I don't trust that yellow light.

 

I certainly don't, in the opposite direction (failure to flag a true low level) but if this situation is a false alarm, that's a frustration and semi-dangerous annoyance. Two side thoughts - I've pored over the manual for my own '17 XT, and with its cumbersome wording about the 2 kinds of instrument panels (A and B), I'm still unsure whether my car really has a yellow level light. It only says so clear-cut, for the base-trim type A panel as far as I can see. I speculate that my car's multi-color driver display panel should be able to give any sort of message, like a computer monitor, but darned if I can see the manual saying so. Second side thought - my 9 yo A5 (bought new 2014) has an electronic oil level display which has a resolution of about 1/2 pint between Min and Max, and even can announce that the car is overfilled. So far it has worked perfectly, and I'm sure of that because I do my own oil changes (including the one slight overfilling).

 

On my 11 Outback, it used just enough oil that if the yellow light came on, it was time to do an oil change. (About 1 quart low)
I've never had it come on with my 17 FXT.
On the Outback, I had a couple of times that it came on, but shut off at the next startup and didn't come on again for a while. I don't know where the sensor is, but I'd assume that parking on just the right incline could cause it to trigger if the oil level was a bit (but not dangerously) low.
Since it's a warning and not a replacement for checking the dipstick, I don't think anything should be done. Better to have a false alarm and actually verify that the oil level is OK, than not have any indication and be driving around with too little oil. Now, if it was the RED light, that's another story.

 

On my 11 Outback, it used just enough oil that if the yellow light came on, it was time to do an oil change. (About 1 quart low)

That’s the same trigger (approx 4000 miles) I use for my ‘11 OB @167k to check the dipstick and either add a bit of leftover oil or plan for an oil change. It may only be a warning but I’d rather not run low on oil.

 

Oil level sensor "float hanging in the cage" seems to be enough of a problem that I was able to find some threads about it.

Intermittent oil level warning light

2013 2.5, it is in the VIN range of the oil-burners, but mine doesn't burn oil - sort of. Typically, by the time the next oil change interval rolls around I'm about 1/4 to 1/2 qt lower than when I started. I wouldn't consider that anything to be concerned about. This morning, the oil-level...

www.subaruoutback.org

 

Also maybe this, though the year doesn't match.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2014/SB-10093461-2280.pdf

 

This is what my owners manual says about false alarms on the low oil level light:

Engine low oil level warning light
This light illuminates when the engine oil level decreases to the lower limit.
If the engine low oil level warning light illuminates while driving, park the vehicle in a safe and level location, and then check the engine oil level. When the engine oil level is not within the normal range, refill with engine oil. Refer to “Engine oil” F11-10.

If the warning light does not turn off after refilling the engine oil, or the warning light illuminates even though the engine oil level is within the normal range, have the vehicle checked by a SUBARU dealer.

NOTE
. After replacing or adding the engine oil, if the engine oil level is within the normal range when restarting the engine on a level surface, the warning
light will turn off.

The warning light may illuminate temporarily in the following conditions because a low oil level may be detected as a result of significant oil movement in the engine.
– when the vehicle is considerably inclined on an uphill or steep slope
– when the vehicle has continuously accelerated and decelerated
– when the vehicle is continuously turned
– when the vehicle is driven on a road that alternates continuously between uphill and downhill

This is an old thread, but the owners manual seemed to have a good answer to the original question.
The one time mine turned on, it turned off when I added some oil.
But I do wonder, if the driver is always by herself when the light comes on.

 

2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness. 51,000 miles. Just had my first low engine oil warning light incident. The oil was over 1 quart low. I did not know this was an issue with Subaru engines. How often do you need to check your oil level and add oil? Are there any recalls on this?

 

I always check oil level via dipstick at every fill-up. Don't matter what vehicle.

 

@john23 "do it every fillup" I think is good mainly if you are like bman400 and me, we love doing it and knowing we're OK. Assuming you are having your oil changed at 6,000 miles every time as specified, as a non-car-guy I would check the dipstick once soon after your next oil change to assure that the shop did it right. Then about 1,000 or 2,000 miles later, looking for the oil to be at almost exactly the same level it was the check before. Then again after another 2,000 miles. If your 3 measurements confirm that your engine does indeed consume oil, decide on a check interval maybe more frequent than that. If your 3 measurements are all the same (my car still behaves this way), then maybe just once or twice between oil changes. The key thing is to be sure yourself of the pattern. Also remember, a Subaru dipstick is nearly impossible to read carefully if you don't wipe it off first. And I also can tell you positively, the dipstick reading is thrown off quite a bit by sloped ground. Do it somewhere level.

 

Having owned a 2011 VW Touareg TDI which does not have a dipstick installed from factory but can be purchased from dealer. My experience with the Touareg and compared to what I have read on there, the Subaru oil level light is primitive. The Touareg actually displays on the dash a nice graph of the oil level in liters and is accurate.

IMHO the Subaru oil level indicator light is not to be trusted vs actual regular dipstick checks as suggested by @whobodym.

 

to second bman400's comments about the VW dipstick-less system, I've also owned a 2014 Audi A5 2.0T from new to today, and done some observations and experiments with its oil level indicator. My A5 engine has never consumed much oil at all, but I've satisfied myself that the bar graph on the screen will register Max / -0.25L below Max / -0.5L below Max / -0.75L / MIn (the engine holds a total of 5 quarts). It also is capable of notifying me that the crankcase is over-full. But the little white bar graph on the screen does not register change to the level of one pixel or anything like that. Another not-quite-ideal factor is, the system sometimes resorts to saying "not available until the engine is warm and turned off", which doesn't entirely make sense, because the oil level bar graph can appear in the middle of a drive if I'm watching it continually. And that N/A message, while it's logical right after an oil change, also seems to appear after I've had the car parked a long time during a vacation or etc. I'm trusting that VW engineers and coders really have implemented some sophisticated logic that is too complex to explain to owners. And another thing about Subaru's yellow oil warning light, for my '17 Forester, just try reading the owner's manual descriptions for the two types of instrument clusters (simple / fancier) and proving that the fancy panel type has the yellow light. I assume it must, but the manual is about as clear as a the fine print of a mortgage document.

 

This is from the 2017 Quick Reference and shows both gauge sets have the Yellow Oil Level Light.
The only time I had the light come on was very shortly after I bought my pre-owned Subaru and I think the dealer used really cheap oil.

The full list covers 2 pages

For the higher end models