Other electrical problem on the 2016 Subaru Forester
2 crashes 1 fire 3 of the 60 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 electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2016 Subaru Forester report other electrical problem at a median of 30,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 45,000 miles, from 26 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 7,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 52,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 45,500 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
54% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,000 miles | 19,000 miles | 30,410 miles | 44,500 miles | 52,500 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
Of these reports, 2 a crash and 1 a fire are 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 $250–$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 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 89; the 2016 has 60. 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.
My 2016 subaru lost all power 160 miles from my home on interstate 40 in lexington north carolina.....I was sold this starlink enhanced roadside assistace when I purchased the car.....well this system failed miserably and I was almost struck by a tractor trailer....I was stuck on a bridge with no shoulder and explained to both operators on starlink after my first 4 attempts to reach emergency services failed after hitting the "sos" button above my head....finally it came on....the operator had no clue where my location was.....subaru touts this service as "starlink will know your exact coordinates" well that could not be anything farther from the truth...."can you tell me what mile marker you are at"...no I said....."any llandmarks you can see" he said......"um no I said...I am in the middle of nowhere"....you have to give me more information than this" he had the nerve to say....."I said for what reason did I pay $150 for a service that gave me a very dangerous false sense of security.....attached you will find subarus marketing material and false advertisements on the safety and effectiveness of the system....I am having tractor…
Non-turbo model stalls in traffic without warning. First air conditioner shuts off, along with electrical, then engine stalls. Nothing unusual prior to shutting off. Vehicle becomes nearly impossible to control with limited braking and steering. Car will not immediately re-start. This has occurred six times since new; dealer has not fixed problem, but has seen video of the car stalling in traffic that my wife took while I was driving. Vehicle was in gear, moving at low to moderate speed each time, with AC operating and no other accessories or unusual situations.
Tl* the contact owns a 2016 subaru forester. While driving 50 MPH, the vehicle stalled and was able to be restarted after some time. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that there was a computer glitch, but was unable to suggest or perform any repairs. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 300.
Also reported on the 2016 Subaru Forester
Other engine problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other powertrain problem
Other speed control problem
Other body or interior problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 60 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 electrical problem happen on the 2016 Subaru Forester?
Across 26 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 30,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 45,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2016 Subaru Forester?
60 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 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