2017 Subaru Forester buying guide

A data-driven checklist for buying a used 2017 Subaru Forester, built from 581 owner complaints, 1 recall campaigns, 438 service bulletins and federal safety records — not opinions.

Know before you buy

1 recall campaigns affect this model year. Check each one and confirm the repairs were done — recall work is free at any authorized dealer.
Main problem areas: air bags (162), electrical system (105), visibility/wiper (103), engine (46), power train (44).
Symptoms owners describe: airbag warning light (59), stalling (29), battery drain (26), hesitation / surging (17), vibration / shaking (16), loss of power (8). Test-drive with these in mind.
Reported incident mileage: among 317 complaints with a usable odometer reading, half were filed between 16,500 and 48,000 miles (median 31,000). This describes when owners reported problems — it does not predict when a particular vehicle will develop one.
1 federal investigations have named this model year — read what they cover.
Crash-test rating: 5/5 stars overall from NHTSA. Full safety record.
Fuel economy: 24–28 MPG combined (EPA; engines: 2.5L 4-cyl, 2L 4-cyl).

When problems get reported

Reported incident mileage among 317 complaints with usable odometer readings.

under 20k		89
20–40k		107
40–60k		71
60–80k		26
80–100k		13
100–150k		8
150k+		3

Before you hand over money

Run the VIN through our free VIN decoder to confirm the exact build.
Check open recalls by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls — a recall that was never fixed is a free repair you can claim.
Get a pre-purchase inspection focused on the problem areas listed above.

This guide is generated from official NHTSA, EPA and FARS records. Complaints are unverified owner reports and raw counts are not adjusted for sales volume.