Problems · NHTSA complaints

2022 Subaru Forester problems

Owners filed 100 complaints about the 2022 Subaru Forester with NHTSA between Feb 2022 and Oct 2026. The most-cited component is visibility/wiper (20).

Complaints
100
Filed with NHTSA
Crashes
8
Reported by owners
Fires
6
Reported by owners
Injuries
5
People reported injured
Deaths
0
Reported to NHTSA
01 —By component

Complaints by component

One complaint can cite several components
  1. Visibility/wiper20
  2. Forward collision avoidance15
  3. Engine11
  4. Electrical system11
  5. Service brakes11
  6. Vehicle speed control9
  7. Exterior lighting8
  8. Fuel/propulsion system7
  9. Power train4
  10. Visibility4
  11. Air bags4
  12. Suspension3
  13. Lane departure2
  14. Steering2

Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.

Data from NHTSA Complaints API · synced Nov 3, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
02 —Trend

When complaints were filed

Does it get worse with age? Complaints per calendar year filed
View as table
Model yearComplaints filed per calendar year
202237
202324
20249
202513
202617

Mileage at failure isn’t a structured field in NHTSA complaint data, so we don’t chart it. Some owners mention it in their reports below.

03 —Owner reports

Top problems in owners’ words

Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first

Visibility/wiper

20 reports
“I was driving along and noticed my windshield was cracked on the passenger side. The crack is vertical from the bottom of the windshield to about halfway up. It was fine the day before. No rocks, etc struck my windshield. I understand that Subaru has had issues with windshields cracking for no reason.”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Feb 5, 2026Visibility/wiperODI 11715806

Forward collision avoidance

15 reports1 crash
“On two occasions now, one on XXX and another in XXX our vehicle initiated a pre collision breaking sequence with no visible object in our path. On XXX this occurred while turning off of a main road into a shopping center located on route XXX in [XXX]. I was traveling at about 15-20mph with no cars in front of me. The vehicle displayed a pre- collision warning and the vehicles breaks locked up. No injuries but I had both my children with me in the car and we were all quite shaken up. The event in XXX happened while my husband was traveling on climax rd in [XXX]. On a sunny day with no one ahead of him traveling at about 45mph the same pre collision warning happened and the breaks locked up on him causing his tires to scratch and the car to come to a Hault. no injuries as a result. Additionally we have had multiple failures of the auto start/stop system while in active traffic. At this point it is about 5 times. Each failure resulted in the car having to be turned off and back on while in active traffic. The vehicle is scheduled to be brought into the suburu dealer of Purchase for inspection for these issues. An issues has also been filed with Suburu of America.”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Sep 13, 2026Unknown or other, Forward collision avoidanceODI 11763953

Engine

11 reports1 crash4 fires
“Head gasket failure. Caused oil in coolant. Caused coolant hose to break while driving. Subaru dealership says need to replace head gaskets, radiator, all hoses, cvt cooler(?), and will cost about $6400. My car has about 130000 miles. This seems to be rather unusual at this mileage.”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Oct 19, 2026EngineODI 11772203

Electrical system

11 reports1 fire
“On [XXX], my [XXX] son was driving our Forester on [XXX] at [XXX]. At red light, Auto Start-Stop shut off engine as designed. On green, releasing brake triggered restart attempt. Dash lights cycled continuously, engine failed to restart. Brake pedal pushed back firmly and would not depress. Simultaneously, Electronic Parking Brake auto-engaged and would NOT disengage, preventing shift to neutral or pushing to safety. We were stranded in active lane off high-speed artery until flatbed tow arrived. Because EPB had no manual override, tow operator had to drag vehicle onto flatbed with brakes locked. Towed Sunday night to selling dealer, diagnosed Monday 7:30 AM as dead/failing 12V battery, which was replaced. CRITICAL SAFETY QUESTIONS: Why no Battery State-of-Health warning before failure? Vehicle should alert when cranking capacity degrades below safe Auto Start-Stop restart threshold. A voltage/health indicator would have prevented this. Why no emergency EPB manual override? No accessible mechanical backup to release EPB during electrical/start fault. Locking wheels in live roadway creates severe collision hazard for occupants and traffic. REQUEST: Formally…”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Oct 16, 2026Electrical system, Service brakesODI 11771742

Service brakes

11 reports2 crashes
“On 8/15/2026 my car's EyeSight system falsely automatically engaged Pre-Collision Braking on a clear road with no cars, obstacles or potholes ahead, on a sunny day, accelerating at 10–15 mph from a traffic light stop. The car was brought to an abrupt stop with no warning beeps from the Eyesight system that are supposed to precede its activation. This event almost caused a chain-like rear end collision involving 2-3 cars behind my car. On 8/19/2026 a Subaru dealership scanned for DTC codes, found none, stated that since no codes were found,there is no problem found. Dealership did not offer to recalibrate the Eyesight system or do any additional diagnostic work.”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Aug 19, 2026Service brakes, Forward collision avoidanceODI 11758116

Vehicle speed control

9 reports3 crashes1 fire
“I had two codes on my 2022 Forester over last two weeks. First one u0284 was for the Active Grill Shutter. This happened because for some reason Subaru decided to put the fog lights on the same fuse as the AGS. Fog light blew, shorted out blew the fuse, this caused every safety system in the car to turn off. By default these are open so why does loosing 1-2MPG, or longer time to warm up a car cause every safety feature to turn off. Answer is they kill everything so you have to come in and pay hundreds for 15 bulb. This week had a o2 sensor go bad while I was driving. Had lane assist on , adaptive cruise, etc. Check engine went on and car start to rapidly decelerate, and again all safety features where turned off for something that is not fixed would potential cause reduce MPG, damage the catalytic converter, cause black smoke. None of this should require all safety features to be turned off. This is going to kill someone. I know your not suppose to have your hands off the wheel when using lane assist but people do it. I was in bumper to bumper traffic on 40 going 65 MPH. Not only would I have been at risk but everyone around me. Worse case is I do not have my…”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Mar 13, 2026Vehicle speed control, Service brakes, Forward collision avoidanceODI 11724029
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 3, 2026

Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.