Lane keep or steering assist fault on the 2018 Subaru Forester
When lane keep or steering assist fault gets reported
Owners of the 2018 Subaru Forester report lane keep or steering assist fault at a median of 10,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 15,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 38,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 200 miles at the tenth percentile to 15,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 14,896 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
100% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 154 miles | 3,000 miles | 11,200 miles | 14,088 miles | 15,050 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 $200–$1,600 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 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 45,000 miles.
By volume the 2020 carries the most reports, with 50; the 2018 has 18. 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.
While driving at 60 miles an hour on a 4 lane highway, I was going around a slight curve when the lane assist came on. I was in the left lane and not near the left line in road, but centered in the middle of lane. I heard one beep and then the steering wheel became very loose in my hand and it took me a few seconds to gain control of the steering wheel. This also happened while going on a slightly curved city street going about 40 miles an hour. It scared the dickens out of me as it was not what I expected the lane assist to do. I went back to dealership and told them about the steering and they said I just needed to get used to how the electric steering worked. After it happened a couple more time I made appointment for someone to take a test drive. The technician felt a slight swaying but said it was the type of steering of the lane assist. He suggested I turn it off and not use it for a while and see how car then handled. The technician filed case # 26296330423, no problem found with vehicle, system is operating as designed, no repair attempt performed. (eqmr was also filled out and submitted.) I have not driven my forester…
Brand new vehicle. Driving on an interstate at 55mph and made a slight left turn at a bend in the road, well within the clearly painted lane markers. Clear weather, temp about 50 degrees f. Heard one beep and lost control of the steering for a second while the car steered itself slightly left. My hands were on the steering wheel and I was active operating the vehicle. Startling! Happened two more times. Took it to a dealer and he explained that I might not be used to electronic steering. The same day, on a two lane road at 35 MPH, at a slight left bend in the road, one beep and lost steering for about a second but enough to take the vehicle to the edge of the shoulder. I was startled again and turned sharp left, crossing the double yellow line into the oncoming lane. Fortunately, there were no vehicles in the lane. The culprit seems to be the "lane keep assist" feature of the eyesight system where the vehicle's computer takes over control if it detects a lane departure under certain conditions. Obviously, it is not functioning correctly and could have caused an accident or worse. Turned lka off.
Also reported on the 2018 Subaru Forester
Other visibility problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Windshield cracking
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 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 lane keep or steering assist fault happen on the 2018 Subaru Forester?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 15,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is lane keep or steering assist fault on the 2018 Subaru Forester?
18 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