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What 40 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Subaru Ascent

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 (40)Crash / fire / injury (6)Brakes (9)Driver assistance (7)Visibility & wipers (6)Airbags (3)Electrical system (3)Engine (3)Speed control (3)Tires (3)Lane Departure (2)Seats (2)

2 of 40 complaints match · Lane Departure · clear filters

Sep 15, 2025Lane Departure

Incident Description – Event 1 On August 28, 2025, at approximately 4:45 p.m. while driving on Sugar Ridge Road, my 2023 Subaru Ascent suddenly jerked violently into the left lane without warning while the EyeSight Driver Assist system was active. I had to take immediate corrective action to maintain control and avoid a head-on collision. This behavior has occurred on multiple occasions under similar circumstances. My husband has also experienced the same issue while driving, which demonstrates this is not an isolated event. Incident Description – Event 2 On multiple other occasions, while the EyeSight Driver Assist system was engaged, the vehicle veered dangerously close to a semi-truck traveling beside us. I had to react instantly to prevent sideswiping the truck, which could have resulted in a severe accident. We have noticed this behavior occurs nearly every time we are alongside a semi-truck on the highway.

NHTSA ODI 11687439

Nov 29, 2023Lane DepartureDriver assistance

Subaru Eyesight will turn off randomly while driving or while parked (turn the vehicle off, unlock the door, sit for a minute or two and when restarting the vehicle, eyesight indicator is orange - off. Example - getting fuel at a full service gas station. Yes the vehicle is available for inspection. Our safety is put at risk. Once Eyesight is off it will not reset/restart, so you are driving without the number one Subaru safety feature. We can reproduce the error. The Dealer just looked at the codes and said it was normal operation. We reported the error to Subaru Customer care and we have a case number. Subaru Customer care is going to contact the Dealer. There is a small red "i" indicator light in the dash that will light up after Eyesight fails. There are no warnings of the failure. We understand rain, snow and fog will impact Eyesight. We had a 2020 Subaru that Eyesight only shutdown when expected (heavy rain, snow, fog) and would restart once we were in the clear, but now we are told that sunlight and windshield condensation affects Eyesight's functionality. We were also told by Customer care that the cameras where changed on the 2023 Ascent model.

NHTSA ODI 11557423

Working with the data? Download all 40 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 13, 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 2023 Subaru Ascent verdict →