Chevrolet Sonic vs Subaru Impreza

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Chevrolet Sonic	Subaru Impreza
Complaints on file	1,424	3,460
Model years covered	2011–2020	1990–2026
Worst model year	2013	2017
Best model year	2019	1999
Crashes reported	144	270
Fires reported	24	66
Injuries reported	85	153
Deaths reported	5	5
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	18.1%	14.3%

Chevrolet Sonic by year

1 522 322 231 171 69 59 23 10 16

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 257 18.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 231 16.2%

Electrical System 227 15.9%

Other & Unspecified 166 11.7%

Airbags 126 8.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 74 5.2%

Steering 54 3.8%

Brakes 44 3.1%

Subaru Impreza by year

2 48 8 69 25 38 55 27 54 13 339 64 113 95 68 84 249 149 63 75 338 344 157 99 108 162 182 225 100 19 17 6 54 10 1

90 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Airbags 510 14.7%

Engine & Cooling 363 10.5%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 319 9.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 306 8.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 270 7.8%

Brakes 269 7.8%

Electrical System 237 6.8%

Other & Unspecified 226 6.5%