2020 Subaru Impreza
This year drew an ordinary 85 complaints for a Subaru Impreza — the model's median is 75. What they were about is the unusual part: 77.6% of them mention windshield, against 28.2% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 4 of the Subaru Impreza, which began in 2017 and ran to 2023. 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 | 85 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 75 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 28 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- windshield — 77.6% of this year's complaints, against 28.2% across the other years of this generation (2.8×).
- crack — 51.8% of this year's complaints, against 14.1% across the other years of this generation (3.7×).
- sitting — 30.6% of this year's complaints, against 11.2% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: sitting, exploded, reproduced, bar.
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
THE VEHICLE WAS PURCHASED IN JANUARY 2020 NEW FROM DEALER STOCK. IT HAS APPROXIMATELY 2000 MILES ON IT AND EXPERIENCED SPONTANEOUS WINDSHIELD CRACKS WITH NO INDICATION IT IS FROM SOMETHING STRIKING THE WINDSHIELD. CRACKS WERE DISCOVERED IN THE MORNING AFTER TH…
WHILE SITTING IN A PARKING SPOT GETTING READY TO GO INTO A STORE, THE WINDSHIELD SUDDENLY CRACKED. IT LOOKS LIKE IT CRACKED AT THE BOTTOM AND WENT UP ABOUT 12 TO 15 INCHES.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V587000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Impreza 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 2020 Subaru Impreza? What happened to yours?
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