[rdclark]

For the record, Consumer Reports has a very large database of owner-reported reliability data on millions of cars, including many Subarus (which are very popular with CR reader). Their reliability ratings on Forester transmissions:

"Much better than average" (highest rating), for both "major" and "minor" transmission issues, every year 2011-2018.

The Outback has similar results; the Impreza has been as good since 2014, but only average/above average 2011-2013.

So if there is a specific problem that Subaru is protecting us against, it's not been occurring frequently enough to be statistically significant in the largest car-reliability database available to the public

 

[Bosco_Gman]

I just had my cvt replaced under the extended warranty on my 15 Forester. And now they have one out for the 16 & 17 MY.
What is going on? !!

Am now at about 135,000 km, and warranty is good until 160,000 km - and THEN what?

Was told it would have cost me $10,000 CDN$, if I had to pay for it, between parts and labor.
So if the cvt goes after the warranty period, then I’ll have to spend $10k ??? SERIOUSLY.?!! Am really looking at trading it in on another brand, before the warranty is over. Subaru should cover the cvt for a lot longer, especially if they know there’s a problem!

This takes the joy out of owning a Suby. Great awd, but beyond that, I am getting fed up.
I would keep it if it was a 5 or 6MT, but we had to go with the cvt because of my wife.


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[quietride]

Yeah, I have to agree about this taking the joy out of owning a Subaru. If I'd known the CVT 'problem' would extend into this next generation I would likely have gone with a RAV4, or maybe a CRV. Have had exceptional service from both Toyotas and Hondas in the past. Had planned to keep my '17 Forester for a very along time (like the '08 I drive daily) but sadly, with this development I'll likely be selling the '17 well before 100K miles.

 

[securityguy]

Awesome!! The best part is I just purchased a Subaru Gold ext warranty explicitly for the CVT that I can now cancel and get refunded!!!!

Very short sighted and not recommended unless you really need the cash. Did you finance or purchase your car? If you financed, and bought the warranty through your dealer, the refund will be applied to your loan.

If you plan to keep the car for a while, keep the warranty...it may prove to be a great investment in the future but your money:wink2:

 

[securityguy]

Were there any corrective changes to the CVT in model year 2018?

None that have been announced. I bet it's the same part number too.

 

[asphaltaddict33]

Does anyone know the frequency or percentages of 2015 Foresters that are having CVT issues? Is the problem happening at a certain mileage? Is there a preventative measure to head off the issue before it occurs? Can the affected vehicles be checked early? Are all 2015 Foresters having problems? Why doesn’t SOA start a recall to have filters put in instead of replacing CVTs?

There is almost no way to know the frequency of issues for a given model year, unless some bothan spy who works for SOA wants to give us some data. SOA is likely the only one with this info and it does them no favors to share any of it.

There are a few potential issues, leaking CVT fluid to internal bearings needing replacement have been discussed on this forum. There are no preventive measures except to sell the vehicle before the warranty expires as I will certainly do.

A recall to 'add a filter' will not solve the issue and would be extremely complicated to retrofit such an apparatus to an already complicated piece of equipment.

IMO, We are experiencing teething issues on a piece of new technology, big picture (100,000ft view if you will) the CVT is a new piece of vehicle technology. I suspect the fault rate of the CVT is below 5% and Subaru is taking good care of those with issues so far. This new TSB is an even further commitment to their customers, I am very happy to have it as my CVT was replaced once already.

 

[Nasarog]

Still waiting on my notice.

 

[fw_fw]

Awesome!! The best part is I just purchased a Subaru Gold ext warranty explicitly for the CVT that I can now cancel and get refunded!!!!

Very short sighted and not recommended unless you really need the cash. Did you finance or purchase your car? If you financed, and bought the warranty through your dealer, the refund will be applied to your loan.

If you plan to keep the car for a while, keep the warranty...it may prove to be a great investment in the future but your money:wink2:

I just bought the extended warranty 2 months ago, 18 months after purchasing the XT. The ONLY reason I bought the ext warranty was the high occurrence of CVT issues that Subaru has been experiencing. As a whole Subarus are VERY reliable, and not needing an extended warranty. However, with the CVT's issue and high cost (~$7000) it made sense to get it. With Subaru now extending the CVT warranty to 10 years it makes no sense to have it and I'll just keep my money in the bank.

 

[quietride]

Still waiting on my notice.

Yeah, me too.

 

[rdclark]

...high occurrence of CVT issues that Subaru has been experiencing...

Where is the evidence for this? Not just a few people complaining, but actual evidence? The only real statistical analysis I'm aware of (Consumer Reports) shows Forester transmissions to have been exceptionally reliable for the past eight model years.

 

[securityguy]

I just bought the extended warranty 2 months ago, 18 months after purchasing the XT. The ONLY reason I bought the ext warranty was the high occurrence of CVT issues that Subaru has been experiencing. As a whole Subarus are VERY reliable, and not needing an extended warranty. However, with the CVT's issue and high cost (~$7000) it made sense to get it. With Subaru now extending the CVT warranty to 10 years it makes no sense to have it and I'll just keep my money in the bank.

I would tend to disagree with you on this one as does @rdclark. The Subaru CVT, in general, has been extremely reliable so not sure where you're getting your data from. Actually one of the the best CVT's on the market in any car. In addition, the CVT in the XT is beefed up even more and I am unaware of anyone having CVT issues with an XT (although I am sure someone somewhere had a one-off issue).

Your money and do as you wish but I'd still keep it for the peace of mind unless you really need the cash. If you bought the warranty solely for the CVT, you made an error right from the get-go.

Enjoy the XT my friend I hope it remains trouble-free:thumbsup:

 

[securityguy]

I am happy that Subaru is doing the right thing to give folks peace of mind as it relates to the CVT even though the chances of anyone experiencing an issue is very slim. These things are made by humans and anything mechanical or electrical can fail for any reason regardless of whether you purchased a Rolls or a Subaru...it's just a fact.

 

[fw_fw]

Where is the evidence for this? Not just a few people complaining, but actual evidence? The only real statistical analysis I'm aware of (Consumer Reports) shows Forester transmissions to have been exceptionally reliable for the past eight model years.

Plenty of threads & posts here on this forum as well on other Subaru forums about recent CVT issues for Subaru, and apparently the CVT transmission issue occurrences are high enough for Subaru to issue an extended warranty at a large cost to them in order to keep customers happy and the bad PR at bay. Subaru is the one who really would know the real statistical analysis as well as actual evidence, and it was a big enough issue for them to do this warranty extension for goodwill purposes.

 

[32cls6speedmt]

I wonder if the 2018 will be included?

 

[YoGeorge]

I got our letter today for our '17 2.5i. I did not buy an extended warranty and was "sort of" considering one, but this CVT coverage makes it less likely that I will pop for additional coverage.

As a comparison, we bought a new 2007 Honda Civic in 2007. The engine block castings in the '06-08 Civics were potentially bad in the area of some of the coolant passages; the blocks (which were cast in the USA) could burst open and leak coolant on the outside of the engine.

Honda extended the warranty to 8 years, and then later extended that to 10 years, with no mileage limitation and with coverage for all future owners. When I discovered the issue (when the Civic was about a year old) I freaked out, and swore that we'd sell the car right at 8 years or 10 years. Instead, we kept it 11 years and 150k miles and never had the problem. Our service advisor said that his dealer had only replaced 3 or 4 short blocks out of hundreds of Civics they sold, and noted that they also had a lot of customers with 200-400k miles on their cars.

So I like the CVT warranty and hope we never have to use it. I am guessing that 10 years down the road (actually 8.5 years from now), CVT's will be a bit cheaper on the rebuilt market because of their wide usage across brands and models. Or at least I hope so.

George

 

[tossici]

I've seen the front pages posted for past TSB's...like that thread about ECU reprogramming to solve the weird low speed engine surging/hesitation issue on 2017 Foresters.

Does anyone know if this works? We have the weird low speed engine surging/hesitation issue on our 2015. We spoke to the service department about and they worked on it for a day. I'm not entirely sure what they did (no one specifically mentioned ECU reprogramming) but there is a new (green) image displayed when starting. There was immediate improvement when we picked up our forester but over the next several weeks the problems gradually returned.

 

[Bosco_Gman]

Does anyone know if this works? We have the weird low speed engine surging/hesitation issue on our 2015. We spoke to the service department about and they worked on it for a day. I'm not entirely sure what they did (no one specifically mentioned ECU reprogramming) but there is a new (green) image displayed when starting. There was immediate improvement when we picked up our forester but over the next several weeks the problems gradually returned.

I too have a ‘15.
Also had the ecu reprogrammed - no improvement.
Also had hesitation and about-to-stall issues at low rpm. Very frustrating!
Had the cvt replaced under warranty, which improved things considerably, as no more about-to-stall issues go.
Still had hesitation issues, and after a Subaru diagnostic, they replaced one of the spark plug Coils - this improved the hesitation/engine stutter, but didn’t eliminate it.

Dealership also suggested a carbon clean service, and cleaning the fuel injectors, but I got soaked so bad ($$: dealership) that that is going to have to wait. I will get that done at an independent shop.

Very frustrating.


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[climbinglife]

Haven't received mine yet either. I took a screen shot of the one in this thread just in case.

 

[adc]

Haven't received mine yet either. I took a screen shot of the one in this thread just in case.

Get a couple cans of Seafoam and add a can to no more than a half tank of gas. I would do that several times in a row. A great independent subaru specialist in my area. Told me instead of replacing the fuel filter to do this.

 

[securityguy]

Dealership also suggested a carbon clean service, and cleaning the fuel injectors, but I got soaked so bad ($$: dealership) that that is going to have to wait. I will get that done at an independent shop.

A Carbon Clean service is anywhere from $129 - $159 so that's not really too bad. I agree with a comment above to try cleaning the injectors with Seafoam or Chevron Techron to see if it makes a difference before going down the next road.