10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
5 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
23,212 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2018 Subaru Crosstrek engine problems

engine problem

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2018 Subaru Crosstrek Owner Comments

problem #13

Nov 162023

Crosstrek

  • 54,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to immediately respond before abruptly accelerating forward. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure and unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 54,000.

- Summerville, SC, USA

problem #12

Oct 152023

Crosstrek

  • miles
Waiting in line to pickup prescription, stopped with foot on brake and vehicle accelerated into car approx 15 ft in front of me. Eye sight braking did not stop car, nor did imminent collision warning engage. Car is at dealership and they conducted test; found nothing. Awaiting Subaru engineer to pull and check "black box".

- Charlevoix, MI, USA

problem #11

Nov 152022

Crosstrek

  • 85,000 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. The contact stated that while at a light, the vehicle crashed into an unknown vehicle in front of her. While sitting in traffic at another light, the failure recurred. The vehicle reeved up forward and crashed into an unknown utility vehicle. A claim was submitted to the insurance company. While pulling into a parking spot, the vehicle lunged forward over the parking block, crashed into the concrete wall and railing, and stopped. There was an abnormal burning smell. There were no warning lights illuminated. There were no reported injuries, air bag deployments, police reports, or fires in either incident. The vehicle was taken to an independent body center, which stated there was an electrical issue but declined to accept the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to her residence. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. They will check the block box. The manufacturer was contacted, but no additional assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000.

- Louisville, KY, USA

problem #10

Nov 092022

Crosstrek

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

On Nov 9 2022 the owner was pulling into a parking space at a mall and the Subaru Crosstrek 2018 suddenly accelerated and slammed into the wall of a store. The airbags did not go off. The driver was going at a slow speed and putting on the brake. The driver and occupant suffered some impact from the seat belts but no other injuries. If pedestrians had been on the sidewalk in front of the parking space there could have been injuries. The wall was not damaged and no police report was filed.The incident was reported to the insurance company and the car was repaired for $11,710. On Jan 17 2023 the owner was pulling into a parking space at a mall and there was a quick sudden acceleration but not as forceful as before and putting on the brake stopped the car.

- Charlotte, NC, USA

problem #9

Nov 022022

Crosstrek

  • miles
While I was doing parallel parking, the car on its own went into involuntary, sudden, uncontrolled acceleration & hit a tree & bushes resulting into considerable body damage. Then I called Subaru national customer relations representative & I was told to go to the local Subaru dealer where I had purchased the car about four and a half years ago. The mechanic there told me that he had never heard such incident & he said that since there is no engine light on, there is nothing to scan. And he thought the car was okay. So, I am driving it very cautiously. But, I am concerned. We thought the newer such cars are safer with the high-tech computers on board but I countered this safety problem that I had never come across before.

- El Cerrito, CA, USA

problem #8

Dec 012021

Crosstrek

  • 39,000 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. The contact stated while driving at approximately 50 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. While driving on a ramp at slow speeds and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to accelerate and stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the ignition fuse needed to be replaced. The fuse was replaced, and the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted but provided no additional assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 39,000.

- New York, NY, USA

problem #7

Aug 292022

Crosstrek 4-cyl

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

This morning August 29 2022 I started my 2018 Subaru Crosstrek, when I put it in gear the car just took off before I could stop it. The idle when about 5000 RPM and then up and down. I was able to get the vehicle stopped and parked. I tried starting the vehicle again and the same. The vehicle is on its way to Crews Subaru North Charleston. Even the tow truck driver wouldn't drive the vehicle. This makes the vehicle unsafe. What if someone was walking past my driveway when this happen? It took about 40 feet to get the car stopped with my foot on the brake hard and to park the car. I have a video showing the RPM at 3900 but could upload it to your site. The consumer stated he would like the complaint removed, the floor mat holding the accelerator down was the problem.

- Charleston, SC, USA

problem #6

Mar 042021

Crosstrek

  • 56,000 miles
When crossing across traffic to get in the lane from right or left turns. There is slow and sluggish as it wants to stall or stay out in cross traffic to cause a collision!! it has happened since I purchased it from a non Subaru dealer beginning of 2021.there should be a recall as this sluggish acceleration problem can cause an accident.

- Cheswick, PA, USA

problem #5

Nov 282019

Crosstrek

  • 20,000 miles
The contact owned a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. While the contact's son was driving at low speeds and making a left turn, the vehicle became difficult to accelerate. A pick up truck crashed into the rear passenger side quarter panel of the contact's vehicle. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The air bags did not deploy. The contact called Subaru of grapevine (2651 william D tate ave, grapevine, tx 76051, (817) 438-1700) and informed them of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the contact to a local dealer. The insurance company deemed the vehicle destroyed. The failure mileage was 20,000.

- South Lake, TX, USA

problem #4

Oct 032019

Crosstrek

  • 3,000 miles
Intermittent jerky acceleration combined with a significant loss in power during modest acceleration. At times I get no acceleration while the car jerks between 2,000 & 3,000 RPM. This is unpredictable as to when it might happen but occurs at engine speeds under 3,000 RPM regardless of vehicle speed or gear selected. My initial impression was that it is most frequent when resuming driving after having stopped for a short period which was preceded by prolonged high speed driving. Now it seems it can happen anytime. May be related to our high ambient temps this time of year. There are numerous accounts of others having the same problem on this forum. Https://www.subaruxvforum.com/threads/hesitation-while-modest-accelerating.163650/ I took it to my Subaru dealership for service. They said they were able to reproduce what I describe and say it is "normal". I have owned 7 manual transmission vehicles prior to this one and can say it is anything but normal. "normal" apparently means it is a known problem and there's nothing my dealer can do about it.

- Durham, NC, USA

problem #3

Sep 092019

Crosstrek

  • 2,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While driving on the highway, the engine just stopped and the entire vehicle turned off (computers and all). The cruise control was being turned off (from going about 75) because I was approaching traffic and it just turned off. Brakes still worked and I got on the shoulder. Then when trying to turn it back on, it would have very strange noise like an old fan or clunking. I would press my accelerator all the way down and it would only go 5 miles an hour. Finally after turning the car off an restarting enough times it ran normally. But then the computer was on the fritz. Flashing the high incline sign, the four wheel drive sign, and flashing all the cruise control. And the check engine light is on.

- Salina, KS, USA

problem #2

Aug 172019

Crosstrek

  • 18,250 miles
Driving on highway adaptive cruise control engaged. Skies are grey. It's about 1300. No rain. In right lane. 2 cars ahead exited and cruise control did not see the white truck ahead of us who was slowing down for traffic. The car increased speed, accelerating into the back of the truck. We applied our breaks and avoided an accident going from about 50 mph to the slow traffic speed of about 20 mph in 10 yards. It was quite scary. I similar incident with the car not seeing a white truck happened about a year ago in stop and go traffic driving through seattle.

- Bellingham, WA, USA

problem #1

Feb 232019

Crosstrek

  • 24,000 miles
Upon starting car in driveway found power steering sluggish and requiring great force (operative, but no apparent boost). Engine sluggisn like limp-home mode. Additionally mil, tc and other lights illuminated on dash. I took photo. I forget if it threw odb codes, but I remember that it two battery disconnect cycles, and two odb code clearing cycles, to regain normal function. I forget id any odb codes were set. Here are the conditions: Daytime morning, about 11am, ambient temperature about 65 degrees. Car parked in driveway. I previously (about 30 minutes before) moved car from street to driveway. Date listed below is approximate. I will update when I check exif data on pix.

- San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA

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