2008 Subaru WRX
Complaints about this year name welds far more often than the model's other years — 72% of them, about 181× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 65 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 14 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 7 |
What the complaints were about
- welds — 72.3% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (361.5×).
- firewall — 70.8% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (353.8×).
- pedal — 73.8% of this year's complaints, against 5.2% across the model's other years (14.2×).
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
- firewall — 71% of complaints, 177× usual
- clutch pedal — 55% of complaints, 138× usual
- assembly — 48% of complaints, 119× usual
What owners wrote
THE CLUTCH PEDAL WAS MAKING A LOT OF NOISE, PROGRESSIVELY GETTING WORSE OVER THE YEARS THAT I'VE OWNED THIS CAR. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY ADJUSTED THE PEDAL ASSEMBLY. THE NOISE CAME BACK SHORTLY AFTER SO I TOOK IT TO THE DEALERSHIP AGAIN AND THEY R…
I HAD AN ISSUE PREVIOUSLY WITH THE WELDS FOR THE CLUTCH PEDAL ASSEMBLY CRACKING ON THE FIREWALL. IT GOT SO BAD THAT THE WHOLE PEDAL ASSEMBLY WITH THE BRAKE AND GAS PEDAL SHIFTED LEFT EVERY TIME I DEPRESSED THE CLUTCH. IT EVENTUALLY CAUSED THE CLUTCH TO NOT DIS…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V149000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 20V003000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V001000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V002000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V297000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V311000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 14V830000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru WRX 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 WRX? What happened to yours?
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