Other powertrain problem on the 2018 Subaru Forester
3 crashes 1 injury 4 of the 13 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.
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 other powertrain problem gets reported
There are 13 reports of other powertrain problem on the 2018 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 92,000 miles. It is the 14th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 4,000 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
Of these reports, 3 a crash and 1 an injury 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 $400–$4,500 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 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 500 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 75,000 miles.
By volume the 2015 carries the most reports, with 51; the 2018 has 13. 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 trouble making turns for it hesitates before it will kick in,yesterday I was almost hit by a police car going on a call, lights/siren on . I just made a turn and it hesitated icouldn't get out of his way. This is an ongoing problem with this car.
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 subaru forester. While driving over 40 MPH, the vehicle shook violently and vibrated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer (suburban subaru, 1821 maplelawn dr, troy, mi) where it was diagnosed that the failure was caused by a build up of dirt and debris in the wheels and wheel wells. The contact was advised to power wash the wheels and wheel wells to prevent the failure from recurring. In addition, the engine idled while the vehicle was on a slight incline. Suddenly, the engine began to rev high and the vehicle erroneously drove forward. The failure occurred as the driver was getting back into the vehicle and the accelerator pedal had not been depressed. On several occasions, while on a slight incline with the engine idling, the vehicle would suddenly roll backwards once the brake pedal was released. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who found no failures with the vehicle. The manufacturer was informed of the failures and did not assist. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 2,500. *tt consumer stated violent vibration and shaking at 45mph or greater especially in winter months…
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 subaru forester. While driving 20 MPH in stop and go traffic, the vehicle jerked and decelerated. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to johnson subaru of cary (5010 old raleigh rd, cary, nc 27511, (833) 287-8912) to be diagnosed, but the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000. The VIN was not available.
Also reported on the 2018 Subaru Forester
Other visibility problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Windshield cracking
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 13 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 13 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2018 Subaru Forester?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 5,000 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 powertrain problem on the 2018 Subaru Forester?
13 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