Subaru Settles WRX/STI 2.5L Engine Lawsuit Following Months of Discovery

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Subaru settles a lawsuit against the 2012-2017 Subaru WRX/STI equipped with the 2.5-liter turbocharged engine. See what the plaintiffs get.

Subaru was hit with three lawsuits last year claiming there’s an engine defect in 2012-2017 WRX and WRX STI models equipped with the EJ25 2.5-liter turbocharged Boxer engine. A report from Law360 says the lawsuit has been settled following months of discovery.

Subaru WRX/STI owners, contended in the lawsuit, the 2.5-liter turbo engine had a defect which allowed contaminated oil to carry “damaging metal debris through the engines” and Subaru knowingly sold the cars with defective parts that led to engine failure. The motion says "Plaintiffs alleged that defendants were aware of this engine defect, but failed to disclose it to consumers.”

The proposed settlement was reached with Subaru of America “following months of negotiations and discovery.” Owners who filed the lawsuit asked a New Jersey federal judge last week to approve a settlement that includes reimbursement for certain out-of-pocket repairs and compensation to those who sold or traded in their vehicles.

According to the motion for preliminary approval of the settlement, class members will also receive a warranty extension providing free repairs for a period of eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first, which is double the length of Subaru's new vehicle limited warranty, and a notable increase over Subaru's powertrain limited warranty (5 years or 60,000 miles).

2012-2017 EJ25 2.5L Turbo Boxer engines

The settlement covers 2012-2017 Subaru WRX and WRX STI vehicles manufactured between Oct. 11, 2011, and Nov, 16, 2016 equipped with an EJ25 2.5-liter turbocharged Boxer engine with bearing vehicle identification numbers ending with CG203168 and up for five-door hatch models and CG006225 through H9826807 for four-door sedan models.

Lead plaintiffs Vicente Salcedoi, Gerald Linden and Brian Mervin hailed from California, Michigan and New Jersey. The report from Law360 also says hundreds of proposed class members have directly contacted plaintiffs' counsel, and the suit cited numerous consumer complaints about the alleged defect made to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The report says Subaru WRX/STI owners who traded in their vehicle “With a qualifying failure prior to obtaining a repair are also eligible for reimbursement. Class members must submit a claim form proving they presented the vehicle to an authorized Subaru dealer with a qualifying failure, that they subsequently sold or traded it un-repaired and that, based on the Kelley Blue Book value, they received less than fair market value by comparing the prevailing Kelley Blue Book value at the time of the transaction, up to a maximum of $4,000.”

Subaru will agree to reimburse all class members for 100 percent of all out-of-pocket expenses they incurred for parts and labor that they paid to a Subaru dealer for the cost of a qualifying repair performed during the extended warranty period.

2012-2017 Subaru WRX/STI class action members will be notified by mail and Subaru will also set up a dedicated website that will include the notice, claim form, settlement agreement and other relevant documents. "We are very pleased with the settlement and believe it will provide significant relief to class members," Matthew D. Schelkopf of Sauder Schelkopf LLC, lead attorney for the plaintiffs,” told Law360 last week.

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Photo credit: Subaru USA

Submitted by Pete B (not verified) on August 28, 2018 - 8:56AM

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Wow. Even great rides from great manufacturers get disease that can be fatal. Subaru has grown and grown in recent years and this ‘growth pain’ clearly happened as a result of lack of attention to detail. The 2.5 has had a long run that had outlived it’s competitive and technology shelf life. The 2.0 turbo is better and more modern is every way and should be the power plant option modified to produce competitive, Winning specification.
Regardless, the 2.5 has outlived it’s usefulness and should be replaced by a far more modern and far more powerful and efficient engine to be relevant against competitors from other manufacturers who have technology wise surpassed STI and the entire range of Subaru vehicles that utilize the 2.5. Please make the right call Subaru. Be Great. Be the Best Again.

That engine is the reason I did not buy an STi in 2014 when I bought my 2015 WRX Limited. Why buy a brand new car...with a 12 year old power plant that gets almost half the mpg of the WRX and very little power difference thanks to the WRX twin scroll turbo.

That's a dumb comment. Is it still carb'd? no. Is it still obd1? no. Does that 70 year old engine use forged titanium connecting rods? Sodium filled exhaust valves? no.

HaHa! This is the exact reason I bought my 2015 WRX also! My 2010 Wagon, and 2013 Wagon both had to have an intirely new long block out in because of this. They fail to mention that the contaminated oil is not the only reason the EJ257 is garbage. The oil pan is not designed correctly, and the oil pump does not push out enough oil even close to the factory redline which starves the motor for oil and destroys the ring lands. The problem with the oil pan, is it’s lack of baffles to hold oil in place by the oil pump causes all the oil to move to one side or the other in the oil pan under hard cornering, causing the oil pump to only suck in air, and not providing oil to critical engine parts. I’m am sure these reasons will come out soon as well.

My 2013 WRX had 2 engines spin the bearings. 13k and 35k both same issue. They would not cover it, said oil starvation. Funny when I had the engine rebuilt they don't sell the OEM 10mm oil pump they changed them to 11mm. Been fighting with them for years. Even won the class action law suit and they still won't pay.

Sorry. One last thing, they are also facing another lawsuit because when they released the STI RA, they told consumers not to worry, they had fixed the issue with the EJ257 and upgraded the internals with the RA power plant... Well, a sceptic ordered a brand new RA short block and had a 2018 short block. Upon tearing them both completely down, everything was exactly the same.....

There's been a lot of attention to detail...just not attention to performance detail. Subaru as a company is really not on the performance game (and I can't blame them) - it's simply not as profitable as other segments. Now why didn't Subaru take the relatively simple steps with the EJ of: A) strengthening the pistons, and B) advocating an oil with better shear stability for superior bearing protection? - two things that would have probably saved them a small fortune in warranty claims. That I'll never understand.

The FA20 is newer, much more efficient, has a lower boost threshold and a powerband that is more usable for a street driven car, but no one has provided hard data on long-term reliability as far as I know. For that matter, Subaru's most capable cars (including their track cars) are still powered by the old 2.0 liter EJ20...NOT the FA, so there's not even a lot that can be said with race applications.

so I have a 2017 previously owned I bought the car with 19000 mile now I have 37000 mile and a while back I smelt a little oil I just thought it was normal for a turbo car but after doing a lot of research my jaw bout hit the floor long story short did a compression test and good old cyclider 4 had 85 lbs of compression so I called Subaru dealership and they told me it was out of warranty so I bought a short block and now having it installed can I get any reimbursement for receipts for money that I have put out for ringland failure

Submitted by Alexander Mckeachie (not verified) on September 2, 2018 - 3:37PM

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Personally im not a fan of the WRX twin scroll turbo currently work as a Technician and have seen many Wastegate Failures on these causing fluctuating boost pressures eventually leading to a serious lack of power. The EJ257 its a super bad engine needs more refining to remove these troubles such as cracking oil pick ups causing oil starvation leading the bearing failure. They have redesigned other motors and the EJ257 is long overdue for an upgrade in its design.

Submitted by Vitaliy (not verified) on September 6, 2018 - 11:18AM

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That’s funny 2014 to 2017 when it just happened to my 2018 subaru I bought brand new with 30 miles. Had to sue Subaru and won apparently their excuse was someone put disel in gas tank which caused cylinders to miss fire and when they took engine block apart it was full of metal shavings and pistons were gone.

Submitted by Cheap Trucks (not verified) on September 25, 2018 - 4:20AM

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Thank you Denis for the reporting...

So my engine went just a few weeks ago.

80K miles, and they replaced the engine within weeks of this lawsuit. My question isn't how well they are now performing these changes, and standing up to their extended warrenties, since it is my belief they are doing WELL by the consumer.

What are they replacing my engine with? Will they warranty the new block? Is it only on the 100K warranty, or will the block have a new 60k warranty?

Submitted by Damon Sebestin (not verified) on September 26, 2018 - 2:36PM

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What happened if you own a 2010 that had the problem? Is there still any help out there? I really don’t have the space to have it sit in my garage and can’t afford to fix it all at once.
If anyone knows about other lawsuits for the older models with that problem please reply to this.

Hey, I have a 2010 STi Special Edition. It has only 65,000 miles on it, and I'm on my 2nd replacement engine and 2nd replacement turbo. I definitely think there's a defect problem with these older EJ25 engines also. These repairs cost me a total of about $7500 out of pocket. And that's after fighting Subaru on the first engine failure and getting the first engine replacement at 70% off. The second I came out of pocket 100% through a Subaru independent specialist that gave me an amazing deal (SixStar Service if anyone is interested in the Atlanta, GA area).
Anyhow, please let me know if others also have these same issues with the 2008-2011 STi models. My car has definitely been a serious problem. If we have some people with the same issues, we may be able to contact the attorneys to attempt to join the class action or start one of our own...not sure exactly how to approach this, but I'm willing to talk to legal council.

Hey, I have a 2010 STi Special Edition. It has only 65,000 miles on it, and I'm on my 2nd replacement engine and 2nd replacement turbo. I definitely think there's a defect problem with these older EJ25 engines also. These repairs cost me a total of about $7500 out of pocket. And that's after fighting Subaru on the first engine failure and getting the first engine replacement at 70% off. The second I came out of pocket 100% through a Subaru independent specialist that gave me an amazing deal (SixStar Service if anyone is interested in the Atlanta, GA area).
Anyhow, please let me know if others also have these same issues with the 2008-2011 STi models. My car has definitely been a serious problem. If we have some people with the same issues, we may be able to contact the attorneys to attempt to join the class action or start one of our own...not sure exactly how to approach this, but I'm willing to talk to legal council.

My son has a 2008 STI WRX. Just rolled 100,000 miles. Wasn't having any issues until he took it in for the Airbag Recall. Very long story short. After getting the repair and being told his timing belt needed to be replaced, he left only to have his car not start the next day, tried to jump-start battery would not power lights but not turn the car over. fortunately, he had another battery replaced it started. Next day same thing this time we were able to jump-start and took it to get a brand new battery the negative cable was loose so we added a shim since it wouldn't tighten. The third day it started but check engine light came on started running rough. Code read misfire on the fourth cylinder. He took it back to the dealership which after some pleading gave him a car to use since he is only 23 not old enough for a loaner. When he took it in he request them to replace the timing belt and the battery cables. After doing a compression test on the code they said that the fourth cylinder was losing compression after tearing down the engine the dealership is telling him he needs an new engine block. I am not sure of the finer details; something like the piston-rings are scratching the walls. Total bill so far around $7500. He hasn't gotten it back yet. He was having no problem before he took it in for the recall. I hope Subaru makes it right. It is a beautiful car.

Submitted by Carlos Roque (not verified) on October 2, 2018 - 12:12PM

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I have a 2013 wrx and i contact subaru due too a failure engine and they try to blame me due too lack off maintenance when i bought the car with 12,000 miles and bring the car to the dealer 4 different times for services and the car failure engine went with only less than 22,000 miles ahd nobody contact me back yet.,

Keep the pressure on them. Mine grenaded at 42k miles and they were waffling about replacing the short block or not cuz i did all my own oil changes. They eventually covered not under warranty they said, but as a good will gesture.

Submitted by Gus (not verified) on October 16, 2018 - 9:45PM

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So I'm actually looking forward to buying a subaru wrx sti here in California in the next few weeks. Was not aware of such a deal with the engine. Thinking if I should just look into a totally different sports car altogether now.

As far as going with another car it depends on what you were planning to do with the STi. If you were getting it to leave it stock and abide by the warranty and (hopefully) have things covered, it’s a fun car with great handling and a decent amount of power. Now if you are planning on doing anything to it, you can say goodbye to your warranty (which is confusing since Subaru sells intakes and exhaust upgrades for the cars at their dealerships which are OEM produced, but if you put them on they will say they can’t warranty any problem with the car because of “aftermarket parts”). Now on the other hand if you don’t care about the warranty these cars have great potential but for the same amount of money there are a lot of other options out there for a fun sports car but I am partial to Subaru and love building them because they can be made to suit you and exactly what you want from the car since there are an endless supply of parts and companies that make parts for them.

Submitted by Luis (not verified) on October 17, 2018 - 10:15AM

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What about the other models that use the turbo 2.5l EJ engine? I own a 2011 Legacy GT and had to pay out of pocket to have my headgaskets done on a car with 68K! They denied my warranty because I had replaced the OEM chargepipe which cracked (known for becoming weak/brittle and breaking) with an upgraded chargepipe that corrected the issues of the OEM one. That part has nothing to do with the cooling or function of the cooling system. Also, these models don’t come with a temp gauge!! On a car brand that is known for having cooling/headgaskets issues!! That issue and the way it was handled completely changed my view on Subaru.