Subaru Outback vs Toyota Rav4

Reliability comparison based on 23,916 federal complaints.

Source: NHTSA Complaint Data

The Verdict

Based on federal complaint data, the Toyota Rav4 has a stronger reliability record than the Subaru Outback. This reflects complaint patterns across all model years — individual years may vary.

Head-to-Head

MetricSubaru OutbackToyota Rav4
Years of Data3030
Total Complaints12,10711,809
Avg Complaints/Year403.6393.6
Recent 5-Year Rate392.2322.8
Crashes Reported6561,168
Deaths Reported813
Total Recalls198148

Lower complaints and crashes = better. Green highlights the better number in each row.

What Breaks Most

Subaru Outback

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2,132
VISIBILITY/WIPER 1,716
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1,237
POWER TRAIN 721
ENGINE 670
AIR BAGS 549
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 425
SERVICE BRAKES 365

Toyota Rav4

ENGINE 1,296
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1,230
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1,007
STEERING 856
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 798
POWER TRAIN 737
AIR BAGS 726
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION 518

Best & Worst Years

Subaru Outback Best
1996
57 complaints
Subaru Outback Worst
2019
1,277 complaints
Toyota Rav4 Best
2000
34 complaints
Toyota Rav4 Worst
2007
1,239 complaints

Year-by-Year Comparison

Click any year to see full details.

Subaru Outback

1996 (57) 1997 (94) 1998 (165) 1999 (150) 2000 (247) 2001 (207) 2002 (171) 2003 (116) 2004 (108) 2005 (353) 2006 (404) 2007 (182) 2008 (277) 2009 (141) 2010 (466) 2011 (851) 2012 (367) 2013 (403) 2014 (275) 2015 (633) 2016 (757) 2017 (1091) 2018 (962) 2019 (1277) 2020 (1122) 2021 (394) 2022 (521) 2023 (118) 2024 (111) 2025 (87)

Toyota Rav4

1996 (54) 1997 (61) 1998 (92) 1999 (75) 2000 (34) 2001 (418) 2002 (682) 2003 (392) 2004 (179) 2005 (168) 2006 (880) 2007 (1239) 2008 (707) 2009 (391) 2010 (493) 2011 (400) 2012 (355) 2013 (328) 2014 (267) 2015 (394) 2016 (289) 2017 (405) 2018 (426) 2019 (1143) 2020 (778) 2021 (475) 2022 (183) 2023 (215) 2024 (221) 2025 (65)

Complaint counts reflect consumer-reported issues to NHTSA and do not represent failure rates. Higher sales volume typically means more complaints. This comparison is based on aggregate data across all model years — reliability can vary significantly between individual years. See our disclaimers and methodology.

Page generated: 2026-03-29