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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
Mileage unknown · Aug 10, 2021
Electrical SystemUnknown Or Other

Purchased new on 5/22/2020. On Aug 8th after not driving the car for 3 days, attempted to start vehicle. Would not start. Battery dead. Charged battery with a jump. Drove car home. Next am. Car would not start. Battery dead. Currently trying to get car in for service. This is very dangerous stranding people randomly.

NHTSA ODI #11428587

Mileage unknown · Aug 10, 2021
Lane DepartureSteering

Lane Keep Assist Feature The lane keep assist feature seems, in general, to over steer causing sway back and forth across the lane. While I find this bothersome, Most recently, at highway speed, the lane keep assist pulled the car (suddenly and somewhat violently) onto an exit ramp rather than holding the right lane. No one…

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Lane Keep Assist Feature The lane keep assist feature seems, in general, to over steer causing sway back and forth across the lane. While I find this bothersome, Most recently, at highway speed, the lane keep assist pulled the car (suddenly and somewhat violently) onto an exit ramp rather than holding the right lane. No one was hurt. No damage occurred. I was able to yank the wheel back to the lane with the entire incident over in less and a second. Safety at risk? highway speed with unanticipated veer of intended path. It was good that traffic was quite light. I have not reported this to the dealer. No special warnings other than that the system "worked".

NHTSA ODI #11428574

12,500 miles · Aug 10, 2021
Visibility

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that a crack had formed in the middle upper part of the windshield without impact. The contact stated that the crack obstructed her vision while driving. The dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The windshield was not repaired. The failure mileage wa…

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The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that a crack had formed in the middle upper part of the windshield without impact. The contact stated that the crack obstructed her vision while driving. The dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The windshield was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 12,500.

NHTSA ODI #11428485

Mileage unknown · Aug 8, 2021
Electrical System

The battery on my 2020 Subaru Forester Premium /LFF14 drains within a week if not driven. There appears to be a parasitic battery drain problem. The car will not start. I replaced the original factory battery with a larger, after-market battery having been told by several sources that this problem is common to Foresters and is…

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The battery on my 2020 Subaru Forester Premium /LFF14 drains within a week if not driven. There appears to be a parasitic battery drain problem. The car will not start. I replaced the original factory battery with a larger, after-market battery having been told by several sources that this problem is common to Foresters and is caused by defective batteries being supplied to Subaru. However, the new battery did not solve the problem. I regularly test the battery with a battery tester that indicates that the battery is OK, but is discharged and requires charging. I now keep a trickle charger on the car continuously. This seems to keep the battery charge up to 98%. I have retained the original battery which holds a charge indefinitely out of the vehicle. I am aware that driving the car to recharge the battery is extremely hard on the alternator and will cause it to prematurely fail. The car was purchased in August of 2020 and currently has less than 500 miles. This is a recurrent problem.

NHTSA ODI #11428254

Mileage unknown · Aug 7, 2021
Visibility/wiper

Windshield cracked out of nowhere. It was parked and just showed up to a cracked windshield

NHTSA ODI #11428185

11,000 miles · Aug 6, 2021
Visibility

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 mph, the front windshield developed a crack at the center of the windshield by the rear-view mirror mount. During the incident no object had contacted the windshield to cause the damage. The cause of the failure was not yet determined…

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The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 mph, the front windshield developed a crack at the center of the windshield by the rear-view mirror mount. During the incident no object had contacted the windshield to cause the damage. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 11,000.

NHTSA ODI #11427984

Mileage unknown · Aug 4, 2021
Visibility/wiper

Windshield cracked without cause overnight while car was not being driven. Stress crack emanating from the bottom edge where the defroster element for the windshield wipers is located ending in about the center of the windshield. Dealer inspected and could not find an impact point.

NHTSA ODI #11427770

14,000 miles · Aug 2, 2021
Visibility

The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked and unattended, the contact became aware that the front windshield had cracked from the top without impact. The contact called the local dealer however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the fail…

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The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked and unattended, the contact became aware that the front windshield had cracked from the top without impact. The contact called the local dealer however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 14,000. The VIN was not available.

NHTSA ODI #11427421

Mileage unknown · Jul 30, 2021
Visibility

2020 SUBARU FORESTER. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO SEMI OPAGUE WINDSHIELD CAUSING ISSUES WITH VISIBILTY ON DARK ROADS. THE CONSUMER STATED THE DEALER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE BUT, DID NOT OFFER ANY ASSISTANCE.

NHTSA ODI #11427157

Mileage unknown · Jul 28, 2021
Visibility/wiper

Was just sitting in my car and the windshield just started cracking very quickly. Nothing hit it.

NHTSA ODI #11426750

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