VehicleVerdict

2011 Subaru Legacy engine problems

The 2011 Subaru Legacy has 28 engine complaints filed with NHTSA — 12% of the year's total, and roughly flat versus the prior model year.

28

Engine complaints

12%

Share of year

0

Crash-involved

0

Related recalls

Engine complaints by year

Legacy engine complaints by model year35 complaints1987: 1 complaints1990: 2 complaints1991: 6 complaints1992: 4 complaints1993: 17 complaints1994: 5 complaints1995: 18 complaints1996: 24 complaints1997: 34 complaints1998: 30 complaints1999: 14 complaints2000: 18 complaints2001: 14 complaints2002: 13 complaints2003: 13 complaints2004: 7 complaints2005: 34 complaints2006: 20 complaints2007: 10 complaints2008: 4 complaints2009: 8 complaints2010: 35 complaints2011: 28 complaints2012: 23 complaints2013: 20 complaints2014: 5 complaints2015: 24 complaints2016: 8 complaints2017: 5 complaints2018: 10 complaints2019: 5 complaints2020: 4 complaints2021: 3 complaints2022: 1 complaints2025: 4 complaints
Legacy engine complaints by model year. Red bars are years to avoid.

What owners report

“01/07/2016 SHORTLY AFTER TAKING THE FREEWAY EXIT WIFE NOTICED THE BATTERY LIGHT TURNED ON AND POWER STEERING GOT HEAVY. ALL OTHER WARNING LIGHT ON THE DASH STARTED TO FLICKER AS THE PASSENGER COMPARTMENT QUICKLY FILLED WITH SMOKE. SHE THEN PULLED OVER AND HAD JUST ENOUGH TIME TO GET BOTH KIDS OUT…”

Complaint filed with NHTSA · Engine · January 7, 2016 · fire

Common questions

How many engine complaints does the 2011 Subaru Legacy have?

NHTSA has 28 complaints about the 2011 Subaru Legacy engine — 12% of all complaints filed for that model year.

Related

Based on NHTSA ODI data through June 2026. Complaints are consumer-reported and unverified. Updated July 5, 2026.

Compiled by Sharon Ben-Moshe, Founder.