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Diagnostic trouble code

P26A3

17 owner reports and 7 manufacturer filings across 7 model years from Honda, Ram, Subaru.

PowertrainGeneric OBD-II code7 manufacturer filings17 owner reports

Where P26A3 shows up

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints
Model yearFiled underBulletinsOwner reports
2019 Subaru ForesterPower Train—9
2020 Subaru ForesterEngine—5
2018 Honda ClarityElectrical System4—
2023 Ram 1500Engine2—
2021 Subaru CrosstrekPower Train—2
2024 Ram 1500Engine1—
2021 Subaru LegacyEngine—1

A model year appears here because the code is named in its record, not because every one of these vehicles sets it. Counts are mentions in the federal files, not failure rates — nobody publishes the denominator.

What it gets filed under

Engine 10Power Train 6Forward Collision Avoidance 3Electrical System 2Engine And Engine Cooling 1Unspecified 1
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What owners said

Source: NHTSA complaint database

Owners’ own words, one per nameplate, scrubbed of anything identifying. These are unverified reports filed with NHTSA — they are what was said, not a finding that it was true.

I checked under the hood but had no idea what was going on, so I drove it over to my local Autozone for a scan, and it came back with the 'P26A3' Code, as well as 'P3300,' and 'P2100' (Throttle Control Motor-Circuit Open)
2019 Subaru ForesterMay 10, 2023NHTSA owner report

Manufacturer filings that name it

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications

Service bulletins and campaigns whose filed summary names P26A3. Quoting the document number at a service desk is often the fastest route to a diagnosis someone has already written down.

What P26A3 means

Source: SAE J2012 / OBD-II

P26A3 sits in the generic range of the OBD-II standard, so it means the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States — but WhichTrim does not carry a definition for it and will not invent one. What is on this page is the record: who named it and on what.

A stored code names the test that failed, never the part that caused it. It is the starting point of a diagnosis, not its conclusion — the same code has several possible causes and the cheap one is not always right.

Common questions about P26A3

Source: NHTSA files and the OBD-II standard

Can I keep driving with P26A3 stored?

Nobody can answer that from the code alone, and a site that does is guessing. A steady light generally means the fault was logged and the vehicle is in a reduced-risk mode; a flashing light means stop soon, because a misfiring engine can destroy a catalytic converter in minutes. The safe read of this page is the mileage and the components, not permission.

Does a code mean the car is recalled?

No. Recalls are filed by campaign and matched by VIN, and none of them are triggered by a scan tool. If you want to know whether an open recall applies to one specific vehicle, check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls — that is the only source that settles it.

Why do the counts here differ from other sites?

Because these are not estimates. Every number on this page is a count of documents in NHTSA's own files: manufacturer communications that name the code in their filed summary, and owner complaints that name it in the narrative. We do not model, weight or extrapolate them.

Will clearing the code fix it?

Clearing turns the light off and erases the freeze-frame data a technician would have used to work out what happened. If the condition is still there the code returns, usually within a few drive cycles, and the diagnosis now starts from less information than before.