2017 Subaru Outback
Complaints about this year name key far more often than the other years of this generation — 9% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 2.7%.
Generation 3 of the Subaru Outback, 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 | 917 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 291 |
| Involving a crash | 32 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- key — 11% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: key, ignition, remove, removed.
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
- ignition — 7% of complaints, 4× usual
- park — 7% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
NAVIGATION SCREEN CAN NOT SEE IN DAY TIME AND IGNITION KEY WILL NOT REMOVE SOMETIME WHEN PARK.
KEYS GET LOCKED INTO IGNITION WHEN IN PARK AND READY TO LEAVE CAR AND ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V910000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V576000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 16V716000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V292000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Subaru Outback 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 2017 Subaru Outback? What happened to yours?
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