Subaru Forester electrical problems

I am writing to express serious concerns about the Auto Start-Stop feature, which poses a significant safety risk when it causes shutdowns in critical situations. Recently, my vehicle shut off due to Auto Start-Stop while in the express lane of a highway. A depleted battery prevented it from restarting, leaving me stranded without the ability to shift to neutral or activate brake lights and hazard signals. For 30 minutes, I was stuck in a vulnerable position, forcing high-speed traffic to swerve dangerously close to my vehicle. While the battery issue was a factor, the car would have remained running had I been able to turn it off manually once parked. Reports from other drivers indicate similar issues, including stalling, hesitation, and complete system failures. Given these risks, I urge the NHTSA to investigate this feature and require manufacturers to provide a permanent disable option rather than a temporary one that resets.

I was stopped at a red light when, suddenly, my car engine completely shut down, a loud and high-pitched alarm began to squeal and many alerts flashed on my screen. one of the alerts stated that the eye--sight was not functioning.The car would not move when the traffic light turned green and I applied the gas pedal. Cars behind me and those in oncoming traffic had to swerve around me. I was in the center lane of traffic. Fortunately, I was able to put the emergency blinkers on. The traffic light turned red again. It occurred to me to shift into park and attempt to restart the car. The car did restart and I was able to drive home when the traffic light again turned green. I made an appointment to take the car into Concordville Subaru and, there, I was told that the battery was low and I was given a new battery since the car is under warranty. I am reading from other owners that this is a temporary fix only and that it does not address the real problem.

The issue started last year over a period of several months when my car kept stalling at a traffic light. After stopping on a red light my car stalled. I had to shut off the car then restart to get it going. Had the battery replaced and problem was gone until this week. Car stalled at the traffic light again (in the middle of busy downtown and being the 1st car at the intersection), but this time it wouldn't restart and battery light turned on when attemped to restart. Called Subaru road assist and requested jumpstart service. While waiting for road assist to arrive, attempted to jumpstarts with a manual jump starter, but didn't work. Attempted with the jumpstart cables, but still didn't work. Subaru assist arrived and was able to successfully jumpstart my car. The Subaru tech assessed my battery and showed 75% battery life. Drove home on the freeway for about 25 miles. The next day drove to and home from work (25 miles reach way) with no issues. The following day, my car wouldn't start from my home. Jumpstarted with the manual one and brought it to the shop a few miles away. Got to the shop and turned off the engine. When turning on again, it wouldn't start.

MY 2021 Subaru Forester battery has died twice in the last 10 months. I could not jump start the vehicle the first time about 10 months ago. I needed AAA to jump start it. I took the car to the dealer; they recharged the vehicle and said the battery was fine. They did not bill me. The car died again this week. This time I was able to jump start the vehicle myself. The safety issue is I might need to get to a doctor's appointment or other emergency in a hurry. I may be out shopping or hiking and need to return home, perhaps in bad weather. I might be stranded in a busy intersection or a lonely country road. The battery is simply not trust-worthy. The vehicle was inspected by the dealer, and they said the battery was fine. There was no warning lamp before the battery failed. The car is not safe-I don't know when it won't work.

12/14/24-I was stopped at a red light at a VERY busy intersection. The engine was in stop mode by the start/stop feature. When the light turned green, the car failed to start. The entire car shut down, with alarms sounding and dash lights flashing. The entire system had to reboot before I could restart the car. It was a freighting experience. Fortunately, I wasn't killed by traffic zooming by or by some person with road rage. 12/16/24-Issue evaluated by local Subaru dealer. Their evaluation was that when the auto start feature was activated, my car battery was too low to work. There was zero warning about a low battery before this failure in traffic. I had to buy a new battery. The auto start/stop feature is not an enhancement, but a safety hazard. Owners should be able to permanently disable this unnecessary drain on batteries and starters. I did a search, and there are plenty of others that experienced similar issues with their Subarus.

Periodically, the vehicle stalls at stop lights, stop signs, and in other situations when coming to a complete stop. Once the vehicle comes to a complete stop and turns off due to the auto-stop/start function, it stalls immediately after the car re-starts and you press the gas pedal. This leaves the vehicle stalled in intersections and in potentially dangerous conditions. You must engage park and restart the vehicle while stopped in the middle of traffic, which poses a significant safety risk. I believe this issue is related to the auto-stop/start functionality. The vehicle has been inspected by a Subaru dealer several times, but they claim they cannot reproduce the problem and there are no diagnostic codes or warning lights. No other mechanic has inspected the vehicle.

The WUM-98 recall fix did not address the problem with the front passenger occupancy detection system. We, and many other Subaru Forester owners are continuing to experience problems post recall repair with the SRS Airbag light on, indicating error code B1760 "Occupant Detection Sensor Mat" failure. Subaru is not covering the cost of addressing this problem, and the entire seat frame and bottom cushion (that includes the sensor mat) are required to be replaced at the consumer's expense, with bills for repair in excess of $2,000. And, due to the high demand for this repair, parts are not available to perform the repair for as much as 6 months! This is jeopardizing the safety of occupants in the front passenger seat for extended periods of time while waiting for parts, whereby the airbag is not active due to the sensor mat problem. The original recall should have encompassed not only the harness cable component, but also the sensor mat.

[XXX], driving home, dark at [XXX] in Airway Heights WA. About 10 mins to home, lights in dashboard suddenly lit (brake, check engine, battery icon, water temp icon, 2 yellow colored pictures that had the word “off”, park, ABS, exclamation point next to a circle that had a symbol in circle like a Mercedes Benz, and another symbol colored yellow). I kept driving with very little power in the car and it was hard turning the wheels to left or right turns. I was so scared thinking I would be stranded in the middle of the street! Made it to my carport and drove it in. Turned off car; attempted to restart but didn’t, and during the times I started the car, it would make a stuttering noise. The lights that lit up remained, wouldn’t turn off until attempt to start again when the lights all turned off. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)