| Issue ID | 1619534 |
| Internal NHTSA # | 11280696 |
| Manufacurer | Subaru of America, Inc. |
| Brand | SUBARU |
| Model | FORESTER |
| Model Year | 2014 |
| File date | 31/10/19 |
| Component | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL |
| Product type code | VEHICLE |
| Description of the problem | At/about 1230 central time on 31 oct 2019, my wife [xxx] experienced an uncommanded acceleration event in our 2014 subaru forester and narrowly escaped being killed. Context: my wife was taking the car through an automated carwash at the caseys gas station at 9911 s. 71st st in papillion ne. When she reached the end of the conveyor belt and when signalled by the attendant to move forward, she stepped on the brake and attempted to move the automatic transmission from n (neutral) to d (drive). She encountered resistance moving the gear lever but was able to move it to d. Upon doing so, the car abruptly accelerated and lurched forward despite her foot remaining on the brake. The car rapidly accelerated and tore through the closed garage door at the end of the carwash and continued outside, across an access road and up a small hill, before losing power and rolling backwards down the hill to stop in the access road. No other vehicles or persons were involved or injured. My wife was uninjured other than being sprayed by glass fragments from the windshield as it was punctured by the garage door as the car tore through it. Our insurance company (usaa) declared the car a total loss. Neither my wife nor i had ever experienced anything like this incident before; we both have excellent driving records. Weather at the time of this incident was clear, dry and sunny. The car to the best of our knowledge was in excellent mechanical condition. The papillion ne police dept responded and filed a report, and we filed a drivers motor vehicle accident report. Both are on file with the papillion ne police dept. There were also several witnesses to this incident per the police report. *ln*jb information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6). |
| Vehicle Mileage at Failure | 68000 |
| Number of Occurences | 1 |
| Source of the issue | NHTSA WEB SITE |
| City and State | PAPILLION, NE |
| VIN pattern | JF2SJAMC9EHXXXXXX |
| Was vehicle invloved in a crash? | Y |
| Was vehicle involved in a fire? | N |
| Was incedent reported to police? | Y |
| Was medical attention required? | N |
| Was part original equipment? | |
| No. of injured persons | |
| No. of fatalities | |
| Date of purchase | 07/08/26 |
| Was original owner? | N |
| Anti-lock brakes | N |
| Cruise control | N |
| Number of cylinders | 4 |
| Drive train type | AWD |
| Transmission type | |
| Vehicle speed | 40 |
| DoT tire identifier | |
| Tire size | |
| Location of tire code | |
| Type of tire failure code | |
| Was defective tire repaired? | |
| Date of manufacture | |
| Type of child seat code | |
| Type of restraint | |
| Dealer's name | |
| Dealer's telephone number | |
| Dealer's city | |
| Dealer's state code | |
| Dealer's ZIP code |