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What 2 owners told NHTSA about the 2012 Subaru WRX

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (2)Engine (1)Speed control (1)Steering (1)Transmission & drivetrain (1)

1 of 2 complaints match · Engine · clear filters

Mar 13, 2018SteeringTransmission & drivetrainEngine

I HAD CHECKED MY OIL ABOUT A WEEK PRIOR TO THIS HAPPENING. I WAS OUT ON THE INTERSTATE ON MY WAY TO GET MY OIL CHANGED WHEN I HEARD A LOUD KNOCKING AND LOST ALL POWER STEERING AND POWER BRAKES. ALMOST CAUSED AN ACCIDENT ON THE INTERSTATE. I HAD IT TOWED TO A MECHANIC WHO TOLD ME ALL OF MY FULL SYNTHETIC OIL WAS GONE FROM THE ENGINE AND IT WAS BLOWN. THERE WAS NO SMOKING NO LEAKING NO LIGHTS OR ANYTHING TO LET ME KNOW SOMETHING WAS GOING WRONG UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE. SUBARU HAS BEEN ARGUING WITH ME FOR MONTHS AND FINALLY SAID THEY WOULD COVER HALF OF THE REPAIRS BUT I DO NOT FEEL I AM RESPONSIBLE AT ALL. I SHOWED MY MAINTENANCE RECORDS TO A SUBARU ENGINEER WHO SAID IT WOULD BE NO PROBLEM GETTING THE ENGINE FIXED AT NO COST TO ME. WELL APPARENTLY THAT DECISION WAS REVERSED BY SOMEONE AND NOW I ONLY GET HALF OF THE HELP THEY PROMISED ME. MY ENGINE HAS BEEN DEFECTIVE FROM THE GET GO AND SUBARU NEEDS TO OWN UP TO IT. SHOULD NOT BE REPLACING THAT ENGINE AT 56K ORIGINAL MILES AND I HAVE EVERY RECORD SHOWING I TOOK AMAZING CARE OF THAT CAR.

NHTSA ODI 11078988

Working with the data? Download all 2 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 14, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2012 Subaru WRX verdict →