2015 Subaru WRX
Complaints about this year name went far more often than the model's other years — 15% of them, about 38× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 52 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 14 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- coming — 13.5% of this year's complaints, against 5.3% across the model's other years (2.6×).
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
- warning — 13% of complaints, 34× usual
- manual transmission — 13% of complaints, 34× usual
- needed — 12% of complaints, 29× usual
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 50 MPH, THE MANUAL TRANSMISSION FAILED TO RESPOND WITH A STRONG BURNED CLUTCH ODOR. THERE WERE NO PRIOR WARNINGS. THE VEHICLE WAS MANEUVERED TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND TOWED TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. TH…
DEFECTIVE OEM THROW-OUT BEARING and FORK in the SIX SPEED manual transmission completely BURNING the clutch. I was going up a hill and the car just started rolling back. No gear would work on the car.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V625000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 16V162000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 22V522000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING 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 2015 Subaru WRX? What happened to yours?
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