Home · 2021 Subaru Forester Wilderness · Complaints

What 207 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 Subaru Forester Wilderness

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (207)Crash / fire / injury (19)Visibility & wipers (90)Electrical system (33)Engine (32)Driver assistance (17)Transmission & drivetrain (14)Speed control (12)Lane Departure (8)Brakes (7)Fuel system (6)Suspension (4)

6 of 207 complaints match · Speed control · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Apr 7, 2025Speed controlCrash

The contact owned a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that his wife attempted to turn into a parking lot while her foot depressed on the brake pedal, the vehicle jolted into acceleration, ultimately crashing into two parked vehicles at 5 MPH. The front passenger side of the contact's vehicle crashed into the front of two vehicles. No property damage was reported. The vehicle came to a stop upon impact. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was not towed. The Steering Responsive Headlight Warning Light was illuminated. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. No Injuries were reported. The local dealer was not contacted, and the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 39,500.

NHTSA ODI 11653275

Feb 12, 2024Transmission & drivetrainSpeed controlEngineCrash

The 2021 Subaru Forester had been functioning normally with no warning lights. About 25 minutes into the drive I had come to a stop light on an upward incline. When the light turned green I moved from the brake to the gas as usual. However the auto-start function on the car failed, causing the engine to stall. A loud clunking sound was heard and the dashboard lit up with multiple lights, although I do no recall which ones were illumined. I attempted to press the gas again and the car did not respond. During this short time my foot was pressing on the gas the car rolled backwards and collided with the vehicle behind me. I continued attempting to press the gas pedal and still no acceleration was made. After parking and restarting the car it has resumed normal function. I have not yet visited the dealership so this issue has not yet been reproduced, nor has the offending system been inspected. I'm summary, the automatic engine start failed at a critical location, putting myself and others in serious danger and ultimately caused a crash.

NHTSA ODI 11571429

Jun 20, 2023Speed controlCrash

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while parking the vehicle in a parking lot, the vehicle accelerated independently and jumped the curb and into the bushes. The contact attempted to reverse the vehicle but continued to also accelerate independently in Reverse. The contact stated the gear shift was on Neutral and continue to Rev loudly. The contact stated the vehicle stop on its own due to the tires deflating. The contact stated no one was injured nor sought medical attention. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed to the local dealer but was unable to duplicate nor diagnosed the failure. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ODI 11527951

Aug 31, 2022Speed controlCrash

The contact owns a 2021 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, she shifted the gear shifter into reverse(R) and the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration and lunged backward, crashing into another vehicle. Additionally, the vehicle made abnormally loud noises and was extremely hot after it was turned off. The contact did not sustain any injuries. No police report was filed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, and the dealer inspected the brake system. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000.

NHTSA ODI 11482284

Jul 13, 2022Speed controlBrakesEngineCrash1 injury

on 7/9/22 @ 6:00p I was with my wife & 2 grandsons going into a diner parking lot. as I was slowly going into a spot the car suddenly and without warning accelerated causing the car to drive over a cement parking stop, over a 1foot high cement wall, through a chain linked fence which had privacy covering, down into a 12 deep ravine. after shutting off the car my grandsons, wife & myself had to crawl out through the rear hatch. when things quieted down we realized that none of the safety features were activated (anti-collision warning, anti-collision braking) I thank God no one was hurt. Subaru needs to look into this so in the future no one ever experiences this.

NHTSA ODI 11473641

Jun 18, 2022AirbagsSpeed controlFuel systemCrash

I was coming out of my garaged ( car was facing forward) . The car seemed to hesitate as I tapped the gas pedal. I thought maybe this was because the car sensed the sides of the garage via the rear view mirror sensors. I am always careful when exiting my garage so as not to ding the rearview mirrors. I repeatedly tapped the gas lightly about three times but the car hesitated each time and did not want to seem to move forward. One last time I tapped the gas and the car bolted out of the garage jumped the curb across the street at an unexpected rapid speed. I did not have my foot on the gas pedal. The car lunged forward , crossed the street and hit the garage door and frame of the house across the street for me doing structural damage. I believe this to be unintended acceleration for which other Subaru models have experienced problems. The air bags did not deploy. Please see similar accident for another example of this same scenario with the same make model and year as my vehicle: https: //www.google.com/amp/s/www.torque net.com/1084/subar-acceleration-lawsuit-update-forester-slams-garage/amp

NHTSA ODI 11469925

Working with the data? Download all 207 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 19, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2021 Subaru Forester Wilderness verdict →