Other visibility problem on the 2009 Subaru Forester
1 injury 1 of the 7 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 7 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other visibility problem gets reported
There are 7 reports of other visibility problem on the 2009 Subaru Forester, 7 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 56,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 an injury is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $150–$1,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 16 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 70,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 290; the 2009 has 7. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
1. Greasy film on windshield, could not see well to drive, film cannot be wiped off. Cannot be cleaned off with normal household cleaners only industrial cleaners. Film expands to get on all the glass & materials in the car, including the rear hatch. Film is more visible at night & when the ambient temperature is below freezing. Chemical poisoning. Breathing the substance(s) has caused me to be sick since the end of december. Breathing issues, cough, lungs, nose problems. 2. Being poisoned by chemicals in the car that may be leaking out of some area as yet unknown. Unable to see well to drive. This happens whenever the defrost is run. Also, heater. Not sure about A/C. Have been sick now with just running the air. There may have been enough buildup of this substance that it is on all surfaces of the car interior and/or in the ducts of the vehicle. 2a. Symptoms: coughing, sometimes uncontrollably with long rides in the car. Shortness of breath, unable to breath, congested, lung tightness, nose congestion, etc. Have been to national jewish hospital. They recommend getting rid of car. 3. For the first 4 times I brought it in, they…
Tl*the contact owns a 2009 subaru forester. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 MPH, snow fell from the top of a heavy truck and cracked the windshield. Small lines soon moved to all sides of the windshield. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealership and the contact had not spoken with the manufacturer to-date. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The current mileage was approximately 24,000. The failure mileage was approximately 23,000.
My problem is with my 2009 subaru forester, purchased new. There is some sort of residue that forms on the windshield when we use the defroster (which we use a lot due to montana winters). It cannot be cleaned off. We've used multiple products to attempt to remove it, and not matter what, the result is a greasy film that reflects light into our eyes at night, or uncleaned, obscures our vision. It has to be something in the heating system because this is our second windshield, and both were affected. Initially, the dealership said it was new car outgassing, then they said that "all of them do it". It's become an issue, as we drive 70 highway miles a day to and from work, in all conditions in montana. We also know that it isn't new car outgassing because we've had the car for nearly 2 years and approx 45, 000 miles. We must clean the windshield at least 1 time per week, or we can't see in the sunshine or headlights. Additionally, the residue is worrisome because of potential health issues from breathing it. *tr
Also reported on the 2009 Subaru Forester
Airbag inflator rupture
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 7 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 7 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other visibility problem happen on the 2009 Subaru Forester?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other visibility problem on the 2009 Subaru Forester?
7 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed