Owners have filed 50 complaints on the Subaru GL, covering 1981–1989. The system named most often is Seat Belts (15 reports). Worst years by volume: 1987, 1986, 1989; cleanest: 1982, 1984, 1981. 4 reports describe a crash, 2 a fire. On average the car was 8.5 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Subaru GL
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 50 GL complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Seat Belts 15 Read
Driving vehicle at speed of 30mph impact 9:00 position, drivers side lap/shoulder belt will not retract causing injuries. Tt
Front lap/shoulder belt will not retract on passenger and driver side. Tt
Front passenger automatic seatbelts inoperative, belts stuck on track and won't move up or down. Tt
Suspension 10 Read
The rear single axle is rusting out same recall for the 1987 # 92V001000 . *ak
Torsion bar split
Rust hole on inner control arm next to wheel bearing/shock spring mount
Engine And Engine Cooling 7 Read
While driving the vehicle stalled out, the consumer parked the vehicle, while the vehicle was parked it cought fire, engine compartment fire
Engine fire, causing death
Front brake rotors failed, causing vehicle to grind/squeak upon braking
Structure 4 Read
Frame rotted to the extent that jack would not support car at indicated point or floor
The contact stated while driving 5 mph, a sound of rust ripping was heard, resulting in a slight loss of vehicle control. Upon inspection of the vehicle, the contact noted that the rear subframe had cracked on both sides of the vehicle. The rear wheels were also bowed in at the top, causing them to touch the springs,…
Corrosion through out the frame. Tt
Vehicle Speed Control 3 Read
Stopped at stop sign all of a sudden car just accelerated,caused accident. Tt
Sudden acceleration, causing loss of control/one accident
Put vehicle in drive, it accelerated and crashed. Tt
Power Train 2 Read
The automatic transmission linkage lock out failed. (that is the component that prevents shifting from nuetral to reverse faild and the car went into reverse from nuetral
Struts failed due to being worn out
Service Brakes 2 Read
Brakes were replaced at ~100,000 miles. Both front rotors and pads as well as rear drums and shoes. All done by subaru dealer in sping of 98. As of spring of 01 and less than 12,000 miles later the brakes have self destructed do to rust. Never have we had this problem with this car before. Only since recent year…
Driving on freeway at 65 mph, vehicle stopped suddenly in the fast lane, timing belt broke. *ak also front pads and rotors were replaced
Wheels 2 Read
Wheel fell off, causing accident. (new jersey police report)
The lower control arm snapped at the weld while the car was moving and the whole left wheel came off. Please describe. Tt
GL years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Power Train | 1 | — | |
| 1988 | Engine And Engine Cooling | 1 | — | |
| 1987 | Engine And Engine Cooling | 1 | 1 | |
| 1986 | Engine And Engine Cooling | 1 | — | |
| 1985 | Service Brakes, Hydraulic,engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1984 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 1983 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | 1 | |
| 1982 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1981 | Structure | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 47 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.1 |
| Worst single series | 3 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 8.5 years |
A model average of 1.1 hides a worst series at 3. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the GL?
By complaint volume, 1987, 1986, 1989 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which GL years are the cleanest?
1982, 1984, 1981 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Subaru GL have?
50 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1981–1989. Of those, 4 describe a crash and 2 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.