2023 Subaru Ascent
This year drew an ordinary 42 complaints for a Subaru Ascent — the model's median is 55. What they were about is the unusual part: 28.6% of them mention than, against 8.9% across the model's other years.
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 | 42 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 55 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- than — 28.6% of this year's complaints, against 8.9% across the model's other years (3.2×).
- warnings — 26.2% of this year's complaints, against 9.1% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: warnings, braking, behavior, avoid.
- putting — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (35.7×).
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.
What owners wrote
There was a SUDDEN and UNINTENDED acceleration without the driver input while braking to park going approximately 1 - 2 MPH. Our safety was at risk. The vehicle was not in our control. A police report was generated. Rather than stopping we crashed into the apa…
The windshield on my Subaru Ascent is prone to cracking, vehicle of less than 3,000 miles has a 3in crack in windshield putting our safety and the safety of others at risk.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 23V258000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 23V392000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 23V647000 POWER TRAIN 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 2023 Subaru Ascent? What happened to yours?
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