AutoUtility currently tracks 14 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2021 Subaru Impreza. Driver Assistance & Safety Tech issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 4 complaints (28.6% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 filing cites a crash, 1 reports one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • • Total NHTSA Complaints: 14 reports
  • • #1 Reported Problem Area: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (4 reports • 28.6% of submitted complaints)
  • • Secondary Problem Areas: Visibility, Wipers & Glass (3), Wheels & Tires (2)
  • • Crash-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
14
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
1
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2021 Subaru Impreza

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 28.6% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

4 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 21.4% of complaints

Visibility, Wipers & Glass

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Wheels & Tires

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Steering System

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 7.1% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 1 injury report entry
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2021 Subaru Impreza

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11613846
Crash Cited 1 Injury Entry Filed: 09/10/2024

"The contact owned a 2021 Subaru Impreza. The contact stated that while stopped at a red light, another vehicle crashed into the rear of the vehicle. The force of the impact caused the contact to hit another vehicle which then caused that vehicle to also hit another vehicle; in total, four vehicles..."

Incident Date: 09/04/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11516020
Filed: 04/07/2023

"The Eye Sight front collision warning did a hard brake going 55 mph when a car was well ahead of me slowing down to turn right. I was almost rear ended by the car behind me. This isn't the first time it's happened"

Incident Date: 04/07/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Other / Miscellaneous NHTSA ODI ID: #11513829
Filed: 03/26/2023

"Went to my car this morning and the windshield was cracked on the top center from the edge of the windshield to around where the rear view mirror is. This crack was not there last night when I parked my car. And there was no accident/damage to the windshield before this morning."

Incident Date: 03/26/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Visibility, Wipers & Glass NHTSA ODI ID: #11494907
Filed: 11/25/2022

"Plastic parts of side mirror melt easily by heat and sunlight. (Not only side mirror, but also other components with the same plastic parts) It bothers driver visibility and safety when driving highway. The problem was reviewed by subaru service center, and they said it is not their problems...."

Incident Date: 11/25/2022 • Raw NHTSA Component: VISIBILITY/WIPER
Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11491546
Filed: 10/30/2022

"Vehicle is at 23520 miles, front brake pads are worn to 1mm on passenger side and 2mm on front driver side. Vehicle had been taken on October 04, 2022 for repairs and local Subaru dealer refuses to repair it, even though warranty still applicable for defects until 3 years or 36,000 miles as stated..."

Incident Date: 10/04/2022 • Raw NHTSA Component: SERVICE BRAKES
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Subaru Impreza

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Subaru Impreza 79 5 2 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Subaru Impreza 75 7 1 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Subaru Impreza 125 10 7 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Subaru Impreza 149 5 5 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Subaru Impreza 193 6 5 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Subaru Impreza 85 2 1 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Subaru Impreza Current Page 14 1 2 Current
2022 Subaru Impreza 12 0 1 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Subaru Impreza 4 0 2 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Subaru Impreza 30 1 2 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Subaru Impreza 5 1 0 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Subaru Impreza 0 0 0 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2021 Subaru Impreza

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 11 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 2 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 2 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 1 1 0 1 0
Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (14). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Related Official Reports for 2021 Subaru Impreza

Cross-reference safety recalls, crash test safety ratings, and EPA fuel economy for this model year

Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.