Top Safety Pick +Top Safety Pick criteria

2021 Subaru Forester

small SUV / 4-door SUV

2021 Subaru Forester 4-door SUV

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Small overlap front: driver-side
Small overlap front: passenger-side
Moderate overlap front: original test
Moderate overlap front: updated test
Side: original test
Side: updated test
Roof strength
Head restraints & seats

Crash avoidance & mitigation

Headlights
Front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle
Standard system
Superior
Front crash prevention: pedestrian (day)
Standard system
Superior

Seat belts & child restraints

Seat belt reminders
LATCH ease of use
+

Other available safety features

  • Optional blind spot detection
  • Standard lane departure warning & prevention

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Small overlap front: driver-side

Rating applies to 2019-24 models

Tested vehicle: 2019 Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium 4-door 4wd

The Subaru Forester was redesigned for the 2019 model year. Driver-side small overlap frontal ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Subaru.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Hip/thigh
Lower leg/foot
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Technical measurements for this test

About the small overlap front test

Small overlap front: passenger-side

Rating applies to 2019-24 models

Tested vehicle: 2019 Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium 4-door 4wd

The Subaru Forester was redesigned for the 2019 model year. Passenger-side small overlap frontal ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Subaru.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Hip/thigh
Lower leg/foot
Passenger restraints and dummy kinematics
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Hip/thigh
Lower leg/foot
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Technical measurements for this test

About the small overlap front test

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2019-24 models

Tested vehicle: 2019 Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium 4-door 4wd

The Subaru Forester was redesigned for the 2019 model year. Moderate overlap frontal ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Subaru.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Technical measurements for this test

About the original moderate overlap front test

Moderate overlap front: updated test

Rating applies to 2021-24 models

Tested vehicle: 2021 Subaru Forester 4-door 4wd

The Subaru Forester was redesigned for the 2019 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Thigh/hip
Leg/foot
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Rear passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Thigh
Rear passenger restraints and dummy kinematics

View of the vehicle after the crash showing the airbags and damage to the occupant compartment.

The rear passenger dummy's head approached the front seatback, which increases the risk of head injuries.

Rear passenger dummy injury values indicate a low risk of injury to the head or neck and a moderate risk of injury to the chest. During the crash, the shoulder belt remained in an ideal position on the dummy’s chest.

The rear passenger dummy's lap belt remained in the ideal position on the pelvis.

Technical measurements for this test

About the moderate overlap front test

February 2024 adjustment to rating criteria

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2019-24 models

Tested vehicle: 2019 Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium 4-door 4wd

The Subaru Forester was redesigned for the 2019 model year. Side ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Subaru.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Driver head protection
Rear passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Rear passenger head protection
Technical measurements for this test

About the original side crash test

Side: updated test

Rating applies to 2019-24 models

Tested vehicle: 2021 Subaru Forester 4-door 4wd

The Subaru Forester was redesigned for the 2019 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis
Driver head protection
Rear passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis
Rear passenger head protection
The dummy's head contacted the C-pillar hard, through the side curtain airbag. The head protection is inadequate.

View of the vehicle just after the crash test.

View of the vehicle after the crash with doors removed, showing the side airbags and damage to the occupant compartment.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the driver dummy's head was protected from being hit by hard structures by the side airbags.

The dummy's head contacted the C-pillar through the side curtain airbag.

Technical measurements for this test

About the side crash test

Roof strength

Rating applies to 2019-23 models

Tested vehicle: 2019 Subaru Forester 4-door 4wd

Overall evaluation
Curb weight3,416 lbs
Peak force17,392 lbs
Strength-to-weight ratio5.09

About the roof strength test

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Manual cloth seat

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test

About the head restraint & seat test
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.

Headlights

Trim level(s)

  • All trims
Low-beam headlight typeLED projector
High-beam headlight typeLED projector
Curve-adaptive?Yes
High-beam assist?Yes
Overall rating
Distance at which headlights provide at least 5 lux illumination:
car-simpler car-simpler car-simpler car-simpler car-simpler 0 ft 100 ft 200 ft 300 ft 400 ft 500 ft 600 ft Low beams Optimal low-beam illumination High beams Optimal high-beam illumination High-beam assist credit Some glare

Low beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was good on the sharp left and both right curves and fair on the gradual left curve.

The low beams created some glare.

High beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was good on the gradual left and both right curves and fair on the sharp left curve.

High-beam assist compensates for some limitations of this vehicle's low beams on the straightaway and on both left curves.

Technical measurements for this test

About the headlight evaluation

Front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle

System details

  • Standard EyeSight Driver-Assist System

Overall evaluation

Applies to 2019-21 models

Superior
Superior
  • This system meets the requirements for forward collision warning.
  • In the 12 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.
  • In the 25 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.

About the original front crash prevention test

Front crash prevention: pedestrian (day)

System details

  • standard EyeSight Driver-Assist System

Overall evaluation

This rating applies to all 2019-21 models

Superior
Superior

Crossing child

  • In the 12 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.
  • In the 25 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.

Crossing adult

  • In the 12 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.
  • In the 25 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.

Parallel adult

  • In the 25 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.
  • In the 37 mph test, impact speed was reduced by 6 mph. A warning was issued 3.3 seconds before impact.

About the pedestrian front crash prevention test

Seat belt reminders

Rating applies to 2021-24 models

Overall evaluation
Front row
Unbelted occupant alert (audible & visual)
Initiation time
DurationLong enough (90+ seconds)
Volume
Audio frequency
Second row
Startup status alert (visual)
Initiation time
Duration at least 60 seconds
Belt disengaged alert (audible & visual)
Initiation time
Duration at least 30 seconds
Volume
Audio frequency
Technical measurements for this test

About the seat belt reminder evaluation

Child seat anchors

Rating applies to 2019-24 models

Overall evaluation
+
extra LATCH positions
Vehicle trimbase
Seat type cloth

This vehicle has 2 rear seating positions with complete child seat attachment (LATCH) hardware.

It has 1 additional seating position with a tether anchor, a single lower anchor and the ability to borrow the second anchor from another position.

Note: When anchors are borrowed, they aren't available to use in their designated positions.

Overall evaluation
+
extra LATCH positions
Vehicle trimbase
Seat type cloth
1 2 3
GGood
AAcceptable
MMarginal
PPoor
Seating positions that rely on borrowed lower anchors or have only a tether anchor available are not rated.
thether anchor symbol
Tether anchor
lower anchor symbol
Lower anchors
shared lower achors symbol
Lower anchor(s) can be borrowed from adjacent positions(s)
No hardware available

Details by seating position

1
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
not too deep in seat
not too much force needed to attach
easy to maneuver around anchors
2
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
1 dedicated anchor and 1 that can be borrowed from seat 1
not too deep in seat
not too much force needed to attach
easy to maneuver around anchors
3
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
not too deep in seat
not too much force needed to attach
easy to maneuver around anchors
Technical measurements for this test

About the child seat anchor evaluation