NHTSA Complaint #11185037 — 2015 SUBARU FORESTER

MY CAR DIES AT HIGHWAY SPEED WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARNING. IT HAS HAPPENED TO ME TWICE AND TO A TECHNICIAN FROM A SUBARU DEALERSHIP ONCE. I HAVE TRIED TO RESOLVE THIS WITH SUBARU TO NO AVAIL. HERE IS A SUMMARY: ON AUGUST 31, 2018 I HAD BEEN DRIVING AT FREEWAY SPEED FOR ABOUT TWO HOURS. THE TRIP COMPUTER SAID I HAD 70 MILES TILL EMPTY BUT THE LOW FUEL LIGHT HAD NOT COME ON. THE CAR BEHAVED AS IF IT HAD RUN OUT OF GAS. THE ENGINE REV'D LIKE IT SLIPPED OUT OF GEAR, THEN COMPLETELY QUIT. ZERO WARNING. FOR THE NEXT 90 MINUTES I WOULD TRY TO START THE CAR EVERY 20 MINUTES OR SO. THE ENGINE WOULD TURN, BUT NO INDICATION IT WAS GETTING ANY FUEL. I LOOKED AT SEVERAL FORESTER BLOGS AND FOUND MANY IDENTICAL INCIDENTS (HIGHWAY SPEED, LESS THAN A QUARTER TANK, ENGINE REVS THEN DIES). ONE POST SAID THAT AFTER FILLING THE TANK IT WOULD START. A TOW TRUCK TOOK ME TO A GAS STATION WHERE I FILLED IT WITH ~13.5 GALLONS OF GAS. THAT MEANS THE TANK HAD ABOUT 2.4 GALLONS LEFT AND @30MPG=72 MILES JUST LIKE THE TRIP COMPUTER SAID. THAT'S ALL I DID, AND THE CAR STARTED IMMEDIATELY. MY LOCAL SUBARU DEALER HAD THE CAR FOR A FEW WEEKS AND WORKED WITH SUBARU TO DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM. THEY DETECTED AN ERROR WITH THE FUEL PRESSURE SENDING UNITS AND REPLACED THEM. STILL DURING MULTIPLE TEST DRIVES AFTER THE SENSORS WERE REPLACED THEIR TECHNICIAN HAD THE EXACT SAME FAILURE AS I DID. ON JANUARY 2, 2019 IT DIED ON ME AGAIN. GOING 60 MPH ON A TWO-LANE HIGHWAY WITH 40 MILES TILL EMPTY. THE DEALER THEN HAD THE CAR FOR OVER A MONTH AND CONSULTED WITH SUBARU AGAIN. THEY TEST DROVE IT FOR NEARLY 300 MILES WITH SPECIAL INSTRUMENTS ATTACHED BUT COULDN'T GET THE PROBLEM TO HAPPEN AGAIN. THEY FINALLY RETURNED IT TO ME BUT COULD NOT DETERMINE A ROOT CAUSE. SEARCHING THE INTERNET, YOU CAN FIND MANY REPORTS FROM OTHER OWNERS OF EXACTLY THE SAME TYPE OF PROBLEM WITH SIMILAR VINTAGE SUBARU FORESTERS.