2020 Subaru Impreza: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2020 Subaru Impreza
On the 2020 Subaru Impreza, the failure owners report most often is other visibility problem, and the reports cluster around 5,000 miles. The earliest to appear is windshield cracking, reported by a median of 5,000 miles. Overall it scores 74 out of 100, high risk for a 2020.
High risk for a 2020 — 157th riskiest of the 235 2020 vehicles we can rate. 100 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork.
What breaks on the 2020 Subaru Impreza
Owners have reported 16 named failure modes on the 2020 Subaru Impreza, and the three most-reported carry 66% of everything filed, so the trouble here is concentrated rather than scattered.
Other visibility problem leads with 38 reports, about 3.9 per 1,000 vehicles and with the middle half of reports between 3k to 15,000 miles.
Windshield cracking follows with 23 reports, usually reported between 2k to 5,000 miles.
Other engine problem follows with 5 reports, median 10,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into glass (61), brakes (7) and engine (5).
When these failures get reported
47 of the reports on the 2020 Subaru Impreza came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 7,500 miles.
Cumulatively, 89% by 50,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed.
The busiest stretch is between 0 and 10,000 miles, which alone holds 57% of the dated reports.
87% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles, which is early enough that a fair number of these cars were still under a factory warranty when the owner complained.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
Showing the 12 most-reported failure modes of 16. The full list is in the table below.
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the median reported mileage
How bad it is when it goes
Across the named modes, 2 mention a crash, 3 a fire and 2 an injury. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 2.93, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other visibility problem at $150–$1,400, windshield cracking at $300–$1,600, other engine problem at $300–$4,000 and other driver assistance problem at $250–$1,800. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
6% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other visibility problem | glass | 38 | 24 | 3k | 7k | 14k | 3.9 | $150–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Windshield cracking | glass | 23 | 12 | 2k | 4k | 7k | 2.4 | $300–$1,600 | Moderate |
| Other engine problem | engine | 5 | 1 | — | 10k | — | 0.5 | $300–$4,000 | High |
| Other driver assistance problem | adas | 4 | 3 | — | 20k | — | 0.4 | $250–$1,800 | High |
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.3 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other brake problem | brakes | 3 | 1 | — | 20k | — | 0.3 | $300–$1,800 | High |
| Other body or interior problem | body | 3 | 1 | — | 70k | — | 0.3 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Brake line, hose or caliper failure | brakes | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.2 | $250–$1,600 | Critical |
| Wiring harness or short circuit | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $400–$3,500 | High |
| ABS module or sensor failure | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $500–$2,400 | High |
| Premature brake pad or rotor wear | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $300–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Tire blowout or tread separation | wheels | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $200–$1,500 | Critical |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 1 | 1 | — | 66k | — | 0.1 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Other steering problem | steering | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Other suspension problem | suspension | 1 | 1 | — | 5k | — | 0.1 | $350–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other lighting problem | lighting | 1 | 1 | — | 1k | — | 0.1 | $120–$1,200 | Moderate |
| Unclassified problem | other | 11 | 2 | — | 28k | — | 1.1 | — | Moderate |
Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2020 Subaru Impreza draws about 10 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 90th percentile of complaint rates among 2020 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound.
The working figure is 9,776 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2020 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
Recalls on the 2020 model year
NHTSA has issued 1 recall campaign covering the 2020 Subaru Impreza, affecting an estimated 9,776 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.
The campaigns cover fuel system, gasoline:delivery:fuel pump. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.
Recalls also distort complaint counts. Publicity about a campaign reminds owners that complaining is possible, so reports for a recalled component often spike after the recall rather than before it.
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP
175,968 vehicles 2021-07-29- Defect
- Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Ascent, 2018 Forester, 2018-2020 Impreza, Legacy, Outback, 2018-2019 BRZ, WRX, and Toyota 86 vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
- Consequence
- Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the low-pressure fuel pump, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 24, 2021. Subaru and Toyota owners may call customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WRG-21.
Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.
How it ranks in the 2020 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
How 2020 compares with the other years
High risk for a 2020 — 157th riskiest of the 235 2020 vehicles we can rate. The comparison is always within the same model year, so an older car is never penalised for having had longer to break.
Across the 27 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2015 comes out best at 65 and 2021 worst at 84, with 2020 itself at 74.
If the model year is negotiable, 2015, 2003, 2016, 2002, 2005, 2014, 1996, 2010, 2013, 2019 and 2008 score lower than 2020 by a margin worth acting on. Same body, same engines, different luck — usually a supplier change or a mid-cycle fix, which the complaint data can show but never explain.
Within the 2020–2022 generation specifically, 2022 is the strongest year at 71 and 2021 the weakest at 84.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2020-2022 generation, 2022 Subaru Impreza scores best at 71 and 2021 Subaru Impreza worst at 84.
Where to spend the inspection money
The mileages below are where the first quarter of reports for each mode had already been filed, which makes them the point at which a fault is worth looking for rather than the point at which it happens: windshield cracking from about 2k and other visibility problem from about 3k.
On a 2020 Subaru Impreza with more miles than that on it, the useful question to put to a seller or a mechanic is whether windshield cracking has been dealt with, and if so with what parts and at whose expense. A car that has already had the repair is in a different position from one that has not.
None of this is a diagnosis. It is a list of what other owners of the same model year reported, ordered by when they reported it, which is a good place to point an inspection and a poor place to stop.
What this page cannot tell you
100 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 100 reports, 47 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 47% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2020 Subaru Impreza?
The most-reported failures are other visibility problem (38 reports, median 5,000 miles), windshield cracking (23 reports, median 5,000 miles) and other engine problem (5 reports, median 10,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
At what mileage do 2020 Subaru Impreza problems start?
Windshield cracking is the earliest failure mode to show up, with a median reported mileage of 5,000 miles and a quarter of reports before 1,900 miles. Across all failure modes on this year, the median report sits at 7,500 miles.
Is the 2020 Subaru Impreza reliable?
It scores 74 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 157th riskiest of the 235 2020 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2020 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Which year of the Subaru Impreza is best?
Within the 2020–2022 generation, 2022 scores best at 71 out of 100 and 2021 worst at 84. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed