Saab 9-3 vs Subaru Legacy

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	Saab 9-3	Subaru Legacy
Complaints on file	1,689	4,165
Model years covered	1994–2011	1987–2025
Worst model year	2003	2015
Best model year	2010	2024
Crashes reported	84	393
Fires reported	30	75
Injuries reported	76	206
Deaths reported	4	6
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	11.5%	16.3%

Saab 9-3 by year

1 80 72 74 52 323 236 114 227 182 218 46 31 33

94 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

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

What breaks

Airbags 370 21.9%

Engine & Cooling 221 13.1%

Electrical System 207 12.3%

Suspension 187 11.1%

Seat Belts 164 9.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 109 6.5%

Brakes 96 5.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 71 4.2%

Subaru Legacy by year

1 1 1 103 121 66 90 67 230 161 179 155 119 119 90 71 69 55 250 135 45 83 75 218 236 119 84 73 232 193 140 162 143 143 43 42 12 29 10

87 88 89 90 91 92 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

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 473 11.4%

Electrical System 438 10.5%

Airbags 407 9.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 377 9.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 368 8.8%

Brakes 336 8.1%

Other & Unspecified 290 7.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 222 5.3%