Excessive oil consumption on the 2010 Subaru Forester
Only 4 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.
When excessive oil consumption gets reported
There are 5 reports of excessive oil consumption on the 2010 Subaru Forester, 4 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 85,000 miles. It is the 13th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 87,000 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 $900–$6,500 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 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 35; the 2010 has 5. 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.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Excessive oil consumption issue on 2010 subaru forester. Last oil change @ 72,328 miles. Vehicle ran out of oil at 74,979 miles. [documentation available on consistent regular maintenance.] *tr
The vehicle has been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's manual. Recently the "service engine" light came on. Immediately the vehicle pulled into a lot and checked under the hood. The oil was low, so oil was added. It was about 90 miles home, so it was started back up and entered a toll road. After about 10 minutes a slight burning oil smell was noticed so the vehicle was immediately stopped on the shoulder and shut off. After checking the engine compartment oil was noticed on the bottom of the vehicle. A flat-bed tow-truck was called and transported the vehicle to the subaru dealership that normally services the vehicle. The dealer diagnosed it as "internal engine failure" due to the engine running low on oil. 10 minutes after the check engine light came on. Recommends replacing entire engine with used engine. *tr
The subaru forester 2010 failed the oil consumption test performed by subaru. The cause from a subaru bulletin states that the #1 and/or #4 intake valve guide insertion hole was improperly machined, permitting oil to enter the combustion chamber. This occurred on the subaru forester 2010 models as well as 2011 legacy/outback, and 2011 impreza. This is a safety issue because more than 1.5 quarts of oil is consumed after only 1100 miles driven. In alaska you could be stuck in the frozen interior if this defect caused the engine to overheat and malfunction while traveling. Subaru will not fix the known defect. Subaru states it's out of warranty and the bulletin doesn't apply to my VIN number. This should be a recall issue and subaru should be required to fix the problem. They will only provide $500.00 for a $5,000 fix.
Also reported on the 2010 Subaru Forester
Other body or interior problem
Airbag inflator rupture
Other brake problem
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Loss of braking
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 5 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 5 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 excessive oil consumption happen on the 2010 Subaru Forester?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 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 excessive oil consumption on the 2010 Subaru Forester?
5 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