2012 Subaru Legacy problems
Owners have filed 119 complaints with NHTSA about the 2012 Subaru Legacy. Drivetrain & axles is the most reported problem area, at 27% of complaints. After that come engine (19%) and air bags (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 119 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 27% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 9 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 7 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 93,000 miles 87 complaints with mileage
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%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 10 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 14 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 10 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 12 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 16 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 5 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 7 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 7 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Among the 87 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 93,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 109,000 miles (24 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 9 complaints mention a crash; 7 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 20th most-complained-about out of 34 model years of the Subaru Legacy with enough data (45 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 16 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.
The car was pulling out from a stop sign and traveling at 5 MPH when the driver side door was hit by another vehicle traveling 45-50 MPH with enough damage to be considered for total loss and the driver side airbag did not deploy. None of the airbags deployed. The passenger in the other car was taken to the hospital for evaluation and the driver of my car had a mild head injury from hitting her head on the driver door window.
Hit head on driving our 2012 subaru legacy by a nissan maxima both traveling opposite directions at 40 miles per hour. All air bags in other vehicle were deployed while none deployed in the subaru contributing to extensive impact injuries, seal/lap belt injuries and closed head trauma. This accident occurred on a city street, dry road conditions with no contributing factors except negligence on other drivers part.
Problem was the undercarriage support, little or no protection from essentially a drop, car "leaped' off embankment bottoming out. The result was spinal trauma to the occupants. Very little shock absorption in the seat or suspension. The car rocked back and forth, front and rear but the sudden impact on the undercarriage wasn't absorbed.
Vehicle has an electrical failure that causes the dash check engine, brake, cruise and other lights to activate. While driving, the failure causes: one or both headlights to suddenly fail making the vehicle illegal and dangerous to drive at night, cruise control to suddenly fail, and stability control to become non-functional. The main failure being the headlights/daytime running lights could cause injury or death due to sudden lack of visibility at night.
Cpsc: our 2012 subaru legacy while parked in our garage was found with two flat tires at same time. One tire on passenger front was catastrophic failure as 2 major holes were in sidewall from huge blowout and rear passenger tire had bulge in sidewall leaking air. The consumer stated the brand of tires were pirelli p4 season p215/60r16 95t sl bsw.