2019 Subaru Forester

On January 1, my wife was returning home from a grocery run when our 2019 Forester’s dashboard suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree--Check Engine, EyeSight, Anti-Lock Brakes, Anti-Skid, and blue Temperature lights all came on simultaneously. The Forester did not lose any appreciable power but the heater stopped working and was only blowing cold air. My wife was only a couple of miles away and brought it straight home. I checked under the hood but had no idea what was going on, so I drove it over to my local Autozone for a scan, and it came back with the 'P26A3' Code, as well as 'P3300,' and 'P2100' (Throttle Control Motor-Circuit Open). I brought our Forester back home, did some online research, and discovered that this code typically indicates a thermal control valve assembly (TCVA) failure. Our vehicle's 60,000-mile powertrain warranty had just expired but fortunately, we live near a reputable repair shop which was able to take the Forester in the next day, confirm the codes and TVCA failure, and then make the repair. Further research revealed that this appears to be a widespread quality control problem and typically costs affected owners between $1,100 and $2,000 to fix beyond the expired standard 35,000 mile /60,0000 mile powertrain warranties. In fact, there is a Subaru Forester Owners thread that runs over 33 pages with 654 posts from other owners throughout the world reporting the very same failure over the past year, nearly always between 50,000 and 70,000 miles. (https://www.subaruforester.org/threads/2019-thermo-control-valve-assembly-and-warranty-merged-thread.823510/) This past week, a friend of mine who's an old school mechanic, took the old TCVA apart and discovered that coolant had actually leaked into the part's internal electronics and shorted them out, causing the failure. He was amazed that the short circuit did not damage my Forester's computer. It's certainly a design and manufacturing defect and a recall should be issued by Subaru.

While driving on the highway my car started to stall and rough idle, It wouldn't drive past 2 rpm sometimes less and would stall. My car constantly stalling made multiple cars/semi-trucks almost hit me and cause them to swerve. The problem was confirmed to be the thermo control valve eroding, which Grayson of Subaru verified. The manufacturer inspected it and confirmed this needed replaced. The only warning signs or messages that appeared appeared after the vehicle stalled when the check engine light, and all lights on the dashboard lit up. Subaru of America has even admitted that this is a problem and offered to pay part of the cost to fix it, therefore knowing they are at fault. They have said they would email me/contact me but haven't returned any correspondence.

Eye-sight system shutdown and the car, although it was drivable, ran rough. Since there is a huge reliance on the monitors as they are designed to "forward think" to aid the driver, this was a major disruption to the driving experience. Not knowing what the disabled components affected, was a huge cause for alarm. Upon seeing the check engine light come, my wife brought the car home and I hooked up my device to read the code (P26A3 - showed up). Then I looked up that code and was directed to multiple incidents where that very same thing has become frequent on this model and a few others like it. We called the Winston-Salem NC Subaru Dealer (Flow) and they suggested we bring the Forester in for a check. Once they checked the vehicle out and confirmed the code we mentioned, they told us the "TCV" problem was found on our vehicle and they have seen others with the same problem. They even had the parts in stock to make the repair that day! They kept the parts and said they were going to be sent back to Subaru of America for analysis.Interesting detail: once we drove the repaired vehicle, it ran better than it ever had and the only work they did was to fix the TCV issue (according to the repair paperwork).

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to Auto Zone, where it was diagnosed that the thermal control valve was faulty. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer, where the thermal control valve was replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to Technical Service Bulletin: 09-80-21 (Thermal Control Valve – Design Change) however, the vehicle was not covered under the TSB. The failure mileage was approximately 93,000.

* Eyesight disabled and Thermal Control Valve-P26A3 diagnostic code. Vehicle is available upon request. * Eyesight immediately disabled and maintaining that all safety features are disabled. Safety features that are relied upon, disengaged, and aborted for literally a Subaru known engine issue (TSB #09-80-21) - THAT IS SAFETY AT RISK to everyone that owns a Subaru with this issue. * 2 Independent services confirmed diagnostic- P26A3 *Subaru was requested to review when the vehicle was in for recall inspection. * No warning lamps, messages or any other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. The warning lights and safety features disengaged all appeared at one time.

Since purchasing the vehicle in December 2018, we have had to replace the windshield twice, and there is a crack in the current windshield which I am speaking to the insurer about tomorrow. Attached are pictures of the 3 incidents. For comparison we also own a 2015 Nissan Rogue with 110,000 miles which has never had any such issues.

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that on multiple occasions while driving at undisclosed speeds, or while the vehicle was idling, the vehicle lost motive power; however, the engine remained running. The contact attempted to press the START/STOP button to turn the vehicle off, but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated, and the turn signals failed to operate. The contact stated that she attempted to restart the vehicle several times however, after waiting for several minutes, the vehicle restarted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.