***DISCLAIMER***
Please disregard the Yes/No Poll in this thread as that is not the "Survey". Take the numbers with a grain of salt. Assuming 2500-3000 STIs sold annually from 2008+ and the small sample rate it is likely that the risk of failure is low. Just educate yourself on this motor and it's weak points and address those weak points based on the intended use of the vehicle.
***Failures on stock engines that have had warranty denied***
If you have any year STI and have experienced a failer due to piston rings, file a complaint with NHTSA. Here is the link: Do your part and maybe Subaru of America will start standing behind their cars instead of putting owners through hardship. It is not so much a safety concern but if Subaru does not cover your motor with a warranty and it is stock we should be filing some complaint somewhere.
Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), File A Safety Complaint
Survey is closed
Results:
***UPDATE 2/1/2012****
Just as a quick check on my survey, out of 117 responses to failures, 23 of those were 2nd failures from the same user name so I removed those (some of those blew from a built engine with aftermarket turbo etc....)
So out of 94 failures on my survey since I started this survey in January 2009 keep in mind...
91% occurred prior to 30k miles, 54% before 15k miles
57% covered under warranty (54), 27% not covered
Out of 94 responses, 17 more were reported in addition that have had more than one failure but I cannot confirm their user names to see if they responded more than once. So if I work the numbers to look better, my survey showed 77 to 94 unique persons have suffered failures from the 117 reported. So 23 - 40 that had more than 1 failure which honestly could be from a large number of reasons. (Installation, not finding existing damage, bad built motor (which really should be removed if it wasn't subaru replacing it).
52 of the 94 reported occurred with BUILD DATES before September 2008... 36 occurred with build dates from October 2009 to Present. So out of 94, 52 were in the first year of production... Something to think about.
13 of the cars were part of the ECU recall in the early build dates and did not get the reflash, while the rest of those build dates did.
42 of the 94 were either Stock, or Stock with the ECU recall flash. (Again who knows what damage was already done before the reflash)
36 failures occurred on cars that were Stage 2 or higher, At least another 10-15 occurred from Stage 1 modifications (tune).
29 Failures occurred while using 91 octane fuel
1 on 87 octane (Throw that one out? )
4 didn't know what octane they used (scary! )
41 Cars participated in some form of racing (Autocross, Lapping days, etc)
43 Reports claimed to have hit the rev limiter numerous times
Again take it for what it is. A not very accurate summary of failures that have been reported on a website on the internet over the course of 3 years... If you consider how many GR STI are on the road, knowing that on this survey alone the majority of the failures came on the first year of production I am not too concerned by this thread.
But again I can throw out numbers and at the end of the day it is only worth what you want it to be worth. People will always have their opinions. I can sort through the results more and I could easily remove those that had reported modifications that are above Stage 2 (we are talking some of these failures that were running e85, or 400+hp) It is not a big surprise some cars failed.
Please disregard the Yes/No Poll in this thread as that is not the "Survey". Take the numbers with a grain of salt. Assuming 2500-3000 STIs sold annually from 2008+ and the small sample rate it is likely that the risk of failure is low. Just educate yourself on this motor and it's weak points and address those weak points based on the intended use of the vehicle.
***Failures on stock engines that have had warranty denied***
If you have any year STI and have experienced a failer due to piston rings, file a complaint with NHTSA. Here is the link: Do your part and maybe Subaru of America will start standing behind their cars instead of putting owners through hardship. It is not so much a safety concern but if Subaru does not cover your motor with a warranty and it is stock we should be filing some complaint somewhere.
Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), File A Safety Complaint
Survey is closed
Results:
***UPDATE 2/1/2012****
Just as a quick check on my survey, out of 117 responses to failures, 23 of those were 2nd failures from the same user name so I removed those (some of those blew from a built engine with aftermarket turbo etc....)
So out of 94 failures on my survey since I started this survey in January 2009 keep in mind...
91% occurred prior to 30k miles, 54% before 15k miles
57% covered under warranty (54), 27% not covered
Out of 94 responses, 17 more were reported in addition that have had more than one failure but I cannot confirm their user names to see if they responded more than once. So if I work the numbers to look better, my survey showed 77 to 94 unique persons have suffered failures from the 117 reported. So 23 - 40 that had more than 1 failure which honestly could be from a large number of reasons. (Installation, not finding existing damage, bad built motor (which really should be removed if it wasn't subaru replacing it).
52 of the 94 reported occurred with BUILD DATES before September 2008... 36 occurred with build dates from October 2009 to Present. So out of 94, 52 were in the first year of production... Something to think about.
13 of the cars were part of the ECU recall in the early build dates and did not get the reflash, while the rest of those build dates did.
42 of the 94 were either Stock, or Stock with the ECU recall flash. (Again who knows what damage was already done before the reflash)
36 failures occurred on cars that were Stage 2 or higher, At least another 10-15 occurred from Stage 1 modifications (tune).
29 Failures occurred while using 91 octane fuel
1 on 87 octane (Throw that one out? )
4 didn't know what octane they used (scary! )
41 Cars participated in some form of racing (Autocross, Lapping days, etc)
43 Reports claimed to have hit the rev limiter numerous times
Again take it for what it is. A not very accurate summary of failures that have been reported on a website on the internet over the course of 3 years... If you consider how many GR STI are on the road, knowing that on this survey alone the majority of the failures came on the first year of production I am not too concerned by this thread.
But again I can throw out numbers and at the end of the day it is only worth what you want it to be worth. People will always have their opinions. I can sort through the results more and I could easily remove those that had reported modifications that are above Stage 2 (we are talking some of these failures that were running e85, or 400+hp) It is not a big surprise some cars failed.
