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2020 Subaru Forester

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

More warning signs than most Forester years

Owner complaints for the 2020 Subaru Forester are substantially higher than the model-year median of 131.

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When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

272 reports with mileage · 328 unknown

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Visibility/wiper. Review the 252 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 101 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Engine. Review the 79 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

26 crash reports8 fire reports13 injury reports

What owners actually said

600 reports
20,804 miles · Sep 13, 2021
Visibility

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that there was a crack on the windshield. There was no impact to the windshield that could have caused the crack. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The failure mileage was 20,804. The VIN was unav…

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The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that there was a crack on the windshield. There was no impact to the windshield that could have caused the crack. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The failure mileage was 20,804. The VIN was unavailable.

NHTSA ODI #11432822

Mileage unknown · Sep 11, 2021
Visibility/wiper

Windshield cracked for no reason from the pass side front pillar to the middle of the windshield

NHTSA ODI #11432577

Mileage unknown · Sep 8, 2021
Air BagsCrashFire

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while sitting in the passenger’s side seat, the air bag warning light failed to engage. The contact stated that she weighs approximately 95 pounds and must use added weights to engage the air bag system. Additionally, while in the vehicle the air bag warning indica…

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The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while sitting in the passenger’s side seat, the air bag warning light failed to engage. The contact stated that she weighs approximately 95 pounds and must use added weights to engage the air bag system. Additionally, while in the vehicle the air bag warning indicator light randomly illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and the contact was informed that the vehicle was working as designed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA. The approximate failure mileage was 0.

NHTSA ODI #11432194

Mileage unknown · Sep 4, 2021
Visibility/wiper

2020 Subaru Forester - windshield internal crack on passenger side

NHTSA ODI #11431738

Mileage unknown · Sep 3, 2021
Visibility/wiper

2020 Subaru Forester windshield cracked, for no apparent reason, while parked overnight on my driveway. No objects impacted the windshield.

NHTSA ODI #11431671

Mileage unknown · Aug 30, 2021
Unknown Or Other

On August 28, 2021, while driving on a one-way private road that leads to my home, I heard a loud pop and a foot-long crack instantly appeared on my driver's side windshield. I saw no rocks, no projectiles, nothing. This was a spontaneous crack on the windshield. This car is only a year and a half old with very little mileage…

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On August 28, 2021, while driving on a one-way private road that leads to my home, I heard a loud pop and a foot-long crack instantly appeared on my driver's side windshield. I saw no rocks, no projectiles, nothing. This was a spontaneous crack on the windshield. This car is only a year and a half old with very little mileage. My 10 year-old granddaughter was in the car with me. I bought this car because of Subaru's safety record. Now I find out that Subaru knew they had defective windshields and did not issue recalls and/or inform their customers of this problem. My granddaughter's safety is my top priority. Subaru needs to live up to their ideals and fix this problem immediately and without charging any of their customers.

NHTSA ODI #11431013

20,000 miles · Aug 20, 2021
Visibility

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, the windshield cracked without impact. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.

NHTSA ODI #11429894

Mileage unknown · Aug 18, 2021
Electrical SystemEngineCrash

I was in a parking lot at the time driving very slowly to pick a spot. When I went to turn right into the spot my car accelerated at an alarming speed. I had not control over it as it kept turning. It hit the car parked in front of my space pushing it and went on to hit the car parked to the right damaging both the front left an…

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I was in a parking lot at the time driving very slowly to pick a spot. When I went to turn right into the spot my car accelerated at an alarming speed. I had not control over it as it kept turning. It hit the car parked in front of my space pushing it and went on to hit the car parked to the right damaging both the front left and right sides of my vehicle and the 2 parked cars before coming to a stop. Fortunately it was 9am and not very crowded, there were no passengers in both vehicles and no one walking in between or by the cars which could have been tragic. I was wearing a seatbelt. The police were called and completed a report. The Subaru dealership was called and Subaru of America was called. The car was inspected by a Bosch.-EAA representative for Subaru on 8/4/2021. I have not heard back from Subaru so far although I was told it could take several weeks. There were no warning lights prior to the incident but afterwards there were several warning lights on. A few months before I got into my car and the radio was blaring and constantly switching channels and I was not able to turn the radio off. When I got home and turned off the car and turned the ignition back on 30 minutes later it had stopped. We notified the incident to Subaru at the next oil change. I immediately notified USSA car insurance and filed a claim. I have not had the damages assessed for repair because I have to wait for the inspection results from Subaru. I felt it was important to document this incident in case other 2020 Forester owners have experienced the same thing. Frightening.

NHTSA ODI #11429611

Mileage unknown · Aug 16, 2021
Visibility/wiper

for no reason my windshield randomly cracked inside my garage, prior to the discovery the car had not been driven in several days.

NHTSA ODI #11429255

Mileage unknown · Aug 13, 2021
Visibility/wiper

We were driving about 50 mph on a paved road in the suburbs of a city when suddenly we heard a "pop" and saw a chip in the passenger side of our windshield. No other cars were around us at the time and it was an open road (e.g., we did not drive under an overpass). We don't know how the chip occurred. We continued driving and th…

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We were driving about 50 mph on a paved road in the suburbs of a city when suddenly we heard a "pop" and saw a chip in the passenger side of our windshield. No other cars were around us at the time and it was an open road (e.g., we did not drive under an overpass). We don't know how the chip occurred. We continued driving and then parked the car in our garage. Four days later, with the car still in the garage, we discovered the chip had grown into a more than 20-inch crack horizontally on the passenger side of the car. We have been in touch with our insurance company and they have recommended a specific auto glass company to repair it. But we've been told it'll take 4 weeks or more to receive the replacement windshield and recalibrate it. We have since learned from searching the Internet that cracking windshields on Subaru models is a common complaint among Subaru owners.

NHTSA ODI #11428949

Official recalls

0

No recalls in this snapshot.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.

Go deeper into Subaru Forester problems