No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2015 Subaru Outback
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2015 Subaru Outback report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 60,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 600 miles at the tenth percentile to 70,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 68,439 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
31% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 561 miles | 32,125 miles | 48,892 miles | 59,000 miles | 69,000 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 $200–$1,800 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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 81; the 2015 has 25. 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.
Two incidents related to the ignition/electrical system for this car happened during a second start after a short trip in cold weather. Both incidents occurred in temperatures at or below 5 degrees fahrenheit. The car started and ran normally, then after I drove for short trip (between 5 and 10 minutes long) I parked the car, turned it off and left it for about 5-10 minutes. For the first incident: the car would not start. The accessories, including the heat/fan system and radio worked, but the car would not crank. The dashboard "security immobilizer" indicator flashed as if the key was not in the ignition. After leaving the key in the "on" position for 5 minutes, all of the dashboard lights briefly illuminated and the car was able to start again. The second incident: the car started, but the accessories, including the heat/fan system would not turn on. I was able to drive, but because there was no heat or fan, the windsheild soon began to fog-over, diminishing visibility, disabling the eyesight system, and forcing me to find a safe place to pull over. After the car ran for about 4 minutes total, the accessories turned on again. I…
Two incidents related to the ignition/electrical system for this car happened during a second start after a short trip in cold weather. Both incidents occurred in temperatures at or below 5 degrees fahrenheit. The car started and ran normally, then after I drove for short trip (between 5 and 10 minutes long) I parked the car, turned it off and left it for about 5-10 minutes. For the first incident: the car would not start. The accessories, including the heat/fan system and radio worked, but the car would not crank. The dashboard "security immobilizer" indicator flashed as if the key was not in the ignition. After leaving the key in the "on" position for 5 minutes, all of the dashboard lights briefly illuminated and the car was able to start again. The second incident: the car started, but the accessories, including the heat/fan system would not turn on. I was able to drive, but because there was no heat or fan, the windsheild soon began to fog-over, diminishing visibility, disabling the eyesight system, and forcing me to find a safe place to pull over. After the car ran for about 4 minutes total, the accessories turned on again. I…
I have had 3 intermittent start up issues when the temperature is below 0 degrees on my new 2015 outback. It occurs after a short trip, less than 10 miles. When I went back to try and start the car the first time the door is open bell chimed, but the car would not start up.the heater, radio and other electronics were not showing on the screen. The third time the car key would not even turn in the ignition. I left the key in the ignition and 10 minutes later the car would start. Being stranded in below 0 conditions is a scary proposition! I have read on the subaru.org thread that there is a relay switch issue. *tr
Also reported on the 2015 Subaru Outback
Other visibility problem
Other electrical problem
Windshield cracking
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 25 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 no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2015 Subaru Outback?
Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 60,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2015 Subaru Outback?
25 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.7 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