2009 Subaru Forester problems
Owners have filed 228 complaints with NHTSA about the 2009 Subaru Forester. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 18% of complaints. After that come engine (17%) and electrical system (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 228 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 18% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 25 and 8
- Injuries and deaths
- 7 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 60,000 miles 161 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 32 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 16 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 32 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 19 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 22 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 14 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 10 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 4 |
What the data shows
Among the 161 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 60,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 60,000 miles (10 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 25 complaints mention a crash; 8 complaints mention a fire; 7 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 14th most-complained-about out of 29 model years of the Subaru Forester with enough data (108 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 17 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Driver was backing up vehicle, when it accelerated rapidly, causing loss of control and traffic crash where a pedestrian was backed over, pinned and killed. Drive had no explanation of why this happened. Passenger in vehicle claims there had to have been mechanical defect.
Our son bought a 2009 subaru forester on 7/13/18 from the dan perkins subaru dealership in milford, ct. He was driving it home at noon on 8/16/18 when his check engine light came on. Within seconds the car filled with smoke, and went up in flames. The entire car was lost.
In a 2009 subaru forester while in a small parking lot, after backing out of parking space and preparing to move forward, the vehicle suddenly accelerated, shot across the lot and crashed into a parked car which was severely damaged and deemed totaled. The driver was only able to attempt to steer the out-of-control forester away from the parking lot exit to avoid it leaving the lot, crossing the sidewalk and entering the roadway.the forester sustained considerable damages which were repaired.
Vehicle: 2009 subaru forester limited, on 6/20/09 I experienced an incident of unintended acceleration. Cruise control was on. Before our exit I canceled the cruise control but left it "on". On the ramp, I let the car slow. At about 40 MPH I moved the shift lever into 'sport' mode, downshifted to 3rd gear, then 2nd, then braked to a stop. The car was stopped, in gear, idling. My foot was on the brake.