Other fuel system problem on the 2001 Subaru Legacy
When other fuel system problem gets reported
Owners of the 2001 Subaru Legacy report other fuel system problem at a median of 105,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 60,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 69,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 61,000 miles | 70,000 miles | 103,000 miles | 117,250 miles | 130,000 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 $300–$2,200 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 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 1,100 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 220,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 12; the 2001 has 9. 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.
Inconsistantly, but frequently my 2001 subaru legacy 2.5l wagon surges and/or hesitates. The result is that I have little reliability for acceleration, etc. When driving. This has resulted a near collsions when the car hesitated in the middle of intersections. I no longer feel safe driving it--especially when my 2 young children are in the car. My car has been examined by my mechanic (who specalizes in subarus and other japanese cars) and despite experiencing the same problems while driving and several days in the shop, no problem has been diagnosed. My mechanic has consulted subaru and they have provided no useful advise either.*ak
Our 2001 subaru legacy was having the smell of gas inside the car lately when we first started it and when we would stop for a traffic light or stop sign. I checked the recall notices on the gov't site and found the problem listed , complete with a engine area diagram showing where the possible gasoline line leak could be. I checked under the hood and sure enough there it was. The funny thing was that our VIN # was not in the range they said was effected. I think subaru and the gov't should take another look at the vehicles effected. I believe there are more then you originally thought. I was able to tighten the hoses clamps and so far it looks like it isn't leaking anymore. *jb
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 subaru legacy. When the vehicle is idling with the fan blower/vent activated, the contact smells a strong odor of gasoline. He is in the process of having the vehicle diagnosed to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer stated that his VIN was excluded from NHTSA campaign id number 00v393000 (fuel system, gasoline:delivery:hoses, lines/piping, and fittings). The failure and current mileages were 54,000.
Also reported on the 2001 Subaru Legacy
Fuel leak or fuel odor
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Engine sensor failure
Tire blowout or tread separation
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 9 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 fuel system problem happen on the 2001 Subaru Legacy?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 105,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other fuel system problem on the 2001 Subaru Legacy?
9 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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