2021 Subaru Ascent
This year drew an ordinary 100 complaints for a Subaru Ascent — the model's median is 48. What they were about is the unusual part: 12% of them mention hard, against 3.8% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Subaru Ascent, which began in 2019. 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 | 100 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 48 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- hard — 12% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: hard, shifting, pulls, concerning.
- original — 7% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the model's other years (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: original, alignment, falken, falken tires.
- ongoing — 6% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the model's other years (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: ongoing, active.
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
Vehicle wanders on the highway and pulls hard to the left, which is a very concerning safety issue. I have already taken the vehicle to the dealer, did an alignment and took it back a month later because the issue persisted. The problem persist, specially when…
2021 Subaru Ascent with 15,735 miles on it with the factory Falken tires. The tread and metal was showing and separating from the tires. 2 tires, original to the car off the lot. Tires should last 30-40-50 miles. The other 2 tires were labeled as a 4-5 categor…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 22V907000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 26V436000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Ascent 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 2021 Subaru Ascent? What happened to yours?
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