all vehicles · every Forester year · method

Subaru Forester 2018

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

1.12 per 1,000

2.1 times this nameplate’s own median · from 195 complaints filed in the first three years, of 497 ever. 95% lower bound 0.96.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.15	9
2009	0.48	33
2010	0.53	43
2011	0.24	19
2012	0.34	27
2013	0.21	21
2014	0.56	80
2015	0.83	140
2016	0.50	89
2017	1.12	200
2018	1.12	195
2019	2.98	525
2020	2.29	408
2021	0.79	131
2022	0.52	70
2023	0.46	61

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Visibility/Wiper 135 complaints

windshield	128	94%
crack	80	59%
cracked	58	43%
across	28	21%
appeared	21	16%
windshield crack	19	14%

Air Bags 99 complaints

wum	20	16%
heated	19	15%
heated seats	18	15%
ods	17	14%
recall wum	16	13%
foresters	14	11%

Unknown Or Other 84 complaints

windshield	32	38%
cracked	17	21%
crack	15	18%
windshield cracked	10	12%
compressor	10	12%

When it breaks

73% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 16,000 miles, from 242 complaints that recorded one).

Failures cluster early, which is the signature of how the car was built rather than of wear. A low-mileage example has not yet passed the risk window.

What NHTSA did

1 investigation covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 119 complaints about this component over roughly 18 months before an investigation opened.

Occupant Detection System (ODS) Failure

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

11022389 · 11024931 · 11055994 · 11063153 · 11082203 · 11085135

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.