2026 Subaru Solterra: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2026 Subaru Solterra
On the 2026 Subaru Solterra, the failure owners report most often is instrument cluster or gauge failure, with 2 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 80,000 miles. Overall it scores 63 out of 100, high risk for a 2026.
High risk for a 2026 — 63rd riskiest of the 73 2026 vehicles we can rate. 20 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork.
What owners report breaking
Owners have reported 17 named failure modes on the 2026 Subaru Solterra, and the three most-reported carry 25% of everything filed, which is an unusually even spread for one model year.
Instrument cluster or gauge failure leads with 2 reports and about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles.
Other driver assistance problem follows with 2 reports.
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure follows with 1 report, median 80,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into infotainment (3), engine (3) and electrical (3).
The mileage the reports cluster at
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 1 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
Showing the 12 most-reported failure modes of 17. The full list is in the table below.
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
What happens when these parts fail
Nothing in the reports on the 2026 Subaru Solterra mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 3.80, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: instrument cluster or gauge failure at $350–$1,400, other driver assistance problem at $250–$1,800, timing chain, belt or tensioner failure at $1,200–$4,500 and lifter, cam or cylinder-deactivation failure at $1,800–$7,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
25% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument cluster or gauge failure | infotainment | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.3 | $350–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Other driver assistance problem | adas | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.3 | $250–$1,800 | High |
| Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure | engine | 1 | 1 | — | 80k | — | 0.1 | $1,200–$4,500 | Critical |
| Lifter, cam or cylinder-deactivation failure | engine | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $1,800–$7,000 | High |
| Overheating | cooling | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $400–$3,500 | High |
| Parasitic battery drain | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $200–$1,200 | Moderate |
| Wiring harness or short circuit | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $400–$3,500 | High |
| Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $700–$3,000 | High |
| Audio or connectivity failure | infotainment | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $150–$900 | Low |
| Loss of power steering | steering | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $600–$2,800 | Critical |
| Steering column or shaft failure | steering | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $600–$2,500 | Critical |
| Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure | suspension | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $400–$2,200 | High |
| Sunroof failure or glass breakage | body | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $700–$4,500 | High |
| Other engine problem | engine | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $300–$4,000 | High |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Other fuel system problem | fuel | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $300–$2,200 | High |
| Other body or interior problem | body | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Unclassified problem | other | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | — | Moderate |
Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2026 Subaru Solterra draws about 2.9 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 87th percentile of complaint rates among 2026 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound.
The working figure is 6,997 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2026 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
Recalls on the 2026 model year
NHTSA has issued 1 recall campaign covering the 2026 Subaru Solterra, affecting an estimated 6,997 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.
The campaigns cover electrical system:propulsion system. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.
One caution about reading these together: a recall usually raises the complaint count for the same part, because owners who read about it go and file. The mileages stay informative; the counts get noisy.
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:PROPULSION SYSTEM
20,991 vehicles 2026-06-18- Defect
- Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2026 Toyota BZ, Lexus RZ, and Subaru Solterra battery electric vehicles. The electronic control unit (ECU) that controls the high voltage battery may experience a fault, resulting in a loss of drive power.
- Consequence
- An unexpected loss of drive power increases the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will update the battery ECU software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 17, 2026. Owners may contact Toyota's customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's numbers for this recall are 26LA07 and 26TA11. Subaru's number for this recall is WRG26.
Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.
How it ranks in the 2026 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
Where 2026 sits in the model line
High risk for a 2026 — 63rd riskiest of the 73 2026 vehicles we can rate. Because the ranking is against the same model year only, age cancels out of it.
Across the 3 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2026 comes out best at 63 and 2023 worst at 71, with 2026 itself at 63.
No other year of this model scores meaningfully better than 2026, so if this generation is what you want, the year is not the lever.
Within the 2023–2026 generation specifically, 2026 is the strongest year at 63 and 2023 the weakest at 71.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2023-2026 generation, 2026 Subaru Solterra scores best at 63 and 2023 Subaru Solterra worst at 71.
Where these figures stop being useful
20 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 20 reports, 1 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 5% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2026 Subaru Solterra?
The most-reported failures are instrument cluster or gauge failure (2 reports), other driver assistance problem (2 reports) and timing chain, belt or tensioner failure (1 report, median 80,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Is the 2026 Subaru Solterra reliable?
It scores 63 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 63rd riskiest of the 73 2026 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2026 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Which year of the Subaru Solterra is best?
Within the 2023–2026 generation, 2026 scores best at 63 out of 100 and 2023 worst at 71. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
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