Home · 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness · Complaints

What 280 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness

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 (280)Crash / fire / injury (10)Visibility & wipers (123)Electrical system (51)Engine (33)Transmission & drivetrain (23)Steering (15)Fuel system (13)Speed control (8)Body & structure (7)Brakes (6)Suspension (4)

8 of 280 complaints match · Speed control · clear filters

Jul 5, 2026Speed control

Since purchasing my 2019 Subaru Crosstrek brand new in 2019, the vehicle has suffered from a chronic and dangerous lack of acceleration. It consistently fails to gain speed as expected. ​This issue becomes life-threatening when attempting to merge onto highways. The vehicle is incapable of accelerating quickly enough to match the speed of oncoming traffic. This severe hesitation and lack of power has nearly caused multiple accidents, creating an extreme safety hazard for my wife and me. ​I have repeatedly reported this issue to the Subaru dealership service department, but they have failed to diagnose or resolve the problem. Because of this unresolved defect, we no longer feel safe driving this vehicle for long-distance trips or highway travel and are forced to use another car. The vehicle is fundamentally unsafe to drive in normal highway traffic conditions.

NHTSA ODI 11748327

Dec 20, 2025Speed control

Own a 2019 Suburu Crosstrek vehicle that has unexpectedly accelerated/lurched on its own when pulling forward into a parking spot. This has happened twice...last month & today.

NHTSA ODI 11706324

Jun 10, 2025Transmission & drivetrainSpeed controlEngine

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Crosstrek. While the contact was attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that while the engine was still off, the gear shifter was shifted into reverse(R) and the vehicle accelerated backwards. The contact slammed on the brake pedal to prevent the vehicle from crashing into another parked vehicle. The contact pressed the ignition button with her foot on the brake pedal to start the vehicle. The dealer was notified of the failure and an appointment was scheduled to service the vehicle. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,000.

NHTSA ODI 11666127

Feb 6, 2023Speed controlCrash2 injuries

unexplained acceleration. I was in a parking lot and driving slowly and the car just took off. I had to crash it into the building at the mall to avoid cars and people. The car was totaled and my husband had a broken rib. We were taken to the hospital. Car was inspected and serviced. by the dealership, no problems before this accident, no warnings.

NHTSA ODI 11505736

Jan 9, 2023Electrical systemSpeed control

The screen display with the oil temp gauge and water temp gauge will randomly turn off while driving as well as sometimes it will not turn on immediately when the car turns on. I have brought this to the dealers attention and nothing has been done, there has been no warning lights on the dash illuminated. This has been going on randomly for the last 6 months. Another issue is that when the bluetooth or carplay is inuse and there is a call in progress the digital speed display is blocked by a screen that says call in progress. This is very dangerous that the digital speed display is blocked when bluetooth or car play is used to make calls. This has many times resulted in me speeding as the speedometer on the car is marked well with tick marks for how big the arm is that tells you how fast you’re going. There is no reason subaru should block the digital speed display. The infotainment system powers off randomly, changes the radio station on its own, and changes the volume on its own. This started in 2019 when I got the car and the issue was observed by the dealer and the radio was replaced. However now that the radio was replaced in 2019 or 2020 the radio has been recently not turning on when the car is started, shutting off in the middle of the drive, and sometimes not even connecting to carplay to use navigation. Subaru won't help me anymore or even look at the car now for this concern without charging an insane diagnostic fee (which is wrong to charge for safety concerns)

NHTSA ODI 11500856

Nov 18, 2020Transmission & drivetrainSpeed control

OCCASIONALLY, WHILE ACCELERATING, IT FEELS AS IF THE CAR LOSES ACCELERATION AND THE ENGINE LOSES POWER. IT HAPPENS WHILE VEHICLE IS IN MOTION SLOW SPEEDS AND FAST SPEEDS.

NHTSA ODI 11375327

Oct 3, 2020Speed control

WHEN I TURN ON CRUISE CONTROL AND SET THE DESIRED SPEED THE SYSTEM ON ITS OWN DECIDES TO ACCELERATE TO 90 OR 100 MPH. THIS OCCURS ON THE HIGHWAY WHEN I AM TRAVELLING LONG DISTANCES. I DONT KNOW THE EXACT SEQUENCE IF ITS INITIALLY WHEN I TURN ON THE CRUISE CONTROL OR WHEN I WANT TO RESUME AND GO A BIT FASTER. THIS HAS OCCURRED A COUPLE OF TIMES AND CAN'T BE RECREATED ON DEMAND. I TOOK THE CAR INTO SUBARU AND THEY HAVE NO KNOWN RECALLS AND FOUND NOTHING WRONG.

NHTSA ODI 11362508

Aug 5, 2020Electrical systemSpeed controlFuel system

SOME TIME THIS CAR ACELERACIN MORE LIKE PUT MORE FULL, I START TO NOTICE WHEN I WAS DRIVEN IN THE SPECIFIC SPEED AND THE CAR START TO PUT MORE FULL AND SPEED MORE THAN I WAS

NHTSA ODI 11343416

Working with the data? Download all 280 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 20, 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 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness verdict →