AtWhatMileage
Suspension · 6 owner reports

Other suspension problem on the 2000 Subaru Forester

Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.

Reports of this failure 6
With an odometer reading 3
Reports per 1,000 built 0.1 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 0%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $350–$2,000
What it means when it happens Moderate
Rank among this year's problems 5th

When other suspension problem gets reported

There are 6 reports of other suspension problem on the 2000 Subaru Forester, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 3 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
— — 49,622 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 $350–$2,000 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 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 170,000 miles.

By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 31; the 2000 has 6. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Had to have wheel bearings on both sides of the rear replaced at only 44,000 miles on my 2000 subaru forester. Upon research have found wheel bearings to be a defective complaint among subaru forester and impreza owners. Some owners claiming that wheel bearings must be replaced every 30,000 miles.*jb

44,100 miles NHTSA complaint 397470 filed 2003-03-11

Complained to servicing dealer about excessive noise. Report was at 49,622 miles, both rear wheel bearings have failed. This component is not normally inspected or replaced in the ordinary schedule of manufacturer's recommended care. My web research shows quite a few reports of this same failure, indicating inadequate design or faulty components. Average miles to failure seem to be around 50,000. Increasingly, these cases will be showing up given the age and typical mileage of these cars. Anyone who ignores the sound level increase is liable to experience a complete failure on the road with definite safety implications. No one seems to be compiling statistics on this defect, except perhaps subaru. There are indications that subaru america is aware of the problem's frequency (a tsb on improved replacement method), but they have not regularly agreed to cover repair costs or alerted owners of the problem's existence. In my case, repair is scheduled six days from now. My complaint call to subaru america resulted in a promise to look into the matter and call me back with a response on what action the company would take. It is now 2+…

49,622 miles NHTSA complaint 406702 filed 2003-05-07

Dt*: the contact stated mechanical vibration noise at frequency of wheel rotation, persisting after complete wheel change when changing from all-weather to winter tires. Repair shop continued diagnosis. Problem solved upon replacement of wheel bearings in left-rear wheel. *ak

115,000 miles NHTSA complaint 576504 filed 2006-03-21

Also reported on the 2000 Subaru Forester

Other powertrain problem

18 reports median 74k

Engine sensor failure

14 reports median 7k

Wheel bearing or hub failure

12 reports median 59k

Head gasket failure

7 reports median 125k

Fuel leak or fuel odor

3 reports median 101k

How far this goes

This page is kept out of search results because 6 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.

Complaints are voluntary, so 6 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 other suspension problem happen on the 2000 Subaru Forester?

Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other suspension problem on the 2000 Subaru Forester?

6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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