Verified government source

NHTSA complaint #11450644

This page summarizes an official U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration owner complaint. Use the verification links below to confirm the record directly with NHTSA.

Vehicle

2020 SUBARU FORESTER

Manufacturer

Subaru of America, Inc.

Components

UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES

Dates

Incident: 02/02/2022
Filed: 02/06/2022

Owner complaint summary

10/2021: The vehicle completely shut-off at the beginning of a turnabout in front of the fire department. Per nearby pedestrians, automobile owners, employees of the fire department and AAA driver, the start/stop battery or alternator malfunctioned. The vehicle only had 51k miles. This was a new vehicle purchase in 2019. The safety of my toddler and I were at risk as soon as we entered the beginning of a turnabout. I had reported several safety issues from tires, brakes, burning feelings on my skin , my jaw locking up and seatbelt malfunctioning for nearly 1.5 years. Each time I was told they could not replicate the issue. occurred. Problems occurred at the 1st oil change at 5-6k miles. When the car completey shut-off I tried turning the car on and all the dashboard lights came on and I was able to roll my toddlers window down. The car shut off again and when I turned the ignition on the wheel became stuck along with the ignition. I turned the emergency/Caution lights on and thought that would provide us safety from other cars colliding into us. I noticed cars would wait directly behind me and then honk their horn if I did not drive-off. Nearby pedestrians walked by and mentioned the emergency/caution lights were not flashing. I told them to look at my dashboard because they are flashing. The nearby dealership inspected the car and determined the start/stop battery was bad. The corporate office decided to pay for the labor, parts and car rental fees -as a goodwill gesture. 2/2022: 3-4 months has gone by and now there is an acidic feeling on the driver's side stemming from the front and back and even the wheel - when the car is turned on and it lingers when you turn the car off. I even placed a lime and orange I the car for an acidity test as expected it both reacted to the acidity from the car. Makes it hard to talk in the car, vision gets blurry and its almost like you have COVID-19 symptoms but you don't really have it.

This is an owner complaint filed with NHTSA (ODI #11450644). It is not automatically an official recall, investigation outcome, or manufacturer admission unless the complaint text itself describes one.

Official record ID (ODI): 11450644. This page is the human-readable source link used across afterwarranty. The raw JSON link proxies NHTSA's public API for machine verification; prefer this page when reading the complaint.