all vehicles · every Forester year · method

Subaru Forester 2008

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

0.15 per 1,000

better than this nameplate’s own median · from 9 complaints filed in the first three years, of 49 ever. 95% lower bound 0.05.

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

No phrase appears often enough in these complaints to describe them reliably.

When it breaks

20% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 88,900 miles, from 39 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

1 investigation covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign.

Front suspension control arm 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:

10218920 · 10224601 · 10282835 · 10284208 · 10288826 · 10299881

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.