AutoUtility currently tracks 13 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2021 Subaru WRX. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 6 complaints (46.2% of submitted records). Zero crashes, fires, injury reports, or fatality reports are cited across these complaint records.

Key Problem Findings
  • • Total NHTSA Complaints: 13 reports
  • • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (6 reports • 46.2% of submitted complaints)
  • • Secondary Problem Areas: Engine & Cooling (4), Electrical System (2)
  • • Crash-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 0 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
13
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
0
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2021 Subaru WRX

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

#1 Problem Area 46.2% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

6 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 30.8% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

4 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 15.4% of complaints

Electrical System

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 15.4% of complaints

Visibility, Wipers & Glass

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 7.7% of complaints

Seats & Interior

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
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 WRX

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

Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11740103
Filed: 05/26/2026

"Car battery keeps dying and is inadequately charged resulting in loss of electronics. The problem is a faulty DCM system."

Incident Date: 03/04/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Seats & Interior NHTSA ODI ID: #11668435
Filed: 06/22/2025

"Manual (not power) Driver seat is loose-rocking car only has 47000 miles but this hardware failure will get worse over time definitely a safety concern if bolt breaks it appears that the plastic washer is wearing most likely poor material should be polyurethane or something like the form of a..."

Incident Date: 06/01/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: SEATS
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11668269
Filed: 06/21/2025

"In October 2024, my vehicle, a 2021 Subaru WRX STI, was purchased from a Toyota dealership (Fort Bend Sterling McCall Toyota). The dealership sold the vehicle with an oil issue and a modified ECM. This issue caused catastrophic engine failure while driving. The vehicle stalled and could not be..."

Incident Date: 12/12/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11666353
Filed: 06/11/2025

"I am filing this complaint to report a serious safety concern involving my 2021 Subaru WRX, which is currently covered under the manufacturer’s powertrain warranty as well as an extended warranty. Subaru of Ontario, an authorized Subaru dealership, failed to properly diagnose or repair ongoing..."

Incident Date: 02/20/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ENGINE
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA ODI ID: #11640227
Filed: 02/02/2025

"Excessive blow by contaminating MAP sensors & creating lean/rich conditions. This causes loss of power, stalling and will lead to catastrophic engine failure. EGR system is faulty"

Incident Date: 12/31/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
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 WRX

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

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Subaru WRX 55 2 3 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Subaru WRX 34 1 3 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Subaru WRX 53 8 1 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Subaru WRX 44 6 2 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Subaru WRX 30 0 2 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Subaru WRX 17 1 1 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Subaru WRX Current Page 13 0 1 Current
2022 Subaru WRX 25 3 1 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Subaru WRX 7 2 1 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Subaru WRX 13 0 0 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Subaru WRX 2 0 0 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Subaru WRX 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 WRX

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 10 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 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 (13). 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 WRX

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.