2021 Subaru Outback Problems

2021 Subaru Outback problems owners report most

2021 Subaru Outback problems are documented in public: owners have filed 299 complaints with NHTSA, the earliest in 2020 and the most recent in 2026. Sorting those by the component the filer named puts the visibility/wiper clearly first, at 98 of the 299 complaints, close to a third of everything filed.

A complaint is not a repair bill and not a defect finding. It is one owner telling the regulator something went wrong. What makes the count useful is the concentration: when one component takes 33 per cent of everything filed on a car, the pattern is doing more than chance.

Against the 2020 car, this model year has drawn 67 per cent fewer complaints (299 against 904). Both years are led by the visibility/wiper, so this is a fault that carried over rather than one introduced with the 2021 car.

Of those complaints, 9 describe a crash and 2 describe a fire. Filers reported 4 injuries.

Recalls on the 2021 Subaru Outback

A recall means the manufacturer or the regulator found a safety defect, and the repair is free at a franchised dealer however old the car is. There are 4 recalls on this model year. Your own car may be covered by some, all or none of them, so check the VIN rather than the model.

In owners own words

These are complaints filed about the visibility/wiper, quoted as written. They are one persons account rather than a diagnosis, and they are here because a symptom described by a driver is easier to recognise than a component name.

The component that has failed twice is the windshield. They current windshield is available for inspection but not the first. In fact, I am taking it my Subaru dealer tomorrow so they can look at it. This is the second windshield in 13 months that has failed. The first one became heavily pitted across the entire windshield. This one has a crack starting from the passenger side, 2/3 of the way up and then continues 1/3 of the way towards the driver. I do not recall any impact on the windshield prior to the crack occurring. I am concerned about the frequency of this model's windshield issues an

We purchased a new 2021 Outback Subaru 2 months ago. Three days ago, on 11/12/21, a crack appeared on the windshield overnight, while the car was parked on our driveway. Nothing hit our car while we were driving and there's nothing that stands above the car that could have fallen on it while parked at our house. The crack is linear and started on the very left side right above the driver's sight. It started at about 5 inches long and the next day was already extending almost halfway through the windshield length. We are highly suspicious that the crack is a result of a defective windshield spe

The front windshield spontaneously cracked sometime overnight, while my car was parked in my garage. I noticed it when I got into my car one morning, and a roughly 6 inch horizontal crack had appeared, originating from the driver's side edge about halfway up the glass. I immediately got out and inspected the crack to find a point of impact, but it was a perfectly smooth crack line w/ zero points of impact. I drove the short distance to my destination, and an hour or two later when I got back in the car, it had continued to grow to maybe double the previous size (now 15-20" wide). The crack was

The headlights on this vehicle are obnoxiously bright! I get flashed by oncoming drivers constantly at night. I even get flashed by pickup trucks. I'm not sure if it's the main headlamps or the fog lights. It does seem like the fog lights have really poor beam control. When driving on a country road at night I can tell the fog lights are lighting up the tops of trees by toggling them on and off. I passed an oncoming car just like mine a while back and I could finally understand why I get flashed all the time. They ARE really blinding. I tried to bring it up with Subaru of America and the guy

Every component, by complaint count

The full breakdown of what owners named when they filed. Components below the top ten are grouped out of this table.

How other model years compare

The same nameplate across the years we hold. Complaint counts fall naturally for newer cars because fewer of them have been on the road for long, so read the column as a rough signal rather than a ranking. In this set the 2019 Subaru Outback has drawn the most complaints and the 2021 Subaru Outback the fewest.

How to use this before you buy or repair

The reports do not gather around one obvious symptom, so read a handful of the complaints above and see which descriptions match what your car is doing.

Buying a used 2021 Outback

Bring the complaint list to the inspection and ask the mechanic to check the components named most, rather than running a general once over.

If you already own one

Check your VIN for open recalls first. A recall repair costs nothing whatever the age or mileage of the car.

• Check the VIN for open recalls, not the model year.
• Ask the inspecting mechanic about the components named above.
• Get the part number before comparing retailer prices.
• Keep parts and labour as separate lines in any quote.