IllustrationA small rock hit the top driver’s corner of the windshield and led to 2 continuous cracks which extended to the middle of the windshield.
2021 Subaru Forester
Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations
Similar to other model years
Owner complaints for the 2021 Subaru Forester do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 131.
About this comparison →How this year compares
Owner complaints by model year
Compare all Forester years →Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.
What owners reported most
All reported categories
Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.
When problems were reported
Mileage at the reported incident
Limited mileage data: 37 of 207 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.
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 76 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Electrical System. Review the 33 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Engine. Review the 32 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
16 crash reports5 fire reports5 injury reports
Visibility/wiper complaints
76 reportsUsed the car on Saturday, didn't get hit with a rock or a branch. When I parked the car there wasn't a crack. Woke up Sunday morning and the Windshield was cracked, it started from the bottom passenger corner up to the middle of windshield about 10-12". No trees nearby or rock damage. Taking it to Subaru today.
Windshield was cracked and was repaired successfully by Safelite. Then a new crack started about 18 inches long. Then a 3rd crack just happened. There was no major things hitting Windshield . 3 cracks to a brand new 1yr windshield seems to be very faulty material. Online comments have noted this is a major problem with subaru …
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Windshield was cracked and was repaired successfully by Safelite. Then a new crack started about 18 inches long. Then a 3rd crack just happened. There was no major things hitting Windshield . 3 cracks to a brand new 1yr windshield seems to be very faulty material. Online comments have noted this is a major problem with subaru who don't seem interested in rectifying the situation. This seems to be a major safety issue.
Having the car less than a year already have several chips on the windshield. In doing research it seems that there are a lot of issues with new Subaru windshields with chipping and cracking.
Purchased brand new from dealer. Less than 3 months later a tiny pebble came up and hit the center of the windshield, immediately you could see an indentation and a spider web. Now the whole windshield has multiple spider web cracks. The splits go from edge of driver's side all the way to edge of passenger side of the car. As w…
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Purchased brand new from dealer. Less than 3 months later a tiny pebble came up and hit the center of the windshield, immediately you could see an indentation and a spider web. Now the whole windshield has multiple spider web cracks. The splits go from edge of driver's side all the way to edge of passenger side of the car. As well as 3 separate rings going around center indentation. Only had the car 3 months when this occured. Have had 3 instances that I could not start the car. Now the cigarette lighter charge port will not work. Moon roof malfunctioning and will not close sometimes when fully opened. Now I am having issues with the brakes sticking. It's 1 year old and this is way too many issues for a brand new car! Never again!
There was a small rock kicked up by another car, and there immediately was a 6 inch curved crack in the windshield from the bottom-most part of the windshield. It quickly spread to 10+ inches and is still growing. The car is only at 9.8k miles
I heard a ping from a small rock kicked up by another driver, and I immediately noticed a 6 inch crack in the windshield. It quickly spread to 10+ inches and is still growing. The car is only at 7k miles…and I already had to replace the left rear quarter panel glass which shattered a month after buying new. I’ve never had vehicl…
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I heard a ping from a small rock kicked up by another driver, and I immediately noticed a 6 inch crack in the windshield. It quickly spread to 10+ inches and is still growing. The car is only at 7k miles…and I already had to replace the left rear quarter panel glass which shattered a month after buying new. I’ve never had vehicle glass crack so easily on any other vehicle!!
While driving home 1/21/2022 I heard a rock hit the hood of my car, when I arrived home I checked for damage...nothing I could see. When I went out the next morning I had a 14 inch crack in my windshield. I took my car to have inspected at the dealership repair and they said it was due to a chip the size of a pinhead. I have con…
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While driving home 1/21/2022 I heard a rock hit the hood of my car, when I arrived home I checked for damage...nothing I could see. When I went out the next morning I had a 14 inch crack in my windshield. I took my car to have inspected at the dealership repair and they said it was due to a chip the size of a pinhead. I have contacted my insurance and filed a claim so the windshield will be repaired but I have to pay a $500 deductible. There's got to be some kind of fault with the windshield that it would sustain this kind of damage from such a small chip in the glass. I have included pictures magnified at 10X
There was a tiny pebble hit the windshield on Friday Jan 21st 2022. There was a minor chip in the windshield due to that and later in an hour or so it expanded into a 8-10 inches one. This is while I was driving, I still haven't got home.
With no impact from flying debris the windshield developed a bubble/crack potentially in the interlayer. There crack/bubble cannot be felt on the inside or outside parts of the windshield.
Official recalls
0No 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
0No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.