What is the best year for the Subaru Forester?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Subaru Forester
which year?
Compare every Subaru Forester model year the EPA recorded, 1998 to 2026. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Subaru Forester year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Subaru Forester years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2019
831 indexed complaint reports; visibility/wiper is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2019 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect2015613 indexed complaint reports; engine is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2015 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2020596 indexed complaint reports; visibility/wiper is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2020 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Subaru Forester model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2025 Subaru Forester
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 90
- Combined EPA economy
- 26–35 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 4
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $1,750–2,350
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsunknown or other 18forward collision avoidance 15visibility/wiper 13
Open the 2025 evidence dossier →2026 Subaru Forester
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 16
- Combined EPA economy
- 26–35 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 4
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $1,750–2,350
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsforward collision avoidance 5electrical system 4unknown or other 3
Open the 2026 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2026 has 74 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2025.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Subaru Forester by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 16 | forward collision avoidance 5electrical system 4unknown or other 3 | 26–35 | 4 | $1,750–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2025 | 90 | unknown or other 18forward collision avoidance 15visibility/wiper 13 | 26–35 | 4 | $1,750–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2024 | 29 | unknown or other 9air bags 7forward collision avoidance 7 | 26–29 | 2 | $2,100–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2023 | 73 | unknown or other 20forward collision avoidance 16visibility/wiper 11 | 26–29 | 2 | $2,100–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2022 | 96 | forward collision avoidance 22visibility/wiper 20unknown or other 18 | 26–29 | 2 | $2,100–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 207 | visibility/wiper 76unknown or other 41electrical system 33 | 29 | 1 | $2,100 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 596 | visibility/wiper 252unknown or other 107electrical system 100 | 29 | 1 | $2,100 | Dossier → |
| 2019 | 831 | visibility/wiper 370unknown or other 144electrical system 135 | 29 | 1 | $2,100 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 492 | visibility/wiper 135air bags 120unknown or other 82 | 24–28 | 3 | $2,200–3,050 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 583 | air bags 197electrical system 106visibility/wiper 103 | 24–28 | 3 | $2,200–3,050 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 410 | air bags 112electrical system 94unknown or other 69 | 25–27 | 3 | $2,300–3,050 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 613 | engine 131air bags 113power train 95 | 25–27 | 3 | $2,300–3,050 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 403 | suspension 95engine 69air bags 68 | 24–27 | 3 | $2,300–3,050 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 77 | engine 26air bags 13service brakes 9 | 21–23 | 3 | $2,650–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 105 | engine 27air bags 20vehicle speed control 18 | 21–23 | 3 | $2,650–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 147 | engine 60air bags 29service brakes 17 | 21–23 | 3 | $2,650–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 262 | seats 76air bags 42engine 34 | 21–22 | 3 | $2,800–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 178 | air bags 40engine 27electrical system 22 | 21–22 | 3 | $2,800–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 50 | suspension 11engine 7air bags 6 | 20–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,800 | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 72 | power train 11suspension 11engine 9 | 20–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,800 | Dossier → |
| 2006 | 88 | vehicle speed control 20suspension 12engine 11 | 20–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,800 | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 93 | suspension 21vehicle speed control 17fuel/propulsion system 14 | 19–23 | 4 | $2,650–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2004 | 219 | fuel/propulsion system 63fuel system, gasoline 62suspension 25 | 18–21 | 4 | $2,950–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2003 | 189 | fuel system, gasoline 31air bags 26fuel/propulsion system 26 | 21 | 2 | $2,950 | Dossier → |
| 2002 | 88 | vehicle speed control 23power train 18engine and engine cooling 14 | 21 | 2 | $2,950 | Dossier → |
| 2001 | 139 | vehicle speed control 30power train 25engine and engine cooling 16 | 21 | 2 | $2,950 | Dossier → |
| 2000 | 75 | power train 21suspension 20engine and engine cooling 19 | 21 | 2 | $2,950 | Dossier → |
| 1999 | 131 | power train 35engine and engine cooling 26suspension 26 | 20–21 | 2 | $2,950–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 1998 | 101 | power train 28suspension 18service brakes, hydraulic 17 | 20–21 | 2 | $2,950–3,100 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.