Excessive oil consumption on the 2012 Subaru Forester
Only 7 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 12 reports of excessive oil consumption on the 2012 Subaru Forester, 7 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 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 107,500 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 2012 has 12. 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.
Engine using synthetic ow-20 oil per dealer recommendation uses oil faster than new car should. Oil changed 18,951mi. At around 22,000 oil was noted leaking around oil filter. Also dipstick showing low level. Owner had to add oil while on a trip. After 24,393mi oil filter leak reported, dealer replaced gasket 803916010 and topped off oil. At 26,312 mi, oil again changed by dealer. 3k mi later (29,000mi) oil again showed below low on dipstick requiring owner to add oil. 32,191 mi service appointment oil change by dealer states "close to full." dealer told us that cars use a quart of oil every thousand miles normally. No leak found on inspection. I always park in the same place at parking garage and there are no oil leaks on the concrete. My family has had 2 other new subaru vehicles since 2003 which also use synthetic oil and no other car has had this oil usage. I have owned 6 new cars in my lifetime. I know how to maintain an engine by frequent checks and maintenance. My concern is that owners may lose an engine due to seizure if they follow subaru recommended oil change by mileage or months. Some owners who are not diligent in…
Oil was checked before vehicle left massachusetts for a trip to new mexico. After driving approximately 2300 miles, upon arrival at the destination no oil showed on the dipstick. Mechanic drained only 2.5 quarts from vehicle (5.5 quarts is full) so engine consumed 3.0 quarts. This is grossly excessive consumption and indicative of a serious engine/materials defect. Have since discovered this oil consumption defect is common to 2011-2014 subaru vehicles. Subaru will not fix this engine. This vehicle will cause me to incur expense because of the need to purchase and replace the entire oil volume during the recommended oil change interval and loss of value of the vehicle. Vehicle is a danger to the drivers and others on the street because the engine may catastrophically fail causing an accident. Also, the low oil level warning light on this vehicle has never illuminated indicating that it, too, is defective. *tr
I bought this car in february. I only had it a couple days and decided I should check the oil. No oil on the dipstick!! Put 2 quarts in to bring it level. I have to check the oil every few days to make sure it does not run out. I am having to put in a quart every 500 miles! This is not normal oil consumption! The oil is changed every 3,000 miles. I bought this car because of subaru's reputation. Never again! After doing research, I found out there was a lawsuit filed. How can a dealer sell a car that is the object of a lawsuit? Subaru should be recalling this vehicle. Now I'm stuck making payments on a car that won't last.
Also reported on the 2012 Subaru Forester
Airbag inflator rupture
Cruise control failure
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Misfire or rough idle
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 12 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 12 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 2012 Subaru Forester?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 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 2012 Subaru Forester?
12 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