2005 Subaru Impreza problems, complaints & recalls

2005 Subaru Impreza recalls (6)

• Recall 23V076000Feb 13, 2023130 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

  Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2004-2005 Impreza and WRX vehicles that received replacement front passenger air bag inflators under a previous recall. The replacement air bag inflators may have been installed incorrectly.

  Risk: An incorrectly installed inflator may not properly inflate the passenger air bag, increasing the risk of injury during a crash.

  Remedy: Dealers will inspect the passenger inflator and if necessary, install a new inflator kit, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed April 14, 2023. Owners may contact Subaru's customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Subaru's number for this recall is WRF-23.

• Recall 20V003000Jan 2, 2020111,562 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

  Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2009-2013 Forester, 2003-2006 Baja, 2004-2011 Impreza, 2004-2014 WRX (including STI), 2003-2014 Legacy and Outback, and 2005-2006 Saab 9-2X vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming or "Zone C." These vehicles had their passenger frontal air bag inflators previously replaced under a prior recall using inflators of the same design. The inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

  Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

  Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began January 7, 2020. Subaru owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Saab owners may contact the Saab Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-955-9007. Subaru's number for this recall is TKC-20.

• Recall 20V001000Jan 2, 2020258,813 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

  Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2009-2013 Forester, 2003-2006 Baja, 2004-2011 Impreza, 2004-2014 WRX (STI included), 2003-2014 Legacy and Outback, and 2005-2006 Saab 9-2X vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands or "Zone A." These vehicles had their passenger frontal air bag inflators previously replaced under a prior recall using inflators of the same design. The inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

  Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

  Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflators with alternate inflators, free of charge. The recall began January 7, 2020. Subaru Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Saab owners may contact the Saab Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-955-9007. Subaru's number for this recall is TKA-20.

• Recall 20V002000Jan 2, 2020127,547 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

  Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain 2009-2013 Forester, 2003-2006 Baja, 2004-2011 Impreza, 2004-2014 WRX (including STI), 2003-2014 Legacy and Outback, and 2006 Saab 9-2X vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia or "Zone B." These vehicles had their passenger frontal air bag inflators previously replaced under a prior recall using inflators of the same design. The inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

  Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

  Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners. General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began January 7, 2020. Subaru owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614. Saab owners may contact the Saab Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-955-9007. Subaru's number for this recall is TKB-20.

• Recall 15V323000May 28, 2015432,016 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

  Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Subaru Baja vehicles manufactured January 22, 2003, to July 21, 2004, 2004-2005 Impreza vehicles manufactured January 28, 2003, to May 31, 2005, 2003-2008 Subaru Legacy vehicles manufactured January 22, 2003, to May 2, 2008, 2003-2008 Subaru Outback vehicles manufactured February 18, 2003, to May 5, 2008, and 2005 Saab 9-2x vehicles manufactured February 11, 2004, to March 17, 2005. The affected vehicles are equipped with a passenger side frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture upon its deployment.

  Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

  Remedy: Subaru will notify their owners and General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The Subaru recall began on June 17, 2015. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-800-782-2783. The Saab recall began on July 27, 2015. Owners of Saab vehicles may call 1-800-955-9007. Subaru's number for this recall is WQR-53. Note: The recall completely supersedes recall 14V-399 (WQL-48) and partially supersedes recall 14V-763 (WQP-51) in that model year 2004 through 2005 Subaru Impreza and model year 2005 Saab 9-2x vehicles are now only part of this campaign. Note: On December 18, 2015 Subaru informed NHTSA of an expansion of this recall to include certain model year 2003-2004 Subaru Baja, 2003-2008 Subaru Legacy and 2003-2008 Subaru Outback vehicles.

• Recall 11V464000Sep 6, 2011318,215 vehicles
  SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:LOWER ARM

  Subaru is recalling certain model year 2002-2007 impreza, model year 2003-2008 forester, and model year 2005-2006 saab 9-2x vehicles manufactured from september 5, 2000 through november 26, 2007 originally sold, or currently registered in, massachusetts, maryland, michigan, new hampshire, new york, pennsylvania, vermont, wisconsin, connecticut, delaware, iowa, illinois, indiana, maine, minnesota, missouri, new jersey, ohio, rhode island, west virginia and the district of columbia. The front lower control arms may break at the hanger brackets due to corrosion if the hanger bracket is exposed to salty and humid environments such as roads containing snow melting agent.

  Risk: A broken control arm can result in the loss of control of the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.

  Remedy: Subaru will handle their vehicles and saab will handle theirs. Dealers will inspect the degree of corrosion of the front lower control arms, and will either rustproof or replace them. This service will be performed free of charge. The safety recall is expected to begin during december 2011. Owners may contact subaru at 1-800-782-2783. Owners may contact saab at 1-800-955-9007.

NHTSA defect investigations

• EA15001Opened Feb 24, 2015Openled to recall 14V668

  Air Bag Inflator Rupture

  The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.During the course of PE14-016, ODI determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by Takata. No evidence of field fai…

• PE14016Opened Jun 11, 2014Closed Mar 2, 2015led to recall 13V172000

  Air Bag Inflator Rupture

  The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.During the course of PE14-016, ODI determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by Takata. No evidence of field fai…

• PE11011Opened Apr 7, 2011Closed Sep 23, 2011led to recall 11V464000

  Front suspension control arm failure

  On September 6, 2011, Fuji Heavy Industries USA, Inc, on behalf of Subaru of America, Inc notified the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) it would be conducting a safety recall of certain model year (MY) 2002 through 2007 Subaru Impreza, MY 2003 through 2008 Subaru Forester, and MY 2005 through 2006 Saab 9-2X vehicles originally sold or currently registered in one the salt belt states including the District of Columbia (DC). For the purpose of this investigation, salt belt states include Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis…

Recent 2005 Subaru Impreza complaints

Excerpts of the newest owner complaints, lightly cleaned of personal details. Complaints are unverified owner reports.

1. Filed Jan 24, 2025AZSuspension

   The dealership is refusing to fix my car free of charge on a recall they confirmed would be able to do and now they are refusing to do it due to price and have made me wait two months for this to be the answer while also not giving me any sort of pay for the inconvenience of waiting for so long, while also having already ordering the parts and they have decided to decline my recall repair

   NHTSA complaint #11638183 · source
2. Filed Sep 6, 2022MEBody & StructureOther / Unknown

   In April 2022 hood latch malfunctioned and caused hood to open while driving on interstate. Caused damage to Hood, Fenders, Windshield and Roof. I was able to get stopped safely without injury.

   NHTSA complaint #11483177 · source
3. Filed Apr 28, 2022NJWheels & Tires

   goodyear all season f1 p225/45 ZR 17 psgr right sidewall looks like a few chunks are missing and some tread from tire to sidewall is peeling

   NHTSA complaint #11462656 · source
4. Filed Nov 3, 2021199,000 miOHTowedSuspension

   The contact owns a 2005 Subaru Impreza. The contact stated while her son was driving and approaching a stop sign, he heard an abnormal noise which caused him to lose control of the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to park on the side of the road. The vehicle was not drivable and was towed to her residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. Upon investigation, the contact associated the…

   NHTSA complaint #11439156 · source
5. Filed Apr 30, 2021WAElectrical SystemOther / UnknownTransmission & Drivetrain

   The key intermittently gets stuck in the ignition switch when the gearstick is set in the 'park' position. The car can be turned off, but the key cannot be moved forward into the #1 position (lock/off) and cannot be removed from the ignition in the #2 position (accessory). This scenario retains the electrical in the 'on' position which potentially drains the battery and forces the driver to indefinitely remain with the vehicle to avoid a dead battery and/or vehicle theft.…

   NHTSA complaint #11414627 · source
6. Filed Aug 27, 2020130,000 miNYCrashTowedBrakes

   2005 subaru impreza outback sport on 8/23/2020 the brake light was illuminated. Upon returning home, the brake fluid was checked and found to be low. Noticed brake fluid on driveway under car. The car was not used until taking it to goodyear for an inspection on 8/27/2020. Good year identified that there is a leak in the brake line. They advised that there was a recall for subaru's for this issue, although they could not locate it for this vin#. I contacted subaru and opened…

   NHTSA complaint #11351670 · source

Compare the 2005 Subaru Impreza with another vehicle →

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation public data, as of Oct 10, 2026. Complaints are submitted by owners and are not verified by NHTSA or by us; a complaint does not prove a defect exists. View this vehicle on NHTSA.gov Methodology