Subaru Legacy: which model years to avoid
Complaint and recall totals for every Subaru Legacy model year we track, ranked by severity.
| Model year | Complaints | Recalls | Crashes | Fires | Severity | Most-reported system |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 90 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 93.3 Medium | POWER TRAIN |
| 2013 | 66 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 97.0 High | ENGINE |
| 2014 | 53 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 67.9 Medium | AIR BAGS |
| 2015 | 159 | 3 | 15 | 3 | 99.4 High | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM |
| 2016 | 145 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 41.4 Medium | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM |
| 2017 | 118 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 79.7 Medium | VISIBILITY/WIPER |
| 2018 | 116 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 36.2 Medium | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM |
| 2019 | 123 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11.4 Low | VISIBILITY/WIPER |
| 2020 | 121 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 14.9 Low | VISIBILITY/WIPER |
| 2021 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 25.8 Low | UNKNOWN OR OTHER |
| 2022 | 32 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 56.2 Medium | VISIBILITY/WIPER |
| 2024 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 37.5 Medium | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE |
Across 12 model years, the 2015 Subaru Legacy carries the highest severity index (99.4, driven by electrical system), while the 2019 is the cleanest at 11.4.
Source. NHTSA public complaint and recall APIs. Complaint counts are not normalised by units sold; a high-volume seller will attract more filings than a rare trim.