Federal complaint record · Subaru Forester · model year 2002

2002 Subaru Forester

Owners submitted 88 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 11th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2000 to 2004 compact suv cohort. The largest reported component group is speed control. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Speed control · 21% · group n = 23Powertrain · 17% · group n = 18Engine · 14% · group n = 15Brakes · 10% · group n = 11Fuel system · 10% · group n = 11
88
Complaint records on file
87,365
Median mileage at the reported problem · 50 complaints reported mileage
21%
Of classified component reports name speed control · group n = 23
11th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 22 model years

Speed control · 2 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Speed control21%

Speed control reports

Subaru Forester · model year 2002

Reports in this group23
Share of classified reports21%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2001
0.2complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
139 matched incidents
This car
2002
0.1complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
88 matched incidents
2003
0.2complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
189 matched incidents

The line compares submitted complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years, not failures per 1,000 cars. Vehicle-years use compiled US sales, a 0.25 prior-calendar-year plus 0.75 current-calendar-year model-year allocation, and the shipped survival curve. Rates appear only where estimated vehicles in operation are at least 5,000.

From the record · recurring narrative clusters

What recurring complaint clusters describe

How clusters are built
Brake performance · 20 reports

Reports describe braking performance concerns

Cluster 1 of 32002 Subaru Forester
Airbag concerns · 7 reports

Reports describe airbag warning or deployment concerns

Cluster 2 of 32002 Subaru Forester
Loss of propulsion · 7 reports

Reports describe reduced power or hesitation while driving

Cluster 3 of 32002 Subaru Forester

Cluster summaries paraphrase recurring symptoms reported to NHTSA. They are aggregate descriptions, not individual verbatim reports.

Records through 2026-07-19Published 2026-08-02 · Updated 2026-07-19

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NHTSA consumer complaint records can reveal recurring patterns across published model years. MotorCensus summarizes those records as one complaint-signal index, with a 95% interval and sample size, updated with each data snapshot.

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