Total Complaints
3 filings
SUBARU SUBARU · model year
3 NHTSA complaints, 1 crash report for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1990SUBARUSUBARU carries 3 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 1 crash, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 1990 SUBARU is equipment:mechanical:accessory scissor/screw/bottle jack/lift with 1 filings, followed by seat belts:front:anchorage (1) and tires (1). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability.
NHTSA currently has 9 investigation files overlapping the 1990 SUBARU. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.
Total Complaints
3 filings
Crashes Reported
1 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| EQUIPMENT:MECHANICAL:ACCESSORY SCISSOR/SCREW/BOTTLE JACK/LIFT | 1 |
| SEAT BELTS:FRONT:ANCHORAGE | 1 |
| TIRES | 1 |
TIRE BEAD FAILURE WHILE IT WAS MY SPARE & ONLY USED 200 MILES.. *AK
Mileage: 90,000
AUTOMATIC SEAT BELT FAILED.
JACK DISLODGED UPON IMPACT AND SMASHED *AK THROUGH THE WINDOW ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF CAR AND LANDED ON THE GROUND.
Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.