, ABS, at oil temp, and incline assist. I took it to Autozone to get the codes read and the part it suggested was the transmission oil pressure sensor. I then took it to a trusted mechanic who said they weren’t able to get the lights to turn back on and told me to come back when the lights reappeared. In December of 2025, the lights came on and they were on long enough to take it back to the mechanic. The mechanic told me that it looked to be the transmission valve body and recommended a local transmission shop. I took it there and the mechanic told me there was a speed sensor that was failing and the transmission and valve body would need to be replaced. He said that they don’t sell the speed sensor anywhere and it is impossible to obtain. I got quoted 9,100 to fix my car (I originally paid around 8,500 for it). I was told it would not be worth my time or money to fix the transmission. The transmission guy told me that Subaru cvt transmissions are horrendous and to take this is a lesson to never buy a Subaru. I heeded to this advice and traded her in for $2000 towards a 2010 rav4. Additional info: It had a rebuilt title and had been in an accident before I got it. Lived its entire life between kentucky and tennessee. I replaced the engine oil and filter every 4,000-6,000 miles. Tire treads were very mismatched for the time I had it (almost two years) which I was told by a subaru dealership can damage the transmission. Back tires had significantly lower tread than front. I had front left lower control arm, rear spring coils, brake switch lamp, and one of the battery terminals replaced during the time I had it. My TPMS light was always on. My front right headlight went out frequently. My brake light assembly also broke and wasn’t worth fixing

Filed Dec 21, 2025 · Lights · NY

Since I purchased my Subaru Forester new in 2020, people regularly flash their high beams at me at night when my low beams are on, because they think I have my high beams on. I also flash my high beams at cars when I think they have their high beams on then they do the same, to show me they have their low beams on. It needs to be illegal for manufacturers of cars and/or headlights to manufacture low beams with these dangerous settings. I didn’t know I could file a complaint with this department until a week ago otherwise I would have done it in 2020

Filed Oct 16, 2025 · Lights · OH

After my purchase of my 2025 Subaru Forester, I finally drove it for the first time at night. I was driving on local roads which have no street lights and is very hilly and dark. My headlights were on and I was shocked to see how poorly they were operating compared to my former 2016 Subaru Forester which I never had a problem with. My headlights even had strange dark marks projected onto the road surface. My headlights in the low beam settings, appears to be too low on the road surface especially if there’s a hill up ahead. There is a very dark area above the lit road surface and you can not see if there is a road hazard there or not. It’s very scary, especially when there are many deer in my area. This leaves me to have to keep my high beams on which I never had to do on my 2016. But my vehicle has a feature where my high beams automatically go on and off during night driving. At first, I did not realize I had this feature until I saw it operating on its own one night while driving on a dark lever road surface. The high beams would go on automatically and then go off when another vehicle was approaching from the opposite direction. But when I turned off to drive on hilly local roads, that feature stopped working and I didn’t understand why. That’s when I had to use the high beams manually. Being frustrated by this, on October 15, I took my vehicle to the dealership and had one of the salesman explain to me why my high beams do not always work. He then looked at the vehicles settings and everything was in proper order. He told me that the service department could possibly raise the headlights, but he said that doesn’t always work. All in all, I feel that these headlights are a hazard when driving at night on dark hilly road surfaces. I try not to drive at night because of this, but now that it’s getting darker earlier, that’s going to be difficult.