2015 Subaru Legacy
This year drew an ordinary 159 complaints for a Subaru Legacy — the model's median is 87. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.1% of them mention accelerated, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Subaru Legacy was redesigned for 2015. 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 | 159 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 87 |
| Involving a crash | 15 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- accelerated — 10.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (3.9×). Owners wrote it as: accelerated, pulling parking, surged, vehicle accelerated.
- area — 8.8% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: area, bay, ding.
- brought — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: brought, resolution, purchased new.
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 CONTACT MADE A RIGHT TURN TO TURN INTO A PARKING LOT, THE VEHICLE [VIN] AND SURGED OUT OF THE PARKING SPACE. THE VEHICLE WENT OVER A CONCRETE PARKING BLOCK, STRUCK A GUARDRAIL, THEN CRASHED INTO THE BUILDING BEHIND IT. THEN THE VEHICLE BOUNCED BACK INTO TH…
MY 2015 SUBARU LEGACY HAS A VERY ABRUPT THROTTLE TIP-IN (THE MANNER IN WHICH POWER IS DELIVERED UPON DEPRESSING THE GAS PEDAL). PUSH THE THROTTLE A LITTLE AND NOTHING HAPPENS AND THEN A LITTLE MORE AND IT TAKES OFF LIKE A SHOT! NOT SAFE WHEN PULLING INTO TIGHT…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V251000 ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) Fixed free of charge.
- 15V502000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 15V366000 FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Legacy 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 2015 Subaru Legacy? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…