2017 Subaru Legacy
The Verdict
The 2017 Subaru Legacy has 118 owner complaints filed with NHTSA. The most reported issues are body (68 complaints) and electrical (35 complaints). With a Klunk Score of 70/100, it earns a "Solid Pick" rating. If you're shopping for a Subaru Legacy, consider the 2025 model year which has 94% fewer complaints.
Safe Bet
The 2025 has 94% fewer complaints
View the 2025 Subaru Legacy dashboard →
Klunk Score: Solid Pick
Fewer complaints than most vehicles. Generally dependable, but check the top problems below.
How is this calculated?
The Klunk Score ranks this vehicle year against all others in our database based on total owner complaints filed with NHTSA. 100 = fewest complaints (top tier), 0 = most complained-about. Scores above 60 are better than average; below 40 means more problems than most.
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Under the Hood
Each number is a complaint. Darker = bigger problem.
| Year | Body | Brakes | Electrical | Engine | Transmission |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 50 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 13 |
| 2001 | 36 | 7 | 4 | 31 | 2 |
| 2002 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 28 | 5 |
| 2003 | 15 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 5 |
| 2004 | 7 | 3 | 25 | 12 | 2 |
| 2005 | 42 | 29 | 43 | 57 | 11 |
| 2006 | 22 | 9 | 19 | 31 | 6 |
| 2007 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 1 |
| 2008 | 13 | 11 | 30 | 6 | 5 |
| 2009 | 13 | 9 | 32 | 9 | 2 |
| 2010 | 30 | 8 | 39 | 38 | 35 |
| 2011 | 40 | 11 | 46 | 31 | 39 |
| 2012 | 21 | 5 | 14 | 23 | 27 |
| 2013 | 15 | 2 | 17 | 21 | 11 |
| 2014 | 19 | 1 | 23 | 5 | 5 |
| 2015 | 68 | 9 | 35 | 36 | 11 |
| 2016 | 67 | 6 | 51 | 11 | 10 |
| 2017 | 68 | 4 | 35 | 7 | 4 |
| 2018 | 61 | 5 | 36 | 14 | 0 |
| 2019 | 75 | 2 | 34 | 10 | 1 |
| 2020 | 93 | 2 | 15 | 5 | 6 |
| 2021 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 2 |
| 2022 | 28 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
By Category
By Severity
Worst Problems
Complaints
Major fuel leak within engine bay
The battery has died several times and had to be replaced over the years due to a likely slow drain issue that Subaru is well aware of and was part of a class action suit against them.
I drove into the parking lot of Walgreens, then drove around and pulled into a parking spot facing the south side of the building and put my foot on the brake to stop and park. Instead of stopping, the car suddenly lurched forward violently and slammed into the brick wall of the building. My wife called 911 since I told her my chest really hurt. When the police came, I told them my foot must have slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator, since I had no idea what else might have caused the car to accelerate like that. My wife drove the car home and then drove to the ER where the EMTs had taken me. A CT scan showed that I had a fractured sternum, since my chest hit the steering wheel full force after the air bags failed to deploy. I was in excruciating pain for a few weeks, and after I felt better, we submitted a claim to our insurance company. We then took our 2017 Subaru Legacy to a certified Subaru collision repair center. We were shocked to find that the car was totaled, since it was still drivable. Something kept bothering us about the crash, since EyeSight should have applied the brakes if I had accidentally accelerated and it detected a brick wall in front of our car. After some research, we stumbled on the information about the Class-Action Lawsuit that was just settled by Subaru for reports of Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA). The description of what happens with SUA was exactly what I experienced, but this was the first we had heard of it. We were never notified about the lawsuit, even though our VIN number shows our car was involved. Our Subaru dealership had all our contact information since we bought our Legacy from them and they have done all the maintenance work on it. Unfortunately, we released our car to Copart as part of our insurance settlement, so there’s no way to check the EDR data. PLEASE let others know about this major safety issue before anyone else is seriously injured!
My 2017 Legacy is on it's 3rd windshield this year. I had impact damage on July 17th, had it replaced the first week of August, and it cracked without impact damage in October. Subaru refused to replace it under warranty and it was replaced through insurance in December. The genuine Subaru replacement windshields for 2015-2019 Legacy and Outback models appear to be defective and this should be investigated.
The OCS sensor is faulty and doesn’t detect a passanger and may cause the airbag not to deploy, this is common according to other Subaru owners. This is a common problem on many cars and those cars have been recalled
The catalytic converter has been replaced twice and is now needing a third replacement. The car emits gas fumes, unsafe emissions, and the fuel causes the mechanism to be extremely hot and unsafe. Over time, the car has had reduced gas flow and will stop running. The dealer has confirmed the three converters installed have been defective. The manufacturer, Subaru, was contacted to inspect the car but refused. Precious years have recalls of the fuel mechanisms. The check engine light stays on when unsafe emissions are detected.
The mirror drivers side mirror wiggles. I. The even of a battery failure the electrical brake may fail
The key frequently gets stuck in the ignition. It takes several attempts to release the key. Turning the wheel to ensure the wheel isn’t locked and turning the ignition/car on does not help release the key from ignition.
The key constantly stuck in ignition. Sometimes 10 minutes to get out. Then won’t start ignition Key broke off in ignition … your stuck with this situation that Subaru is pretending to not know about
Electric Power Steering failure
The HOOD LATCH Failed, and hood came up at 70 mph on interstate. This has caused extensive damage.
the key gets stuck in the ignition and you have to slide the shifter back in forth till it unlocks. I'm showing recall on other Subaru but not on mine ? or at least my year of car. why is that ? everyday its takes longer and longer to get the key to release.
Jan 2021 my battery died. So I called AAA and they were able to replace it. Then last year I received a notice of a problem with batteries. I submitted a claim with the SUBARU BATTERY SETTLEMENT. I submitted my receipts. They denied my claim stating that I did not use a Subaru authorized dealer AND that I did not notify Subaru 10 days PRIOR to the new battery. I am at a loss to understand how this Settlement is working. I did not anticipate the battery dying. I needed to be able to drive, so I called AAA who I think is generally reputable. Do people actually call the car manufacturer and wait 10 days to put in a new battery? This is a joke. I appealed and they denied it twice. How can this be??
On May 16, 2023 I was driving a friend home. We were stopped at a red light and felt an impact. My friend said, "You've been hit." I went out to check. No one had hit the car. It had lurched forward while my foot was on the brake. On 6/1/23 I pulled out of a driveway, car was in drive, foot on brake, paused to set GPS, car lurched forward. I brought to the dealer. They said they drove it for seven miles and could not duplicate the problem. About a year prior, the car had also lurched, but at that time I was in drive doing approx 30 mph, and I used the brake to slow it back to my speed. At that time the dealer found some leak in the transmission and, I believe, changed a gasket. These problems are intermittent and did not register on the car's computer, according to the dealer. Have you had any such complaint? Is my car safe?
The car had been going on several local stops. Car was in the middle of a main thoroughfare ready to turn on to interstate ramp when the car completely stopped functioning. Battery light came on briefly before the vehicle became completely non-responsive. Among other things non-functioning, Emergency lights would not work, electric park brake would not engage. Could not get out of car to flee danger as car would freely roll and no way to stop except to hold brake with foot pressed. Ultimately car was chocked and jumped by AAA tow truck. Technician said battery was dead but alternator was working when he started it up. After 3 days of diagnostics, Subaru dealer cannot find a fault which let the new auto battery simply drain to nothing state and thus make the car non-responsive. Thank the good Lord this did not happen after turning on to the interstate.
Hood released and blew open while doing 50 mph. After checking oil level, I closed and verified hood was latched, which it was. Driving about 2miles down road, hood blew up causing instant panic and stopping. After pulling over, I found that the hood would no longer latch. I had to use a hammer to bend the latch forward enough to have it latch again.
When i brought car in for an oil change. cam carrier leak, was reported to me that there was a cam carrier leak. When i look online there are countless reports of this. Seems like there could be something faulty with the engine. Subaru offered to cover the repair as a 1 time curtesy. But if there is an issue with the design of an engine then this should be looked at further. The rear brushings are also failing don't think this should happen so quickly, maybe faulty brushings. no warning lights.
The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, a loud popping noise was heard, and then a crack formed from the bottom of the windshield without impact. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the windshield needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the windshield needed to be replaced another time. The vehicle was repaired; however, the contact stated that the failure reoccurred after she started the vehicle. The contact became aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V712000 (Visibility); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and the contact was advised to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was unknown.
When running on a highway and you press down on the accelerator hard to merge onto a highway or go around a vehicle to move out of the way of vehicles quickly coming up behind you, the engine takes over and speeds up on its own. It has occurred three times on a newly purchased used car and it will increase speed up to 100mph. You have to press intermittently on the brakes to pull over to the shoulder and turn off the car for five minutes for the car to reset. If you try to just break, you get a burning smell. I see two class action lawsuits on similar acceleration issues for 2015 to 2017 Outback/Legacy series.
Vehicle's batter discharges to the point where the vehicle has to be jumped or battery charged up. The vehilce had two batteries replaced in a span of 6 months and after the last repalcement I checked the batter about one month later and found the battery dead, 11.7 volts, I recharged the battery and made an appointment with the Subaru dealer in Santa Fe, NM. They checked the battery, which I could have done, said I needed to drive the vehicle once or twice a week for an hour to maintain the battery. This is not consistant with other Subaru's and other vehicle I have owned and I remind you that this is a brand new battery. In looking online I did notice there have been some complaints about the battery and charging systems drawdown above the normal levels. Subaru would not check the drawdown level of the vehicle.
118 total