2016 Subaru Forester

2016 Subaru Forester recalls (3)

• EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS:SWITCH

  Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2014-2016 Forester, 2008-2016 Impreza sedans, 2012-2016 Impreza station wagons, 2008-2014 WRX sedans (including STI), and 2013-2017 Crosstrek vehicles. Exposure to certain contaminants may cause the brake light switch to malfunction, preventing the brake lights from illuminating and also preventing keyless ignition vehicles from starting and CVT/automatic transmissions from being able to be shifted out of Park.

  Remedy: Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will replace the brake light switch, free of charge. The recall began April 15, 2019. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WUE-90.

• AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION

  Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2015-2018 Forester vehicles equipped with heated seats. An electrical connection in the front passenger seat for the Occupant Detection System (ODS) may loosen.

  Remedy: Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, as necessary, replace the ODS sensor mat harness, free of charge. The recall began February 11, 2020. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WUM-98.

• ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:GASOLINE:TURBO/SUPERCHARGER

  Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 WRX vehicles manufactured April 10, 2015, to October 21, 2015, and Forester 2.0XT vehicles manufactured April 10, 2015, to October 20, 2015. The turbocharger air intake duct may crack and possibly result in an engine stall.

  Remedy: Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the turbocharger air intake duct, and replace it as necessary, free of charge, depending on the lot number found on the duct. The recall began April 2016. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-800-782-2783. Subaru's number for this recall is WTA-62.

2016 Subaru Forester safety ratings

Source: NHTSA NCAP ratings.

2016 Subaru Forester owner complaints (15)

• ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS

  Problem: Recall for passenger side airbag malfunction in heated seats for my model year. Manufacturer has said they addressed the recall but they have not. My car and thousands of others are unsafe for passengers to ride in because the airbag system does not work. Warning light is the airbag symbol and message that alerts driver that SRS system is not working. Manufacturer and dealers want to charge 200 to look problem over and then tell you its off warranty. My car has 96000 miles and this has been a problem since they “did the recall”. Subaru tells owners that passenger should ride in back seat. How does that work with two car seats. Subaru needs to take responsibility for their engineering design and fix this safety defect. These cars are death traps.

• AIR BAGS

  The driver's side air bags, and seatbelt restraint system deployed while the vehicle was stopped without a collision occurring. The doors had not been opened. This occurred February 10, 2026, and the vehicle was taken to the local Subaru dealership for troubleshooting. The local dealership did not find and fault and reported this to Subaru. Subaru sent a technician and reported that a gouge was present in the door jamb and that this caused the fault which reset. There was no object in the door at the time to cause a problem. This seems unlikely to me as a collision fault should have remained active according to professionals I have spoken with. The safety issue paramount to this event is as follows: If the air bags had deployed while the vehicle was in motion on a highway the sudden and unexpected deployment could have an accident. If a deployment occurs and causes a fatal accident or even an accident with severe injuries, the root cause of the event might not have been diagnosed as in the subsequent crash the air bags would be expected to have deployed. Accidents such as this may have been incorrectly diagnosed and an improper cause attributed. I do not know how widespread this issue may be when it comes to other manufacturers. I do know that common technology and designs are used throughout the automotive industry. The gouge specified looks like it could have been made by a seatbelt that got caught in the door. This would have occurred some months prior to the event. Seatbelts do get caught in doors raising concerns that this is a more widespread issue than is publicly known. I say this because the Subaru technician did not spend much time at the local dealership and left without reporting any findings to the dealership I have been told,

• ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SEATS

  Passenger Occupant Detection System is malfunctioning. It is not registering a passenger in the seat, and in turn not turning the passenger airbag on when the seat is occupied. This puts any passnger who sit in this seat at risk of the airbag not deploying. This issue has been confirmed by the dealer. There was a recall for the Passenger ODS harness (WUM-98R) that the harness was replaced. Since this has been completed they state the Occupant Detection System is a seperate issue that requires seat base to be replaced in order for the system to register an occupant and have the air bags turn on when occupied.

• UNKNOWN OR OTHER

  My horn stopped working. The shop said it’s the clock spring and it’s about 1k to fix. Ive been researching this issue and it seems this is a major problem for numerous years of vehicle. I’m really upset with Subaru as first I had to deal with the radio not working (dealer said it’s a major issue they have seen numerous times) Subaru did help with the costs of repairs however neither of these issues has been owner caused nor wear and tear as the part to fix the horn can’t be reached.

• AIR BAGS

  The recalled part which was apart of the WUM-98R didn't fix the problem and dealership saying im the caused for the ods for front passenger airbag not to work and I fed up with them trying to charge me for a recalled part failure and I'm very aware that I'm not the first person who has the recalled part replaced and after the recalled the part starting to malfunction. They are trying to charge me 2k after they trying to blame me for spilling drinks on the seat when I don't let anyone drink in my car.

• AIR BAGS,SEATS

  The airbag SRS sensor on the passenger side cuts on even if someone is sitting in the passenger seat. Then it will randomly cut off when no one is in the passenger seat. I’m concerned that if I was to have a wreck then someone could die. I called the Subaru dealership when I first noticed it 2 years ago. They told me to bring it up there. They checked it out and said that no codes were showing. However, that sensor wasn’t showing at the time. They also told me that if it did come back on to bring it back up there and then proceeded to quote me a price of 1500.

• ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES

  I had my foot on the brake, opened the garage door with my garage door opener, and before I took my foot off the brake the car surged, jumped, and smashed into the brick wall next to the garage. I did not put my foot on the gas.

• AIR BAGS,SEATS

  I am reporting a safety-critical failure of the passenger-side Occupant Detection System (ODS) in my 2016 Subaru Forester, which deactivates the airbag while the seat is occupied. This issue was first documented at an authorized Subaru dealer on 11/15/2023, where the technician identified 'poor contact of connectors' (a known condition in Recall 19V-701). The initial remedy performed was to reconnect the connector to restore the unstable electrical connection. However, that remedy has since failed, and the failure is now permanent. I have physically verified that my ODS harness carries the defective Supplier Code 6578 and Date Code 15280—the exact 'NG' (No Good) hardware identified in the recall. The dealer has quoted me 1,244 to replace the seat cushion assembly but refuses to cover it under the recall because my VIN was excluded from the initial list. Subaru is requiring me to pay out-of-pocket to remedy a documented manufacturing defect that they have already acknowledged and attempted to repair once before.

• ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

  I have a 2016 Subaru Forester and started 3 weeks ago with a problem when I turn it on all the lights on the dashboard turn on and the car won't star. The mechanic has changed the battery and the problem continues. It's happened three times now that it's suddenly shut off while I'm driving. It was very scary. Now the mechanic said that I have to take to the dealer because it is the body control module.

• AIR BAGS

  Currently getting a reoccurring warning, "SRS airbag system needs to be checked" which disables the front passenger airbag. This means if I have a passenger sit in the front seat of my vehicle, they don't have the protection of an airbag in the event of a car accident. In 2021, I had this exact same issue and the Subaru dealership diagnosed the airbag needing to be replaced. I had to pay for this replacement, but it did fix the issue. Now that it is back, I am now working with Subaru of America with Case #251030-2001271 and they are refusing to acknowledge that this second air bag replacement should be covered by them because my car is over 10 years old and over 100k miles. There is no telling how long this new air bag will last since the one replaced in 2021 is already bad.

• ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

  The rear backup camera failed. No warning lights appeared. This is a safety issue. This repair was expensive should not have happened at 79019 miles. The problem was inspected and estimated by our Subaru dealer. We were told that the radio/screen unit first needed replacement, then if that didn't fix it, to then replace the camera. We were give a rough estimate of $2500 to replace both items. We decided to get another estimate. They determine it was the camera, which we had them replace.

• AIR BAGS,SEATS

  A warning light will randomly light up indicating a problem with the airbag or airbag sensor in my front passenger seat. I have had it looked at by multiple Subaru dealerships and shops and have had various quotes in the thousands of dollars to repair it. The technicians have told me that the sensor likely has an issue because of potential spillage on the seat that would seep into the sensor and cause it a problem, however there have not been recent spills on the seat and the light has only been turning on in the past year or so. I recently heard from another Subaru Forester owner that a similar maintenance issue happened in their car so I felt it was appropriate to report this issue.

• AIR BAGS

  Multiple times over the last 4 months the passenger airbag has turned off when there is a passenger occupying the seat and the SRS light turns on. The related code is B1650. This seems to be the same issue as a recall from about 5 years ago that was “fixed” and now has come back. The same code and SRS light sometimes comes on when there is no one in the passenger seat as well. It makes it unsafe to have a passenger in the seat as the airbag is turned off and it is very unpredictable.

• ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM

  Vehicle self-accelerated abruptly while parked and crashed into another vehicle causing damage to both vehicles

• POWER TRAIN

  I bought the car between 82-90K miles. Not long after I noticed when I was at an intersection and went from a stopped position to accelerating it would barely go. Spent over a lot to fix it and the guy who did says he has 2-3 Forresters a month in his shop for the same issue.