2008 Subaru Impreza
Complaints about this year name clutch far more often than the other years of this generation — 38% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 13.3%.
First year of a new generation. The Subaru Impreza was redesigned for 2008. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 209 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 75 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 15 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- clutch — 37.8% of this year's complaints, against 13.3% across the other years of this generation (2.8×).
- pedal — 26.8% of this year's complaints, against 8.8% across the other years of this generation (3.1×).
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
- welds — 23% of complaints, 5× usual
- pedal — 27% of complaints, 3× usual
- assembly — 20% of complaints, 5× usual
What owners wrote
SPOT WELDS ON FIREWALL THAT SUPPORT THE PEDAL ASSEMBLY HAVE CRACKED/BROKE CAUSING THE BRAKE PEDAL TO FLEX AND MOVE WHILE PUSHING DOWN ON THE CLUTCH.
PROBLEM BEGAN WITH A SQUEAKING SOUND AND WOULD CLICK WHEN DEPRESSING CLUTCH. THEN THE CLUTCH PEDAL WOULD STICK AND NOT COME BACK UP. CLUTCH PEDAL UNABLE TO COMPLETELY ENGAGE MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO GET THE CAR INTO GEAR. MOVEMENT IN CLUTCH/BRAKE PEDAL CAUSING H…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V149000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 20V001000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V002000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V003000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V297000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 16V359000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V026000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V014000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 15. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Impreza 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 2008 Subaru Impreza? What happened to yours?
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