all vehicles · every Ascent year · method

Subaru Ascent 2019

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

3.43 per 1,000

3.5 times this nameplate’s own median · from 281 complaints filed in the first three years, of 442 ever. 95% lower bound 3.03.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2019	3.43	281
2020	3.20	239
2021	0.97	62
2022	0.60	37
2023	0.56	35

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Electrical System 160 complaints

battery	133	83%
battery died	25	16%
battery dead	25	16%
tailgate	20	13%
jump start	19	12%
drains	18	11%

Power Train 89 complaints

however part	16	18%
part recall	15	17%
tool confirms	13	15%
confirms	13	15%
tool	13	15%
confirms parts	12	14%

Visibility/Wiper 66 complaints

windshield	58	87%
crack	40	60%
cracked	28	43%
small	20	31%
windshield cracked	20	31%
rock	17	26%

When it breaks

85% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 12,000 miles, from 239 complaints that recorded one).

Failures cluster early, which is the signature of how the car was built rather than of wear. A low-mileage example has not yet passed the risk window.

What NHTSA did

No NHTSA investigation covers this model year.

That is not a clean bill of health, and not a criticism of the agency: investigations open for many reasons and complaint volume is only one of them.

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

11118736 · 11119346 · 11139704 · 11140196 · 11143074 · 11165954

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.