1990 Subaru Legacy problems
Owners have filed 103 complaints with NHTSA about the 1990 Subaru Legacy. Body & structure is the most reported problem area, at 21% of complaints. After that come latches & locks (18%) and seat belts (14%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 103 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 21% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 4 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 4 and 0
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
What the data shows
Safety-related details: 4 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 4 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1990 ranks 32nd most-complained-about out of 34 model years of the Subaru Legacy with enough data (24 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Sunvisor continuously slips down without assistance, causing driver to hit visor when getting in vehicle/injury. (other vehicle on 479694) *skd
While driving vehicle driver noticed smoke coming from back of vehicle. When pulling over there was a fire, which looked to have started between the rear wheels. The fire was put out by owner. Not sure what caused fire.
Rubber piece on end of throttle cable/cable casing came off while using cruise control, causing sudden acceleration/loss of control. *skd
The vehicle's door locks experienced the defect stated in recall 90 v 184 000 but it's VIN was outside of the remedy scope. The dealership refused to repair the door. *nlm
The lock/latch on my car's passenger door is defective and the recall 90v18400 did not fix the problem. The door is difficult to open and could easiy fail any day and trap my passenger in the car. The same thing is happening to the front drivers door. The manufactuer will not fix the problem at no charge.