2016 Subaru Legacy
This year drew an ordinary 146 complaints for a Subaru Legacy — the model's median is 87. What they were about is the unusual part: 11% of them mention move, against 3.7% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the Subaru Legacy, which began in 2015 and ran to 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 | 146 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 87 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- move — 11% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: move, shifting, remained, car started.
- force — 6.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: force, times last, removing.
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
WHEN RESUMED CRUISE CONTROL, IT DID NOT. INSTEAD THE STEERING WHEEL WAS UNCONTROLLABLE AND HAD NO DIRECTION. WAS ON INTERSTATE 84WEST IN CT. PUT ON BREAK AND THEN WAS ABLE TO STOP THE VEHICLE ON SIDE OF ROAD. WENT TO THE DEALER AND TOLD NO ISSUE. ALSO HAVE HAD…
WHEN SHIFTING FROM REVERSE TO DRIVE THERE IS AN EXTENDED DELAY AND APPLICATION OF THROTTLE CAUSES A SEVERE LURCHING OF THE CAR WHICH CAN CAUSE AN ACCIDENT.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V794000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 16V292000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V502000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Legacy 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 2016 Subaru Legacy? What happened to yours?
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