Owners filed 5,835 complaints about the 2015–2025 Subaru Outback with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 9th-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2019 model year drew the most (1,033), and the single most-reported problem area is electrical system, named in 32% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2019, with 1,033 complaints, led by electrical system (363).
- Spike years: 2017 (1.8× the typical year), 2018 (1.6× the typical year), 2019 (2.0× the typical year), 2020 (1.8× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: steering complaints came at a median of 4k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 34 complaints mention a fire and 181 mention a crash; owners reported 114 injuries.
Subaru Outback complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 504 | Wipers / visibility (129), Electrical system (126), Engine (46) | 22k mi | 20 | 5 |
| 2016 | 643 | Electrical system (309), Wipers / visibility (83), Engine (53) | 35k mi | 22 | 3 |
| 2017 | 917 | Electrical system (391), Wipers / visibility (205), Transmission / powertrain (47) | 30k mi | 32 | 3 |
| 2018 | 811 | Electrical system (265), Wipers / visibility (233), Fuel system (43) | 17k mi | 27 | 4 |
| 2019 | 1,033 | Electrical system (363), Wipers / visibility (326), Visibility (windows, mirrors, wipers) (63) | 10k mi | 24 | 2 |
| 2020 | 897 | Wipers / visibility (313), Electrical system (259), Visibility (windows, mirrors, wipers) (70) | 6k mi | 19 | 7 |
| 2021 | 296 | Wipers / visibility (97), Electrical system (75), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (29) | 4k mi | 9 | 1 |
| 2022 | 463 | Wipers / visibility (255), Electrical system (51), Visibility (windows, mirrors, wipers) (26) | 14k mi | 10 | 4 |
| 2023 | 89 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (22), Electrical system (17), Wipers / visibility (16) | 9k mi | 8 | 1 |
| 2024 | 102 | Wipers / visibility (21), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (18), Electrical system (16) | 3k mi | 5 | 2 |
| 2025 | 80 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (19), Lane departure assist (14), Electrical system (12) | 2k mi | 5 | 2 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Subaru Outback problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical system | 1,884 | 32% | 20k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Wipers / visibility | 1,683 | 29% | 12k mi | Wiper replacement cost |
| Engine | 321 | 6% | 17k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Visibility (windows, mirrors, wipers) | 267 | 5% | 25k mi | — |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 249 | 4% | 15k mi | — |
| Transmission / powertrain | 247 | 4% | 30k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Speed control / acceleration | 172 | 3% | 9k mi | — |
| Steering | 165 | 3% | 4k mi | Power steering repair cost |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Subaru models in the index
- Subaru Forester (4,033)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.