2014 SUBARU FORESTER — Complaint #2133880
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE:BODY:HATCHBACK/LIFTGATE:SUPPORT DEVICE/STRUT filed September 25, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2133880 (ODI reference 11689673) concerns a 2014 SUBARU FORESTER and was filed on September 25, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 19, 2025. The report was geocoded to New York based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as structure:body:hatchback/liftgate:support device/strut, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same SUBARU FORESTER cohort independently describe similar structure:body:hatchback/liftgate:support device/strut failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2014 SUBARU FORESTER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
Liftgate arm (or support) broke while the liftgate was in the raised position, and the liftgate came crashing down to the closed position, while my sister-in-law was very close by. I believe a serious injury could have resulted if someone had been under the liftgate at the time. We also own a 2016 Forester, and I now expect to replace the liftgate supports as a matter of safety and peace of mind. From what I see, checking the liftgate supports is not on the maintenance schedule. I assume other SUVs are also subject to this issue.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2133880 |
| ODI Number | 11689673 |
| Date Filed | September 25, 2025 |
| Failure Date | September 19, 2025 |
| VIN | JF2SJAPC6EH |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.