Other speed control problem on the 2003 Subaru Legacy
Only 3 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 speed control problem gets reported
There are 4 reports of other speed control problem on the 2003 Subaru Legacy, 3 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 78,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 1 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 $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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 1 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 170,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 12; the 2003 has 4. 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.
The speedometer/odometer is not accurate. I have checked it with radar, gps and multiple measured miles with a stop watch and have consistently calculated an 8-10% inaccuracy. For example when the car is traveling at what the speedometer reads as 60 MPH, the radar,gps and the measured mile all indicate a speed of 54-55 MPH. The dealer has never tested my vehicle other than driving it next to another vehicle and comparing the speeds. This is obviously not accurate . I have voiced my complaint numerous time to the dealer and to the factory. The factory authorized the speed sensors to be changed. No cure. The problem remains and worsens as the tires wear and their diameter becomes smaller. If the speedometer is inaccurate the odometer could also be wrong and this would mean that my mileage would not be as great as is indicated and my warranty would expire that much sooner. Also my gas mileage would be less and my maintenance intervals would be sooner and I never really know what my true speed is. The factory indicated to me that they would only accept dynonmometer test and that I would have to do the test at my expense. They do not…
I have a 2003 subaru legacy sedan. When the vehicle is in "drive" and you are sitting at a traffic light or stop sign,for no apparent reason the RPM's increase by 200 to 330 RPM's and the vehicle lunges forward. This is a constant on-going problem and I have to very careful when pulling into my garage to make sure I don't run the vehicle through the back wall of the garage. I reported this to the dealer on 2 occasions. The dealer stated that this is "normal engine operation". The dealer stated that the engine's computer determines what the RPM's should be according to the electrical demand. This is an unacceptable explanation. You never know when the vehicle is about to lunge forward. *jb
For the second time (see my first report), my 2003 subaru legacy wagon suddenly accelerated while I was sitting at a stop light. I stood on the brake and put the transmission into neutral until the engine stopped revving. *jb
Also reported on the 2003 Subaru Legacy
Airbag inflator rupture
Fuel leak or fuel odor
Other engine problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Head gasket failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 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 4 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 speed control problem happen on the 2003 Subaru Legacy?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 1 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 speed control problem on the 2003 Subaru Legacy?
4 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