Subaru WRX vs Volkswagen Atlas

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	Volkswagen Atlas
Complaints on file	1,232	2,991
Model years covered	2002–2025	2018–2026
Worst model year	2002	2018
Best model year	2024	2026
Crashes reported	81	68
Fires reported	20	9
Injuries reported	43	66
Deaths reported	1	0
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	11.8%	4.8%

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%

Volkswagen Atlas by year

670 709 51 746 281 187 262 75 10

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

Electrical System 472 15.8%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 373 12.5%

Engine & Cooling 371 12.4%

Airbags 370 12.4%

Brakes 359 12.0%

Other & Unspecified 292 9.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 147 4.9%

Lights 115 3.8%