2015 Subaru Forester Brakes Problems

The contact owns a 2015 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving at an unknown speed, the antilock braking system (ABS), vehicle dynamic control (VDC), and the check engine warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the brake light switch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact then stated that the vehicle was previously repaired at a local dealer under a manufacturer's recall code WUE-90 for Brake Lamp Switch. The dealer was not notified. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they were not available. The failure mileage was 56,915

On Wednesday November 10 I was arriving at Chase Bank 4229 Woodruff Ave Lakewood Ca. I was turning right into a parking stall heading due east, parking between a pickup truck to the right and a passenger car to the left. I was braking with my right foot only traveling 5 miles per hour and suddenly the car accelerated over a parking stop and into the bank building. It was so sudden I couldn't react and pull up the parking brake. The collision caused major front end damage to my 2015 Subaru Forrester XT. It also caused damage to the Chase Bank building. I was lucky to be a couple of parking spaces south of the ready teller , as there was a male white customer at the outside teller and he would of been killed or at least very severely injured. My wife selected this car new in 2015 because of the safety of it.

At about 101,000 miles I took the car in to the dealership where I bought it for another issue. When the tech got it up on his lift he came in and notified the service manager that there was bubbles on my brake line. The service manager came to us and she said “I really shouldn’t let you drive out of here with those bubbles because I would be an unsafe condition”, the implication was that if they burst I would have no brakes. The road salt on the roads in the winter in Vermont was indicated as the cause of the problem. They installed all new brake lines behind the cabin. I had asked them to save a section of the brake lines showing the bubbles and that DID NOT happen. I do much of my own maintenance and to have steel brake lines bubble it’s hard to understand. Maybe the hose between the end of the steel brake line and the wheel could bubble but having the brake line bubble is nightmarish.The safety concern is if other Subarus in salty climates have that problem and the owner is not aware of it, the brakes are liable to fail. Scary. As to the engine, since the car was a new, putting pressure on the accelerator caused the car to lurch, Irritating and dangerous in tight settings. Notified the dealership on the day we got it and when mentioned, nothing could be done for the 5 years since it was new.

SIMILAR COMPLAINTS ALREADY LOGGED. WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED WARNING LIGHTS FOR ABS, EYE-SIGHT, DYNAMIC VEHICLE ASSITANCE, HILL-START ASSISTANCE COME ON. TOOK THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALERSHIP TO GET IT CHECKED OUT. THEY REPLACED THE BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH AND SAID THE PROBLEM WAS FIXED. UPON DRIVING, THE PROBLEM PERSISTED, THIS TIME WITH THE BRAKES BEING APPLIED BY THE VEHICLE ITSELF WHILE IN MOTION ON A HIGHWAY MOVING AT HIGHWAY SPEED DESPITE MY FOOT NOT BEING ON EITHER THE BRAKE OR GAS PEDAL. WITH THE DECREASE IN SPEED, I ATTEMPTED TO ACCELERATE THE VEHICLE TO NO AVAIL. AT THIS TIME I PULLED THE VEHICLE OFF TO THE SHOULDER, PUT IT IN PARK, AND THEN BACK INTO DRIVE TO SEE IF THE PROBLEM HAD BEEN CORRECTED. I PRESSED THE ACCELERATOR FOR A PERIOD OF TIME BEFORE ULTIMATELY THE DRIVE REENGAGED. ONLINE THERE APPEAR TO BE NUMEROUS OTHERS WHO HAVE HAD SIMILAR ISSUES: HTTPS://WWW.CARCOMPLAINTS.COM/SUBARU/FORESTER/2015/BRAKES/SERVICE_BRAKES.SHTML

2015 SUBARU FORESTER. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO PREMATURE BRAKE AND ROTOR FAILURE. *LD *JS

BRAKE SWITCH WAS REPLACED ON 10/06/18 ON 2015 SUBARU FORESTER. WHEN RECALL CAME OUT, DEALER DIDNT REFUND FOR THE $156.01 FOR THE REPLACED BRAKE SWITCH, BUT REPLACED IT AGAIN UNDER RECALL 19V149000. SYMPTOMS ARE THAT THE CAR WOULD LOSE POWER TO WHEELS WHILE DRIVING (ENGINE RPM WOULD RISE) & WOULD HAVE TO RELEASE , THEN DEPRESS ACCELERATOR TO GET IT TO PUT POWER TO WHEELS AGAIN. HAPPENED MULTIPLE TIMES ON INTERSTATE. ABS AND TRACTION CONTROL WARNINGS CAME ON DURING ISSUE AS WELL UNTIL CAR RESTARTED.

HELLO, SUBARU NEEDS TO ADD FORESTER MODELS TO ITS RECALL OF 72,000 VEHICLES DUE TO PROBLEMS WITH THEIR AUTOMATIC BRAKING SYSTEM (ABS), FAULTY BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH SENSORS. I JUST HAD TO HAVE MY SUBARU FORESTER'S BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH REPLACED FOR THE 2ND TIME IN 2 YEARS! BOTH TIMES, I WAS DRIVING ON OPEN HIGHWAYS FAR FROM HOME DOING 55MPH ON FLAT TERRAIN WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE 3 LIGHTS CAME FLASHING ON MY CAR'S DASHBOARD: HILLSTART ASSIST SYSTEM, ABS, & VEHICLE DYNAMICS CONTROL SYSTEMS. I WAS EXTREMELY ALARMED BOTH TIMES THAT MY VEHICLE MIGHT NOT BE SAFE TO TRAVEL, ESPECIALLY SINCE I WAS ON HIGHWAYS AND FAR FROM HOME. COULD IT BE THAT WHEN THE PART WAS REPLACED 2 YEARS AGO IT WAS REPLACED WITH YET ANOTHER FAULTY PART?? TWO YEARS AGO, THE REPAIR COST WAS COVERED UNDER SUBARU NEW-CAR WARRANTY. THIS SECOND TIME, MY EXTENDED WARRANTY PAID SOME, BUT I AM NOW OUT OF $100. DEDUCTIBLE, --- ($160. LABOR COST(?!), TO REPLACE A $16. PART! TOTAL BILLED WAS $175.68) I AM NOT CONFIDENT IN THE REPLACED SENSOR, AND AM SCARED TO DRIVE MY FORESTER FOR LONG-DISTANT TRIPS FOR FEAR IT MAY HAPPEN AGAIN, SINCE IT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED TWICE IN 2 YEARS. I BELIEVE THAT SUBARU SHOULD REFUND MY $100. SINCE SUBARU HAS KNOWN ABOUT FAULTY BRAKE SENSORS FORMALLY RECALLED IN OTHER MODELS. UPON SEARCHING THE INTERNET, I DISCOVERED THAT FAULTY BRAKE SWITCH SENSORS HAVE BEEN A WELL-KNOWN PROBLEM WITH SUBARU FOR MANY YEARS, AND RECALLS FOR THIS PART SHOULD APPLY TO THE FORESTER AS WELL AS OTHER MODELS. I ALSO BELIEVE THAT SUBARU NEEDS TO ADD FORESTER MODELS TO THEIR LIST OF RECALLS FOR FAULTY BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH SENSORS. I/WE FORESTER OWNERS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO KEEP PAYING FOR KNOWN FAULTY PARTS, NOR SHOULD WE BE SCARED FOR OUR SAFETY TO DRIVE OUR NEWER MODEL VEHICLES. PLEASE HELP! R/ MS. KOTSIRAS

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2015 SUBARU FORESTER. WHILE DRIVING, THE CONTACT DEPRESSED THE BRAKE PEDAL AND NOTICED IT WAS STIFF. THE CONTACT HAD TO DEPRESS THE BRAKE PEDAL SEVERAL TIMES TO STOP THE VEHICLE. THE FAILURE OCCURRED SEVERAL TIMES. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE DEALER AND MANUFACTURER WERE NOT CONTACTED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 35,000.

SOFT BRAKE FADE. BRAKES FADE, IN PARTICULAR, WHEN VEHICLE IS WARM AFTER DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, BRAKES SINK ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR. IT SEEMS LIKE THEY WON'T STOP THE VEHICLE. THIS SEEMS TO BE GETTING WORSE AS VEHICLE AGES. HAPPENS REGULARLY. DEALER AND SUBARU SAY THIS IS NORMAL BEHAVIOR. THERE ARE SERVICE BULLETINS ABOUT THIS SAFETY ISSUE ON MANY OTHER SUBARU MODELS, BUT NOT ON THIS MODEL. DEALER AND SUBARU ARE INCORRECTLY TREATING THIS AS A CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ISSUE, NOT A SAFETY ISSUE. I RECOMMEND AN INVESTIGATION OF SUBARU BRAKE ISSUES ON ALL MODELS.

HILL START ASSIST BRAKING ACTIVATED WHEN I WAS PULLING ON TO A 60 MPH HIGHWAY ON FLAT GROUND! IT CONTINUED TO ENGAGE BRAKES & THEN DISENGAGE BRAKES AS I TRIED TO ACCELERATE. I COULD NOT GET THE VEHICLE TO ACCELERATE BEYOND 25MPH. THIS WAS ON AN ICY HIGHWAY WITH OTHER VEHICLES TRYING TO BRAKE TO AVOID HITTING ME. I CONSIDER THIS A LIFE THREATENING DEFECT!

I WAS GOING LESS THAN TEN MILES PER HOUR ON CITY STREETS AND TRIED TO STOP AT A STOPLIGHT WHEN MY BRAKES FAILED. MY FOOT WAS FLOORING THE BRAKE AND I CONTINUED TO ROLL INTO THE CROSS WALK AND PART OF THE INTERSECTION BEFORE PUTTING MY CAR INTO REVERSE TO MAKE IT STOP AS IT FELT LIKE THE GEAR CHANGED TO NEUTRAL WITH THE WAY I WAS ROLLING. LUCKILY THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC REMAINED STOPPED WHEN THIS INCIDENT OCCURRED. MY CAR WAS SERVICED 6 DAYS PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT BY MY LOCAL SUBARU DEALERSHIP WITH NO REPORT OF ANY BRAKE ISSUES.

WHEN APPLYING THE BRAKES (APPROX 40MPH OR LESS), I'VE HAD 6 OCCURRENCES WHERE THE BRAKES HAVE FAILED. MY FOOT IS LITERALLY ON THE FLOOR & THE CAR IS STILL MOVING. ON THE LAST OCCURENCE, I HAD TO PUT THE EMERGENCY BRAKES AS MY CAR WAS GOING INTO TRAFFIC. STARTED IN MID APR 2016 TO CURRENT.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2015 SUBARU FORESTER. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 10 MPH, THE BRAKES FAILED TO ENGAGE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER. THE MECHANIC WAS UNABLE TO LOCATE A FAILURE. THE VEHICLE HAS NOT BEEN REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VIN WAS NOT AVAILABLE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 2,000.