Subaru WRX vs Chevrolet Monte Carlo

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	Subaru WRX	Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Complaints on file	1,232	2,964
Model years covered	2002–2025	1974–2010
Worst model year	2002	2001
Best model year	2024	2005
Crashes reported	81	203
Fires reported	20	207
Injuries reported	43	133
Deaths reported	1	16
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	11.8%	18.9%

Subaru WRX by year

461 65 46 24 14 119 72 3 5 4 11 9 73 40 73 63 44 23 21 36 7 15 4

02 03 04 05 06 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

Fuel & Propulsion 407 33.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 179 14.5%

Brakes 158 12.8%

Engine & Cooling 132 10.7%

Electrical System 70 5.7%

Other & Unspecified 66 5.4%

Body & Structure 54 4.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 31 2.5%

Chevrolet Monte Carlo by year

1 2 2 1 3 7 6 9 5 1 244 255 218 129 170 332 417 319 204 275 155 146 54 3 6

74 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 91 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 10

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

What breaks

Electrical System 626 21.1%

Engine & Cooling 518 17.5%

Brakes 395 13.3%

Steering 207 7.0%

Lights 170 5.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 166 5.6%

Airbags 137 4.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 136 4.6%