2011 Subaru Outback
This year drew an ordinary 651 complaints for a Subaru Outback — the model's median is 291. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.5% of them mention headlights, against 4.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Subaru Outback, which began in 2010 and ran to 2014. 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 | 651 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 291 |
| Involving a crash | 23 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 16 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- headlights — 13.5% of this year's complaints, against 4.8% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: headlights, burn, replacing.
- design — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.5% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: design, flaw.
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
HEADLIGHTS BURN OUT TOO QUICKLY. I AM REPLACING MY HEADLIGHTS APPROXIMATELY EVERY 12,000 MILES.
MAIN HEADLAMPS BURN OUT EVERY 9 TO 10 MONTHS CAUSING A DANGEROUS DRIVING SITUATION. [VIN] OF THESE BULBS IS UNNECESSARILY CUMBERSOME FOR THE OWNER AND SUBARU DEALERS CHARGE $150 TO REPLACE A $15 DOLLAR BULB. IF NOT INSTALLED CORRECTLY YOU RISK A FIRE HAZARD. T…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V008000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V626000 PARKING BRAKE Fixed free of charge.
- 19V007000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V009000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V002000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V003000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V001000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V297000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 16. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Outback 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 2011 Subaru Outback? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…