Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 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 2,245,377 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 35,035 complaints for SUBARU
Incident date: Apr 14, 2022
The engine will randomly loose power. This has happened three times now. You must coast to a stop, turn the key off and try to restart the car. Sometime it will take several tries to restart. I see this as a real safety concern in heavy traffic. Especially so if heavy traffic makes it impossible to reach the side of the road safely. The service code points to the throttle peddle position sens... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2022
The engine will randomly loose power. This has happened three times now. You must coast to a stop, turn the key off and try to restart the car. Sometime it will take several tries to restart. I see this as a real safety concern in heavy traffic. Especially so if heavy traffic makes it impossible to reach the side of the road safely. The service code points to the throttle peddle position sens... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 MPH, the front windshield cracked. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed; however, no cause for the failure was found. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 10,000.
Incident date: Apr 8, 2022
The contact owned a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving approximately 75 MPH on the interstate, a deer jumped in front causing a crash. All the air bags deployed, and immediately soon after a fire was coming from the hood. The contact and two children in the rear passenger seat were able to exit the vehicle safely. The fire department arrived on the scene and extinguished the fi... Read more
Crash
Fire
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
There is a defect with the windshield, it randomly cracked. I saw there was a lawsuit filed already with Subaru.
Incident date: Oct 17, 2020
The battery has gone dead 4 (four) times. The dealer checked it twice and said nothing was wrong with it. We have had to replace the battery ($178.07) but it also went dead. Three times, the car was in our garage, had been driven within a couple of days and the keys were not left in the car. Once it died when I had driven to the next town and had popped into a store for not more than 10 minutes an... Read more
Incident date: Oct 17, 2020
The battery has gone dead 4 (four) times. The dealer checked it twice and said nothing was wrong with it. We have had to replace the battery ($178.07) but it also went dead. Three times, the car was in our garage, had been driven within a couple of days and the keys were not left in the car. Once it died when I had driven to the next town and had popped into a store for not more than 10 minutes an... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2022
My windshield cracked as I was driving,a pop type noise. The cracks are at the bottom area in the middle of the windshield in a T slight Y shape.
Incident date: Apr 14, 2022
I have had this vehicle since @ 6/30/21, under 4,000 miles. Sometimes when I'm driving, the car will suddenly brake or lurch when I am not near another object or person. I drove down the highway once when this happened and it was very concerning. I have also been in the middle of an intersection when this occurred, as I was turning left. It has happened approximately 10 other times since I've had ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2022
I have had this vehicle since @ 6/30/21, under 4,000 miles. Sometimes when I'm driving, the car will suddenly brake or lurch when I am not near another object or person. I drove down the highway once when this happened and it was very concerning. I have also been in the middle of an intersection when this occurred, as I was turning left. It has happened approximately 10 other times since I've had ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 20, 2022
A large crack spontaneously formed on the front windshield, starting from the left wiper motor to the middle -- right in the driver's field-of-view. The crack appeared on a day when my car was not driven for several days prior to the crack forming and security cameras showed no foul play by pedestrians. The crack has since spread into a "spider-like" crack once it reached the center of the windshi... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 2021
The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH, a tiny rock struck the windshield. The contact stated that later that day while the vehicle was parked, she noticed that the windshield was cracked. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they could not repair the windshield. The vehicle was taken to a glass repair facility and the windsh... Read more
Incident date: Apr 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle overnight, the next morning it was discovered that the front windshield had developed a ten-inch-long crack. The contact indicated that no object had struck the windshield to cause the windshield to crack. The local dealer was notified of the failure but no assistance was offered. The manufacturer was not yet... Read more
Incident date: Apr 13, 2022
When backing out of garage, car seemed to rev up and increase speed. I was unable to stop the car while applying the brakes. Car went down over an embankment and stopped only after I put transmission into Park and car was slowed down by running over a large shrub. Luckily, I was unhurt, but easily could have been. This is the second time a similar incident has happened. I have not reported th... Read more
Incident date: Apr 13, 2022
When backing out of garage, car seemed to rev up and increase speed. I was unable to stop the car while applying the brakes. Car went down over an embankment and stopped only after I put transmission into Park and car was slowed down by running over a large shrub. Luckily, I was unhurt, but easily could have been. This is the second time a similar incident has happened. I have not reported th... Read more
Incident date: Apr 13, 2022
When backing out of garage, car seemed to rev up and increase speed. I was unable to stop the car while applying the brakes. Car went down over an embankment and stopped only after I put transmission into Park and car was slowed down by running over a large shrub. Luckily, I was unhurt, but easily could have been. This is the second time a similar incident has happened. I have not reported th... Read more
Incident date: Apr 12, 2022
2018 SUBARU OUTBACK. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO ENGINE FAILURE. THE CONSUMER STATED THE VEHICLE HAD VARIOUS SAFETY DEFECT ISSUES INCLUDING A RECALL FOR LOW FUEL PROGRAMMING, LOW GRINDING NOISE AND VIBRATION IN THE BRAKES, AND VIBRATION IN THE STEERING WHEEL. THE VEHICLE ALSO HAD VARIOUS ELECTRONIC ISSUES INCLUDING GLITCHES WITH THE INFOTAINMENT SYSTEM, STEREO WOULD FREEZE, SPEAKERS WERE OUT OF... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2021
Windshield spontaneously cracked.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2021
I have had four cracked windshields since I took possession of the car in October 2020. August 2021, October 2021, April 2022, April 2022
Incident date: Feb 15, 2022
Having the car less than a year already have several chips on the windshield. In doing research it seems that there are a lot of issues with new Subaru windshields with chipping and cracking.
Incident date: Apr 4, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Crosstrek. The contact stated that there was a crack on the windshield. The contact stated that there was no impact to the windshield that could have caused the crack in the windshield. The dealer and manufacturer were made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 36,000.
Incident date: Feb 20, 2022
Two days after purchasing my 2022 Subaru Outback, the windshield cracked after a tractor trailer kicked up a small pebble on the interstate. The crack spread half way across the windshield within a few days.
Incident date: Apr 6, 2022
Passenger side seat occupancy sensor failed to recognize the occupancy of the passenger seat. Sensor seams to have failed causing the airbag malfunction light to illuminate on the dash. After considerable research online this seems to be a consistent problem with these vehicles. The NHTSA has issued a recall for the same sensor in 2012 Subaru Imprezas but not for the 2013 Subaru Imprezas.
Incident date: Apr 8, 2022
For the 2nd time in 5 months, my windshield has cracked (crack in excess of 6 inches) for no apparent reason
Incident date: Jan 28, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while his wife was parking the vehicle, the brake pedal was depressed but the vehicle accelerated forward going down a hill. The vines from the woods prevented the vehicle from going into a lake. The contact’s wife later received medical attention for an injury to her left leg. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 11, 2022
Battery keeps dying, replaced once already battery keeps draining, Simmons Rockwell Subaru of Elmira NY stated that the battery on the subaru won't last a week if the car isn't driven.
Incident date: Apr 10, 2022
Noticed a 6 inch crack on passenger side starting under the wiper. Crack started spreading across the windshield, now about 18 inches long.
Incident date: Apr 10, 2022
Windshield cracked while parked overnight.
Incident date: Apr 10, 2022
The windshield cracked 1 week after purchasing the vehicle. This glass is too fragile.
Incident date: Apr 3, 2022
On Sunday 4/3/2022, driving in a semi highway at 50mph the front passenger suspension arm broke off causing a lose of control of the vehicle. Ended up resting at the road shoulder.
Incident date: Apr 10, 2022
My 2020 Subaru crosstrek has repeatedly had its windshield crack for little to no reason. I have noticed my windshield crack in a similar spot (near the vin number area) multiple times with no incidents where a rock or other debris struck the windshield. This provides a visual distraction and safety issue while driving.
Incident date: Sep 8, 2021
The battery drains quickly when the car is switched off, potentially causing the driver to be stranded in dangerous situations without a functional car.
Incident date: Apr 9, 2022
Purchased my 4 tires, Good Year Assurance WeatherReady in Dec 2019 with 42,304 miles. My tire indicator light came on alerting of low tire pressure. Upon inspection of rear passenger tire, substantial dry rot on tire sidewall, inside. I only have 39,800 miles on the tire. Tire is a 60,000 mile tire. Tire is defective due to dry rot. Dry rot is so bad, tire does not hold air.
Incident date: Apr 7, 2022
3 weeks ago the all of the warning lights came on. Had vehicle towed to dealership. Could not find out what was wrong. Saw there was a lot of carbon build up which was unusual since there is only 26,000 miles on vehicle. After a week a dealership a cleaning took it home. Went back the next day. They inspected and stated it was the spark plugs and needed new fuel injectors. Had replaced. Everything... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Apr 7, 2022
3 weeks ago the all of the warning lights came on. Had vehicle towed to dealership. Could not find out what was wrong. Saw there was a lot of carbon build up which was unusual since there is only 26,000 miles on vehicle. After a week a dealership a cleaning took it home. Went back the next day. They inspected and stated it was the spark plugs and needed new fuel injectors. Had replaced. Everything... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Apr 7, 2022
3 weeks ago the all of the warning lights came on. Had vehicle towed to dealership. Could not find out what was wrong. Saw there was a lot of carbon build up which was unusual since there is only 26,000 miles on vehicle. After a week a dealership a cleaning took it home. Went back the next day. They inspected and stated it was the spark plugs and needed new fuel injectors. Had replaced. Everything... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Apr 10, 2022
I was turning around a bend, going approximately 35mpg, when the wheels no longer were turning as if not responding to the direction of the wheel, almost like it was operating independently of the steering column. The automobile slammed into the curb on the left of the road, damaging the alignment.
Crash
Incident date: Mar 18, 2020
My 2019 Subaru Outback has electrical battery and key fob issues. Generally I drive this vehicle daily and the car battery is alright. We go to visit our children and I park in a airport parking lot for about a week and when we return the battery is either dead or indicates needs charge. The key fob does not operate and have to resort to actual key. Vehicle indicates key fob battery needs repl... Read more
Incident date: Apr 9, 2022
The windshield cracked without any reason
Incident date: Apr 7, 2022
The windshield cracked 8+ inches due to a small rock that wouldn’t have cracked most other vehicle’s windshields. This happened the day after I bought it.
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
Front windshield crack, around 10-15 inches of length, located at passenger area. Inspection is not necessary since the glass has been replaced, though pictures of glass crack on first appearance has been provided for reference. It is a safety risk due to obstruction of driver’s visibility also the possibility of glass crack expansion or shutter. The incident has been reported to the dealership ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked outside during a snowstorm; while removing snow from the windshield, she noticed that the windshield was severely cracked. Additionally, the contact stated that the crack originated from the driver's side of the windshield to the passenger's side. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the f... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2022
The radio/touch screen unit has lost its contrast. In bright sunlight I can see an underlying circuit pattern on the screen that makes it hard or sometimes impossible to see the back up camera. Instead of seeing the image from the backup camera all I see are lines. I can no longer rely on the camera for safety support.
Incident date: Apr 7, 2022
The radio/touch screen unit has lost its contrast. In bright sunlight I can see an underlying circuit pattern on the screen that makes it hard or sometimes impossible to see the back up camera. Instead of seeing the image from the backup camera all I see are lines. I can no longer rely on the camera for safety support.
Incident date: Dec 2, 2019
It did not take more than one week after buying my new 2019 Subaru Forester in November 2019 when the windshield cracked for no reason. Due to the cost I have not replaced the windshield even today. I just read that there is a court case that forces Subaru to replace my windshield but requires me to file with a complaint through the NHTSA. Please accept this as my complaint.
Incident date: Apr 6, 2022
Large crack appeared in windshield. Car was parked at the time and was not hit by anything. Filed claim with insurance company and they are going to replace windshield. Called Evanston Subaru about incident about warranty coverage and they have not returned my call. I have read that this is a problem for Subarus.
Incident date: Apr 7, 2021
The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated that there was air noises coming into the vehicle from the vents of the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who stated that they believed the noises were coming from near the mirrors of the vehicle. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000.
Incident date: Dec 2, 2021
The contact's wife owned a 2020 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated while his wife was driving approximately 3 MPH in a parking lot the vehicle suddenly accelerated and jumped the curb into woods and collided with a tree. The contact said his wife was not aware of any warning lights being illuminated. The vehicle front bumper and hood hit in the center and were both crumpled back about six inches. T... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 4, 2022
When trying to put the vehicle in park, the key will not release from the engine. After 10-15 minutes of trying, finally it will release, but in reading forums, thousands of customers have had similar issues. It seems to be a very known problem.
Incident date: Apr 4, 2022
When trying to put the vehicle in park, the key will not release from the engine. After 10-15 minutes of trying, finally it will release, but in reading forums, thousands of customers have had similar issues. It seems to be a very known problem.