2021 Subaru Crosstrek
This year drew an ordinary 112 complaints for a Subaru Crosstrek — the model's median is 68. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.1% of them mention reverse, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Subaru Crosstrek, which began in 2018 and ran to 2023. 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 | 112 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 68 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- reverse — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation (4×). Owners wrote it as: reverse, started stop.
- chips — 6.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (4.3×).
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
The front window was hit by chips seal pebbles from the car in front of us and chipped the window, twice. It was repaired with standard window chip repair.
Turned on defroster to clear window fog, window cracked along bottom of windshield about 3-4 inches from bottom along 2/3 the length of the windshield. No prior chips or scratches existed.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 23V755000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Crosstrek 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 2021 Subaru Crosstrek? What happened to yours?
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