2022 Subaru Impreza: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2022 Subaru Impreza
On the 2022 Subaru Impreza, the failure owners report most often is complete transmission failure, with 2 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 90,000 miles. Overall it scores 71 out of 100, high risk for a 2022.
High risk for a 2022 — 170th riskiest of the 243 2022 vehicles we can rate. 15 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork.
What breaks on the 2022 Subaru Impreza
Owners have reported 10 named failure modes on the 2022 Subaru Impreza, and the three most-reported carry 40% of everything filed.
Complete transmission failure leads with 2 reports and about 95 per 1,000 vehicles.
Other steering problem follows with 2 reports.
Other visibility problem follows with 2 reports.
By system, the reports fall mostly into transmission (3), glass (3) and steering (2).
When these failures get reported
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 1 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
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
What happens when these parts fail
Across the named modes, 2 a fire. 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 4.47, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. 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: complete transmission failure at $2,800–$8,000, other steering problem at $350–$2,400, other visibility problem at $150–$1,400 and engine bay fire at $4,000–$20,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
27% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete transmission failure | transmission | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 95.2 | $2,800–$8,000 | Critical |
| Other steering problem | steering | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 95.2 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Other visibility problem | glass | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 95.2 | $150–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Engine bay fire | engine | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 47.6 | $4,000–$20,000 | Critical |
| Windshield cracking | glass | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 47.6 | $300–$1,600 | Moderate |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 47.6 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 47.6 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other wheel or tire problem | wheels | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 47.6 | $200–$1,500 | High |
| Other lighting problem | lighting | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 47.6 | $120–$1,200 | Moderate |
| Other driver assistance problem | adas | 1 | 1 | — | 88k | — | 47.6 | $250–$1,800 | High |
| Unclassified problem | other | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 95.2 | — | 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 2022 Subaru Impreza draws about 714 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 99th percentile of complaint rates among 2022 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 21 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2022 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
Recalls on the 2022 model year
NHTSA has issued 1 recall campaign covering the 2022 Subaru Impreza, affecting an estimated 21 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 visibility:windshield. 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.
One caution about reading these together: a recall usually raises the complaint count for the same part, because owners who read about it go and file. The mileages stay informative; the counts get noisy.
VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD
42 vehicles 2022-09-22- Defect
- Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2022 Impreza and Outback vehicles. The incorrect paint clearcoat may have been applied, which can cause the windshield to be insufficiently bonded to the vehicle. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 212, "Windshield Mounting."
- Consequence
- An insufficiently bonded windshield can detach during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
- Remedy
- Subaru will offer owners a vehicle exchange or repurchase, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed November 21, 2022. Owners may contact Subaru's customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WRH-22.
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 2022 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
Better and worse years of the same car
High risk for a 2022 — 170th riskiest of the 243 2022 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 2022 itself at 71.
If the model year is negotiable, 2015 and 2003 score lower than 2022 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 these figures stop being useful
15 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 15 reports, 1 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 7% 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".
The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.
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 2022 Subaru Impreza?
The most-reported failures are complete transmission failure (2 reports), other steering problem (2 reports) and other visibility problem (2 reports). 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.
Is the 2022 Subaru Impreza reliable?
It scores 71 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 170th riskiest of the 243 2022 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2022 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