Subaru WRX vs KIA Sephia

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	KIA Sephia
Complaints on file	1,232	3,080
Model years covered	2002–2025	1986–2003
Worst model year	2002	1999
Best model year	2024	1994
Crashes reported	81	299
Fires reported	20	118
Injuries reported	43	171
Deaths reported	1	6
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	11.8%	19.3%

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%

KIA Sephia by year

3 25 104 203 375 994 749 461 158 6 2

86 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03

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

What breaks

Brakes 806 26.2%

Engine & Cooling 395 12.8%

Electrical System 348 11.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 293 9.5%

Airbags 174 5.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 164 5.3%

Body & Structure 127 4.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 125 4.1%