2016 Subaru Legacy Electrical System Problems
Owners have filed 51 complaints with NHTSA about electrical system problems on the 2016 Subaru Legacy, 35% of all complaints for this model year. Half of the reports with a mileage happened before 51,000 miles. The words owners use most often: “remove key” (12% of reports).
- 51electrical system complaints
- 51,000median miles at failure
- 0mention a crash
- 0mention an injury
- 0related recalls
What owners describe
Phrases that appear unusually often in these complaints compared with complaints about other cars.
- Remove key: mentioned in 6 of 51 complaints (12%)
At what mileage do electrical system problems happen?
Based on 18 complaints that reported the odometer reading.
How serious are the reports?
None of the 51 complaints report a crash, fire or injury.
Subaru Legacy electrical system complaints by model year
| Model year | Electrical System complaints | Share of that year | Median miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Legacy | 5 | 29% | — |
| 2023 Legacy | 1 | 10% | — |
| 2022 Legacy | 3 | 9% | 8,000 |
| 2021 Legacy | 5 | 16% | 60,000 |
| 2020 Legacy | 15 | 12% | 7,814 |
| 2019 Legacy | 35 | 28% | 900 |
| 2018 Legacy | 40 | 34% | 16,745 |
| 2017 Legacy | 30 | 25% | 54,000 |
| 2016 Legacy | 51 | 35% | 51,000 |
| 2015 Legacy | 37 | 23% | 11,806 |
| 2014 Legacy | 11 | 21% | 68,500 |
| 2013 Legacy | 6 | 9% | 97,000 |
| 2012 Legacy | 4 | 4% | 103,000 |
| 2011 Legacy | 19 | 11% | 60,000 |
| 2010 Legacy | 12 | 8% | 80,000 |
| 2009 Legacy | 4 | 6% | 105,000 |
| 2008 Legacy | 9 | 14% | 98,000 |
| 2007 Legacy | 5 | 15% | 73,000 |
| 2006 Legacy | 17 | 20% | 100,000 |
| 2005 Legacy | 25 | 14% | 93,000 |
| 2004 Legacy | 1 | 2% | 149,000 |
| 2003 Legacy | 2 | 3% | 100,001 |
| 2002 Legacy | 2 | 4% | 251,500 |
| 2001 Legacy | 1 | 1% | — |
| 2000 Legacy | 6 | 6% | 137,000 |
| 1999 Legacy | 2 | 2% | 109,000 |
| 1998 Legacy | 9 | 8% | 78,000 |
| 1997 Legacy | 17 | 12% | 86,128 |
| 1996 Legacy | 21 | 17% | 64,435 |
| 1995 Legacy | 20 | 11% | 22,000 |
When owners reported it
Related recalls (0)
No safety recall lists electrical system for the 2016 Subaru Legacy. A pattern of complaints does not always lead to a recall.
What owners report
Short excerpts of recent complaints, with personal details removed. Full reports are on NHTSA.gov.
The factory touchscreen infotainment system is experiencing severe screen delamination (internal adhesive failure). This defect causes uncontrollable 'ghost touching,' where the screen registers phantom inputs. The system cycles through radio stations, changes audio sources, and changes navigation…
Battery dies all the time. Parasitic drain from the Starlink program in the car. There is/was a lawsuit. It involves some DCW fuse or something. Ive had to prematurely replace my battery. It also seems to be affecting the radio. It switches stations randomly.
Battery continuously dies, likely due to a parasitic drain, and it is extremely hard-taking up to 15 to 20 minutes to open the car door using the the wierd key you slide out of the key fob. As a woman, it is very dangerous when my battery dies and I am in a dark parking lot and I can't even get…
Frequently asked questions
Do all 2016 Subaru Legacys have electrical system problems?
No. NHTSA has 51 owner complaints about electrical system for the 2016 Subaru Legacy (35% of the 147 complaints for this model year). Complaint data shows that the problem is reported, not how many of all cars sold are affected.
Was there a recall on the 2016 Subaru Legacy electrical system?
No recall currently lists electrical system for this vehicle.
At what mileage do electrical system problems start?
The median reported mileage is 51,000 miles: half of the reports with a mileage came before that.
What do owners say about electrical system problems on the 2016 Subaru Legacy?
The most frequent phrase is “remove key”, in 6 of 51 complaints.
See all 2016 Subaru Legacy problems or electrical system problems across all Legacy years.