Other engine problem on the 2010 Subaru Forester
2 crashes 2 of the 17 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2010 Subaru Forester report other engine problem at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 105,980 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
23% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,420 miles | 40,430 miles | 68,800 miles | 89,000 miles | 109,400 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
Of these reports, 2 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 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 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2022, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 74; the 2010 has 17. 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.
I have a new 2020 subaru forester that is almost impossible to start----I have had it to the dealer 2 times and they tell me this is the way it is supposed to start due to the new emissions on the car--I had a forester before and never had a problem--buyer beware--I called the head office and they promised to return my call--as usual no one called--I called the dealership and left 4 messages and no one called. *tr
I have a 2010 subaru forester. The vehicle has an issue with (1) the steering pulls to the right, (2) the engine loses power intermittently and (3) the car shakes and shimmies when driving at highway speeds. All three of the issues have been with the car since I purchased it at 6 miles on the odometer. The steering issue is dangerous because it makes it hard to keep the car on the road. I have taken the car in 2 times for an alignment and the issue persists still at 2750 miles. The engine issue has been with the car since the beginning. While driving, the driver hears a click sound come from the engine compartment and the car will momentarily lose power. The issue happens as frequently as 6 times a minute and sometimes every other minute of driving. It happens when the air conditioner is turned on or off, but exacerbated when driving in 3rd gear and when the air conditioner compressor is engaged. The dealer has tried to say that this is a normal feature of the car. I have owned other subaru foresters and driven many other 2010 subaru forester's and this issue does not happen. I have taken the car into the dealership for the…
Sudden acceleration from full stop. The vehicle had exhibited sudden acceleration 3 weeks prior but the dealer did not find any problem. From a full stop, the vehicle was placed into reverse at which time the engine revved to full throttle, overriding the brakes, resulting in the vehicle backing uncontrollably and stopping on top of a boulder with the back wheels off the ground approximately 4 feet. The incident was witnessed by a bystander. The vehicle undercarriage severely damaged and not drive-able. Photos and a police report were submitted. *tr
Also reported on the 2010 Subaru Forester
Other body or interior problem
Airbag inflator rupture
Other brake problem
Other speed control problem
Loss of braking
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 17 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 engine problem happen on the 2010 Subaru Forester?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2010 Subaru Forester?
17 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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