Other speed control problem on the 2011 Subaru Outback
5 crashes 1 injury 6 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.
When other speed control problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Subaru Outback report other speed control problem at a median of 40,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 17th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 85,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 56,130 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
40% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28,870 miles | 32,250 miles | 40,500 miles | 69,250 miles | 85,000 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, 5 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 $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 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2022, at a median of 700 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 38; the 2011 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 subaru outback. While the contact was driving approximately 5 MPH in a parking lot, the brake pedal was engaged and the vehicle continued to accelerate over a parking barrier. The vehicle then crashed into a fence and traveled into several bushes coming to a complete stop. There was no personal injury. The vehicle was towed to a collision center for repairs. The vehicle sustained moderate damages. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 7,000.
I was on vacation driving home. Was at about 300 miles into a 400 mile trip. Driving 68 MPH on a divided highway. Temp approx. 85 degrees, sunny day. Attempted to pass a vehicle on a hill. Accelerated about max acceleration and vehicle completely cut off all power when acceleration attempt occurred. I had to pull over immediately w/o any power. Tried to re-start the vehicle without success. Car did turn over for about one second then shut off completely. Result was a need to tow the vehicle to a dealer. Vehicle sat overnight. When the dealer tried to start the vehicle it started. At this point I have not had any problems with this situation. But I have not been in a situation of being on a long trip, in 85 degree temp and attempting a hard passing acceleration on a steep hill. *tr
I would like to report an abnormal behavior in my car on january 13, 2014 as this is a safety matter. The road condition was dry and the outside temperature was about 40 degrees. First I backed out of my garage onto the road, then shifted to the d position and drove about half a mile forward. I noticed that the car did not slow down as usual when I applied the brakes as I was approaching the first intersection. I had to press the brake pedal much further than usual. I did not slow down to a complete stop, made a right turn and continued to drive. I decided to pay closer attention to the behavior of the car during the next braking period. I drove another quarter mile and I had to apply the brakes again as I was approaching a stop sign. The car did not slow down as usual again, so I had to press the brake pedal to the floor to make a complete stop. When the car finally stopped moving I heard a loud squeaking noise and the tachometer arrow was moving back and forth between 2000 and 5000 RPM. It seemed as though the clutch was still engaged even though the brakes were applied and the car was not moving. This continued for 5-10 seconds…
Also reported on the 2011 Subaru Outback
Torque converter failure
Headlight failure or clouding
Other powertrain problem
CVT failure
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
How far this goes
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 speed control problem happen on the 2011 Subaru Outback?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles. 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 2011 Subaru Outback?
13 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