Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,215,138 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA — including 138,663 crashes, 56,255 fires, and 8,561 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim — NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,215,138 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports — when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report — that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints — specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened — feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 34,453 complaints for SUBARU
Incident date: May 10, 2022
Battery died while in idle, unable to restart, constant clicking and beeping. Requires roadside assistance. This is the 3rd time the battery has been dead on this car....First time, shortly after purchase, the dealer replaced the battery, saying it was a battery issue. Second time the car had been parked in the garage, a few months ago, no lights left on. Today, it was idling as I was picking up... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2022
2020 Subaru Ascent that I purchased in November of 2019 had original brand new battery replaced in July of 2020 The “ new battery “ is now defective and car needs to be jump started. Defective battery or defective electrical system?
Incident date: May 2, 2022
Chipped windshield, crack started to spread inside the windshield
Incident date: May 8, 2022
Electrical issue affecting the headlights, radio, clock, gauges. Headlights constantly flicker/dimming, also causes the bulbs to burn out rapidly. Radio constantly losing power Clock/miles left in tank display resets occasionally The the speedometer and tachometer display loses power dropping all the needles to 0 for a second before popping back. These issues got worse after the last recall was... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2022
Electrical issue affecting the headlights, radio, clock, gauges. Headlights constantly flicker/dimming, also causes the bulbs to burn out rapidly. Radio constantly losing power Clock/miles left in tank display resets occasionally The the speedometer and tachometer display loses power dropping all the needles to 0 for a second before popping back. These issues got worse after the last recall was... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2022
We own a 2020 Subaru Ascent we purchased brand new. A few weeks ago we noticed a faint gasoline smell while at a red light. I thought it was a one time occurrence but it has been happening now every time the vehicle is at idle or stopped. I have read on Subaru owner forums about 2019 to 2021 models having this issue all the way from 2100 miles to almost 90,000 miles. Many customers have had to ma... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2022
We own a 2020 Subaru Ascent we purchased brand new. A few weeks ago we noticed a faint gasoline smell while at a red light. I thought it was a one time occurrence but it has been happening now every time the vehicle is at idle or stopped. I have read on Subaru owner forums about 2019 to 2021 models having this issue all the way from 2100 miles to almost 90,000 miles. Many customers have had to ma... Read more
Incident date: Apr 30, 2022
No impact event. Entered car in the morning and noticed a 1-2" horizontal crack in windshield, with no sign of impact. Over a few days, that 1-2" crack became a 3-foot monster. Of course, Subaru claims it was due to impact.
Incident date: Apr 3, 2017
The battery has drained on at least 4 occasions, resulting in 3 tow trips to the dealer. I left the vehicle there one time for 2 weeks while on vacation so they could watch for and analyze drain. Nothing was found they said. The dealer replaced the battery at least once and I bought a ‘platinum’-level toe one at at car parts store.
Incident date: May 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while pulling into her residential garage at 3 MPH, the vehicle suddenly accelerated while the contact had her foot depressing the brake pedal. The vehicle hit the back wall of the garage, the hood crumpled back to the radiator, which was punctured, and the front bumper was creased and dented. Additionally, the passenger-side front do... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Mar 1, 2021
Not driven in a few day (2-3), the battery is dead and need to be jump started again an again!!! VERY FESTRIGHTION!!! Purchased the car (lease sales) 3-1-21 apx. Should have been fix under warranty then before sales, problems very sense. Had to personally buy a jump-starter and charger for my safety. EXPENSIVE!!! as a safety
Incident date: May 9, 2022
Battery drained by approx 50 % in a 12 hour period preventing car from starting. No lights, radio or other electrical feature could be activated. This is the 3rd occurrence of this feature since I purchased the vehicle on 9-28-2020. Supposedly Subaru dealer, Patrick Motors, Worcester, MA replaced the battery in 2020 at that time.
Incident date: May 9, 2022
Battery drained by approx 50 % in a 12 hour period preventing car from starting. No lights, radio or other electrical feature could be activated. This is the 3rd occurrence of this feature since I purchased the vehicle on 9-28-2020. Supposedly Subaru dealer, Patrick Motors, Worcester, MA replaced the battery in 2020 at that time.
Incident date: May 9, 2022
My battery is constantly draining and having corrosion. I have replaced the battery 3 times in 5 years
Incident date: May 1, 2009
The battery doesn’t last as long as I think it should. The car is 5 years old and I’m on my 3rd battery.that doesn’t seem normal.
Incident date: Apr 28, 2022
I noticed a crack in my front windshield for no reason, it looked like it had come up from under the hood on the drivers side and bent over to the passenger side. I had not hit any construction debris etc. within 4 days of a full replacement my front windshield was shattered again! When the car was just sitting in the driveway. This crack spread out into three “legs” and got large and I had ba... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2022
Windshields have severely cracked three different times with no apparent reasons - twice while driving and once while sitting in the garage overnight. First two times were replaced with OEM windshield, just happened for third time so I am researching options. Cracks are major and in drivers sight-lines. Not sure if they could be affecting the automated safety features cameras. Each replacement... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2021
TIRE SIZE - 225/50R19. MY 2017 SUBARU LEGACY HAS APPROXIMATELY 17,000 MILES. AS I HAND WASH MY CAR I NOTICED THAT ALL 4 TIRES HAVE SIGNIFICANT CRACKS ON THE SIDEWALL. I'M CONCERNED ABOUT DRIVING MY CAR ON THE HIGHWAY AND I OFTEN PICK-UP OUR 3 GRANDCHILDREN FROM SCHOOL WHICH ALSO CONCERNS ME. THESE ARE MY OBSERVATIONS BUT I'VE ALSO READ A FEW SIMILAR ISSUES ON THE GOODYEAR WEBSITE BUT THEY REFER... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2021
TIRE SIZE - 225/50R19. MY 2017 SUBARU LEGACY HAS APPROXIMATELY 17,000 MILES. AS I HAND WASH MY CAR I NOTICED THAT ALL 4 TIRES HAVE SIGNIFICANT CRACKS ON THE SIDEWALL. I'M CONCERNED ABOUT DRIVING MY CAR ON THE HIGHWAY AND I OFTEN PICK-UP OUR 3 GRANDCHILDREN FROM SCHOOL WHICH ALSO CONCERNS ME. THESE ARE MY OBSERVATIONS BUT I'VE ALSO READ A FEW SIMILAR ISSUES ON THE GOODYEAR WEBSITE BUT THEY REFER... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2021
TIRE SIZE - 225/50R19. MY 2017 SUBARU LEGACY HAS APPROXIMATELY 17,000 MILES. AS I HAND WASH MY CAR I NOTICED THAT ALL 4 TIRES HAVE SIGNIFICANT CRACKS ON THE SIDEWALL. I'M CONCERNED ABOUT DRIVING MY CAR ON THE HIGHWAY AND I OFTEN PICK-UP OUR 3 GRANDCHILDREN FROM SCHOOL WHICH ALSO CONCERNS ME. THESE ARE MY OBSERVATIONS BUT I'VE ALSO READ A FEW SIMILAR ISSUES ON THE GOODYEAR WEBSITE BUT THEY REFER... Read more
Incident date: Sep 13, 2018
Purchased July 2016. Battery has failed to start car several times requiring a jump-start. Battery has been replaced 4 times (09/'18, 01/'19, 06/'19 & 03/'20). Currently vehicle is in shop for extended attempt to find source(s) of "parasitic" drain. Dealer reported aware of problem with certain Subaru models. A class action lawsuit has been initiated. Computer updates have over the years have... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2022
This safety recall is open since November 2021 and the manufacturer still has not initiated repairs , how long are consumer supposed to drive their vehicles with this serious safety issue risking safety ? why has NHTSA not initiated action against the company ?
Incident date: May 5, 2022
The moon roof glass exploded and shattered while driving the car on a highway under the speed limit. The car is available for inspection though a repair has been initiated. Multiple pictures and a video were taken. If the inside shade cover had not been closed, shattered glass fragments would have cut the driver and passengers possibly impeding the driver’s vision and causing a crash. The proble... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that the windshield cracked while being parked in a shaded area. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the windshield was repaired; however, the failure reoccurred and spread. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 29,000.
Incident date: May 5, 2022
I arrived at work. I was placing my car in park with foot on the brake. The car took off and the brakes took time to stop the car. I tried to stop the car as we hit a fence and was headed through it it and into a pond. Pumping the brakes throwing car in reverse stopped us from ending up in the pond. Major car damage incurred. Thank goodness noone was seriously hurt. The car just accelerated with m... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 5, 2022
I arrived at work. I was placing my car in park with foot on the brake. The car took off and the brakes took time to stop the car. I tried to stop the car as we hit a fence and was headed through it it and into a pond. Pumping the brakes throwing car in reverse stopped us from ending up in the pond. Major car damage incurred. Thank goodness noone was seriously hurt. The car just accelerated with m... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 5, 2022
I arrived at work. I was placing my car in park with foot on the brake. The car took off and the brakes took time to stop the car. I tried to stop the car as we hit a fence and was headed through it it and into a pond. Pumping the brakes throwing car in reverse stopped us from ending up in the pond. Major car damage incurred. Thank goodness noone was seriously hurt. The car just accelerated with m... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Apr 27, 2022
This is in reference to tracking # 11462054, a third incident of sudden engine power loss/deceleration. On 04/27/2022 the 2021 Subaru Premium was returned to the selling Subaru dealer to try and fix the two previously reported problems . They found no codes in memory and no problems when road tested. I left the dealer to return home, and about 10 min. after, on a two lane city street, the engine ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 3, 2022
on January 3, 2022 my windshield cracked and spread right away. I took it to get it fixed. On May 4, 2022 my windshield cracked again and spread immediately. Both times it started from the edge and went inwards. I consider this as a safety hazard for the windshield to crack and spread so easily. This is the second time and we are only covered for 2 replacements on the warranty in a year. This exp... Read more
Incident date: Apr 25, 2022
I woke up one morning to find a foot long crack in my windshield that appears to have originated from the passenger edge. I see no visible impact point and there was no sound of anything impacting the windshield. After a few minutes of driving, the crack grew to cut into the path of eyesight.
Incident date: May 4, 2022
Smelled car exhaust entering the cabin, took to dealer for inspection. Exhaust manifold part is actually warped and separated from the engine (not gasket issue). Apparently this problem is known by the dealer service shops, but is undisclosed by Subaru. I was feeling quite sick for weeks without understanding the cause, now I drive the car with the windows open and the vent closed and feel much be... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2022
The car was parked and idling for a few minutes as a passenger exited the vehicle. While parked, the car began to shake slightly, it was then placed in reverse to get out of the parking space. Still shaking. When it was put in gear to go forward, the car began to accelerate on its own. The driver was able to use the brake to stop the vehicle but, when she took her foot off the brake to make a left... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2022
The car was parked and idling for a few minutes as a passenger exited the vehicle. While parked, the car began to shake slightly, it was then placed in reverse to get out of the parking space. Still shaking. When it was put in gear to go forward, the car began to accelerate on its own. The driver was able to use the brake to stop the vehicle but, when she took her foot off the brake to make a left... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2022
The car was parked and idling for a few minutes as a passenger exited the vehicle. While parked, the car began to shake slightly, it was then placed in reverse to get out of the parking space. Still shaking. When it was put in gear to go forward, the car began to accelerate on its own. The driver was able to use the brake to stop the vehicle but, when she took her foot off the brake to make a left... Read more
Incident date: May 4, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Impreza. The contact stated that after he poured water onto the windshield to wash the windshield, the windshield shattered. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 16,000.
Incident date: Jan 29, 2022
Windshield cracked on driver side window for no reason - heard pop and looked at windshield and crack appeared. Contacted Eckbond who is subarus third party warranty for repairs, and they stated they can only reimburse me up to $500. Attempted to contact third party windshield repairs and they states it should be taken to subaru since there is no cause for crack. Contacted subaru and explained occ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2021
The 2020 Subaru Ascent has had a recall notice for nearly six months now (Manufacturer Recall NumberWRK21 NHTSA Recall Number21V955000). I experience a low frequency sound accompanied by rapid vibration lasting only a second when reapplying acceleration after a brief pause in acceleration. This occurs very inconsistently and not yet something replicable at the dealership. Subaru states they are wo... Read more
Incident date: Nov 30, 2021
It is actually the lane centering system. Even a gentle hand on the wheel, which is required, will gradually pull you to one side of the lane. When ever you lift your hand or when the car thinks you have gone to far one way or the other it will throw you into the other lane, into a car, motorcycle, semi, or even off a cliff. This system is so dangerous I cant believe it hasnt been recalled. If ... Read more
Incident date: May 3, 2022
Subaru Pre-collision braking activates when no danger present. It detects exhaust steam or smoke as an obstacle. Approximately February 25th of 2021: While acceleration from a stop light in winter, Eyesight falsely detected the exhaust of the car in front of me as a danger and slammed on the brakes to a full stop causing the car behind me to bump into me. Thankfully this driver was paying attenti... Read more
Incident date: May 3, 2022
Subaru Pre-collision braking activates when no danger present. It detects exhaust steam or smoke as an obstacle. Approximately February 25th of 2021: While acceleration from a stop light in winter, Eyesight falsely detected the exhaust of the car in front of me as a danger and slammed on the brakes to a full stop causing the car behind me to bump into me. Thankfully this driver was paying attenti... Read more
Incident date: May 3, 2022
Windshield chips easily. I have owned this car from new (approximately 18 months). The windshield has picked up 7 chips in that time: more than the total of chips I've had in my 29 years of driving. Only one of the chips had a notable sound that accompanied it's creation, and that was from the impact of a large insect while driving on I-77. This windshield seems to be easily damaged, if not frag... Read more
Incident date: Apr 29, 2022
I was driving the car and the windshield spontaneously cracked
Incident date: Apr 26, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated she turned on the vehicle, left it on, and exitto close the trunk, but after forcefully closing the trunk, the vehicle began to roll backward. The contact stated the gears were set on Park and the area was an inclined driveway. The contact stated the vehicle knocked her down but she was not injured nor needed to seek medical attention. Th... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Apr 30, 2022
Like many others have complained about, a small rock chip in the front windshield has spidered out across nearly the whole length of the windshield within a few hours of impact.
Incident date: Apr 24, 2022
Subaru Outback windshield cracks again within 2 months after warranty replacement pursuant to windshield settlement agreement. The claimed enhanced windshield from Subaru is exposed to the issue reported from the windshield settlement agreement, and Subaru refused to provide warranty replacement to fix this issue. Carter Subaru replaced my windshield on 02/15/2022. The new windshield placed by C... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2022
The Battery of the vehicle drains frequently, making the car inoperable. The battery has been replaced three times in four years, much more frequently than i would expect in a relatively new vehicle that was purchased new from a dealership. The battery dies without warning and repeated jump starts don't charge it enough to maintain a change to the nexty operation. Each time the battery stops holdi... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2022
A crack developed in the windshield spontaneously with no outside forces causing it. It is available for inspection. This is the SECOND time this has happened to this vehicle since we have purchased it. The windshield was replaced in May, 2021 because of the SAME ISSUE. These spontaneous cracks can put our safety and the safety of others at risk by obscuring vision. This just happened (May 1,... Read more
Incident date: May 3, 2022
I have already visited my local Subaru dealer to remedy this recall. I have a physical invoice as proof that my vehicle was inspected & already has the correct air bag installed. I have called the recall line (855-371-5406) MANY times & no matter who I speak to the recall does not clear despite me informing them I have already completed the repair. All representatives say the same thing claiming t... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2022
Car windshield developed 15 in crack overnight,parked in the garage...I think the windshield is part of vehicle integrity...dealer said a stone must have caused the crack....nothing hit the windshield as far as I'm concerned..I would have heard somthing....vehicle had approx 600 miles on it...had to claim the cracked windshield with my insurance company...My insurance should not have had to cover ... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2022
A small rock at relatively low speeds (35mph) hit the windshield and caused a small chip that within a minute formed into close to a dozen foot long cracks compromising my view. I have experienced rock chips many times but I have never had one that spread so quickly or caused this much damage from such a relatively small impact. I believe that Subaru has a faulty windshield design or is using mate... Read more