Other visibility problem on the 2015 Subaru Forester
When other visibility problem gets reported
Owners of the 2015 Subaru Forester report other visibility problem at a median of 20,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles, from 19 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 14th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 90,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 89,600 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
68% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,800 miles | 9,150 miles | 20,000 miles | 48,947 miles | 92,400 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
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 2015 has 21. 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.
Heat system does not heat the car and window keep freezing over. Have to keep turning from floor heat which is none, to windshield to keep it clear. Always cold which takes your mind and control away from driving, could cause to accident taking time to keep trying to get heat to where it is needed. People should not buy the subaru forester till they fix the problem, and should be banded till fixed. The did not have heat problem till this year by the sounds of it, so they should be able to switch it back to the way it was in older model year before someone gets hurt. A recall is pass due before someone gets hurt or killed. *tr
Vehicle does not warm up well in cold climates. I live in alaska and during the winter the vehicle would stay cool even with the heater maxed out driving down the highway. Normally this would not be a big deal, but having a newborn in the car, the heat would be nice. *tr
6/2/15 morning I drove my 2015 subaru forester to work. The windshield was not hit by a rock or anything else, there was no crack or damage on the windshield. I parked it in the company's parking lot at 7 am. In the afternoon when I was ready to go home at 4 pm, I found a long crack on the windshield. It was too large to repair and it must be replaced. I have heated windshield with eyesight cameras, it would cost under $500 to replace the windshield. Vehicle is less than 6,000 miles and less than 6 months old, and I've got a cracked windshield before its first oil change.
Also reported on the 2015 Subaru Forester
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Other speed control problem
Other electrical problem
Strut, shock or spring failure
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 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 2015 Subaru Forester?
Across 19 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 20,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other visibility problem on the 2015 Subaru Forester?
21 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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