2020 Subaru Ascent
Complaints about this year name battery far more often than the model's other years — 31% of them, about 34× the usual rate of 0.9%.
Generation 1 of the Subaru Ascent, which began in 2019. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 318 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 48 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- jump — 9.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (4×). Owners wrote it as: jump, jump start, forth, one time.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- windshield — 22% of complaints, 4× usual
- start — 14% of complaints, 8× usual
- ascent contact — 11% of complaints, 9× usual
What owners wrote
1600 MILES AND CAR WILL NOT START, BATTERY KEEPS DRAINING/DIEING AND RADIO STOPPED WORKING.
BATTERY HAS [VIN] REPEATEDLY DRAINED LEAVING UNABLE TO START. DEALERSHIP REPLACED THE BATTERY, AND PROBLEM STILL OCCURS.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V955000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 21V954000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 21V587000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 22V907000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 26V436000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Ascent was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2020 Subaru Ascent? What happened to yours?
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