Audited US model-year file

2018 SUBARU Forester

Exact make, model and year evidence from official US sources. Recall campaigns, ODI investigations, complaint allegations and EPA estimates remain separate.

Model-year evidence is not a VIN check.

A campaign may cover only certain production dates, plants or equipment. A zero result here is not safety clearance. Use NHTSA’s official VIN tool for the individual vehicle.

Official VIN lookup ↗

01 · Safety actions first

3 NHTSA recall campaigns

Exact model-level NHTSA results for 2018 SUBARU Forester. Campaign records are official safety actions; applicability to a particular car still requires its VIN.

01
NHTSA Recalls · US · received 2021-07-29

FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP

Campaign 21V587000
Summary

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Ascent, 2018 Forester, 2018-2020 Impreza, Legacy, Outback, 2018-2019 BRZ, WRX, and Toyota 86 vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.

Consequence

Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy

Dealers will replace the low-pressure fuel pump, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 24, 2021. Subaru and Toyota owners may call customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WRG-21.

02
NHTSA Recalls · US · received 2019-10-03

AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION

Campaign 19V701000
Summary

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2015-2018 Forester vehicles equipped with heated seats. An electrical connection in the front passenger seat for the Occupant Detection System (ODS) may loosen.

Consequence

If the connection loosens, the front passenger airbag may deactivate even though the seat is occupied, increasing the risk of injury to the front passenger in the event of a crash.

Remedy

Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, as necessary, replace the ODS sensor mat harness, free of charge. The recall began February 11, 2020. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WUM-98.

03
NHTSA Recalls · US · received 2018-07-10

TIRES

Campaign 18V455000
Summary

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2018 Subaru Forester vehicles. The Certification Label may indicate the incorrect wheel size, tire size, and air pressure. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."

Consequence

Installing incorrect tires or applying incorrect tire air pressure may increase the risk of a crash.

Remedy

Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will install a corrected label, free of charge. The recall began July 26, 2018. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WTS-78.

02 · Owner allegations

494 NHTSA complaints

Counts are not adjusted for sales, vehicle age, mileage, publicity or reporting behavior. They are allegations, not defect findings or a reliability score.

Crash mentions
26
Fire mentions
1
Injuries reported
9
Most-reported component labels
VISIBILITY/WIPER135
AIR BAGS96
UNKNOWN OR OTHER82
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM71
ENGINE32
SEATS30
Complaints across nearby Subaru Forester model years

Totals for the same nameplate, scaled against its highest year here. They are not adjusted for how many were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received — an older or better-selling year will usually carry more reports. This shows where the reporting sits, not which year is better.

  1. 4102016
  2. 5832017
  3. 4942018
  4. 8312019
  5. 5962020
  6. 2072021

A dash means NHTSA holds no complaint record for that exact year, make and model. See all Forester years with specs and fuel economy →

03 · Agency review

1 NHTSA ODI investigation

An investigation means ODI reviewed a possible safety issue for this exact model-year identity. Opening one is not a defect finding; closing one does not by itself clear a vehicle.

PE19009
Closed 2020-01-22 · opened 2019-08-06

Occupant Detection System (ODS) Failure

NHTSA source ↗

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE · Associated recall campaign 19V701000.

04 · EPA configurations

Fuel economy & specifications

FuelEconomy.gov records are summarized as ranges where this model name has multiple engines, drivetrains or trims.

EPA configurations
3
Combined economy
24–28 mpg/MPGe
City / highway
22–26 / 27–32 mpg/MPGe
Engine displacement
2–2.5 L
Cylinders
4
Fuel type
Premium · Regular
Drive
All-Wheel Drive
Vehicle class
Small Sport Utility Vehicle 4WD
Annual fuel-cost estimate
$2300–3200

05 · Evidence strength

Exact identity. Explicit limits.

No opaque score. Evidence strength is expressed through source availability, exact match method, jurisdiction and honest empty states.

exact match

Recall campaigns

3 exact US model-year records in this bounded view.

exact match

Complaints

494 exact US model-year allegations; narratives and VIN fragments are omitted.

exact match

ODI investigations

1 exact US model-year action numbers in the approved import snapshot.

canonical only

Model aliases

Only the exact NHTSA vPIC model name is published; unverified aliases are not merged.

not published

Manufacturer ownership

No rights-reviewed official ownership record is joined to this exact model-year.

PUBLIC EVIDENCE PASSPORT

Identity, freshness and provenance.

The canonical URL is this file’s permanent public identifier. Source IDs and timestamps show exactly what was matched and when; they do not turn the evidence into a verdict.

Permanent public ID
https://modelyearfacts.com/vehicle/2018/subaru/forester
NHTSA make ID
523
NHTSA model ID
2234
Match key
2018 · SUBARU · Forester · US
Live evidence requested
EPA publication catalogue
Complaint matrix snapshot
Imported safety snapshot
nhtsa-investigations · exact match

NHTSA ODI investigations

Action number, component, subject and open/close dates from the approved bulk import; long summaries omitted.

Open official source ↗
US-market boundary

Only NHTSA vPIC, NHTSA ODI complaints and investigations, NHTSA recalls and FuelEconomy.gov contribute to this vehicle claim. CPSC equipment notices are searched separately and never joined to vehicle fitment. UK MOT, Canadian, New Zealand and European records are not merged into this US claim.

06 · Research paths

Diagnose first. Confirm fitment.

These are transparent searches, not diagnoses or endorsed parts. Recall remedies come before purchases; exact part fitment requires VIN, trim, powertrain, production date and OE number.

Offers status: held

Awin US and R2 affiliate inventory are not published until a US programme, merchant and exact-fitment projection are approved. No offer currently has both merchant approval and exact vehicle fitment, so commercial links never count as evidence.