RoadVitals

2022 Subaru BRZ Owner Complaints

Reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers, shown in full

Data refreshed

Complaints on fileComplaints are reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a complaint does not establish that a defect exists. Volume is influenced by how many of a vehicle were sold, how long it has been on the road, and how much attention an issue has received.
10
Latest Mar 28, 2023
Crash or fire reportedComplaints whose submitter recorded that a crash or a fire occurred. These are the reporter's own answers on the NHTSA form, not verified findings.
0
Filed in the last 12 monthsReports filed with NHTSA in the trailing 365 days. Recent volume reflects attention and vehicle age as much as anything else.
0
Reports on file since Aug 5, 2022

What this page shows

Our database holds 10 NHTSA owner-reported complaints for the 2022 Subaru BRZ. Each one is a report filed by an owner or driver and published by NHTSA without most of them being verified. A complaint is not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. Narratives are shown exactly as filed.

Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.

Complaints, most recent first

Showing 1–10 of 10

Exterior lighting
Filed Mar 28, 2023

Stock blinkers rapidly flash faster than normal, blinkers cannot be seen in the rear at the time when signaling left or right during this time

NHTSA ID
11514202
Incident
Mar 28, 2023
BrakesOther / unspecified
Filed Mar 7, 2023

I purchased a new 2022 Subaru BRZ. Shortly after the purchase, the wheel bolts loosened which caused catastrophic damage to the wheel, and all brake components. Upon further research, we believe this may be an inherent vehicle defect. This problem is subject to a recall involving hub bolts which can loosen to the point where the wheel can detach from the vehicle damaging the brake components and posses serious safety issue. The consumer is requesting to reimbursed for repairs, rental, and legal fees.

NHTSA ID
11510562
Incident
Feb 28, 2023
EngineFuel system
Filed Feb 20, 2023

This is a new car. There’s was only 31 miles when I purchased. One day, there’s some sound when I driving the vehicle. Once I parked, all the warning lamps was on, then my car wasn’t able to move. When the incident happened, it was only 4 months of using it and only 5,498 miles. Then I bring my car back to retailer and they inform me I need to replace the whole engine because of lack of oil. Even though they Silas’s my car was lack of oil, but there’s no light on the dashboard lights up and told me I need to add more oil. The process of repairing took 5 months. After I read other owners post on social media, I believe I have the similar situation. It says “ RTV is a sealant used as a gasket for the Subaru FA24D engine in the car and is allegedly applied too liberally at the factory. When RTV is dislodged in the engine's oil, it can clog the pickup. That can cause oil starvation“ Roughly a month later of fixing it(5 months of repairs) , there’s a strong scent of gas when I open the door of my car. And I can’t turn it on the first time. Second time of trying turning it on, all the warning lamp went off again. And the car couldn’t drive again. I bring back to the retailer and this is their respond, “ the technician found fuel is pouring out of the pressure relief valve of the left side head due to a possible failing injector on cylinder #3. We must do a teardown to verify the initial diagnosis.” And the final diagnosis The technician found two injector o-rings that were defective, causing fuel to leak and flood the cylinder chamber, which in turn caused the vehicle to stall. Parts can fail for many reasons, in this case we can attribute it to the quality of the parts themselves.“

NHTSA ID
11508249
Incident
Jul 11, 2022
Exterior lighting
Filed Feb 8, 2023

During my early commute on a sunny morning shortly after sunrise with the sun at the rear of the vehicle, when selecting the turn signal, the dash display flashes rapidly, i.e., hyperflashing, and it has been confirmed that the rear signal light does not operate during this anomaly. The forward turn signal does function but flashes at a rapid rate. This is a repeatable occurrence when the sun is behind the car in the early morning from early sunrise to about 60 minutes later. Once the sun is high in the sky, the turn signals operate normal. This condition occurs on either turn signal and I have also experienced this with late afternoon sun. I have captured this anomaly on video but this site does not allow upload of .mp4 files. This is a link to a video I uploaded on YouTube showing the anomaly in later afternoon sun. https://youtu.be/dHwMCdlJfYQ I have communicated this concern to Subaru of America and shared the video links to them. Their last communication was to contact a dealer. I understand that the dealer would need to confirm my concern. However, it would need to be a sunny day on the time of appointment plus the duty hours for the technicians are outside the window of the sun elevation when this problem occurs. Other owners of the 2022 BRZ and Toyota GR86 have reported similar experiences on the web forums with turn signals behaving as I have detailed.

NHTSA ID
11506229
Incident
Feb 8, 2023
Exterior lighting
Filed Feb 7, 2023

When the sun is facing the rear of the car, the rear turn signals do not activate, and the turn signals flash rapidly. It is exactly what happens in this youtube video: https://youtu.be/dHwMCdlJfYQ This is a danger, because my car will not properly signal when I change lanes or take a turn. Subaru will not look at the vehicle. In this post in a community of owners for this vehicle, an owner states that the dealer ignored the issue, and Subaru of America sent a generic, irrelevant response. https://www.gr86.org/threads/fast-blinker-caused-by-low-sun.4733/post-96056 This behavior by the dealer and the manufacturer is irresponsible and dangerous. This issue needs to be resolved at the federal level to ensure the safety of myself and others on the road.

NHTSA ID
11506139
Incident
Jan 9, 2023
Engine
Filed Aug 7, 2022

Found traces of silicone in my engine. Checked the dipstick out of curiosity and found silicone or RTV sealant. The car only has 500 miles on it. Will do oil change after break in period of Subaru’s recommended 1000 miles and will have them check the oil pan filter for more RTV…

NHTSA ID
11477991
Incident
Aug 6, 2022
Engine
Filed Aug 6, 2022

The engine has excess RTV sealant and is clogging the oil pick-up tube. This is cause the motor to have restricted oil flow and causing premature motor failures.

NHTSA ID
11477896
Incident
Aug 4, 2022
Engine
Filed Aug 5, 2022

These particular vehicles (and their Toyota counterpart, the GR86) have been experiencing issues with excess RTV sealant used on the oil pan and timing cover getting into the oil. Once this RTV sealant is in the oil, it clogs the oil pickup tube filter. As the excess sealant collects on the filter, it begins to starve the engine of oil. There have been a number of documented failures so far (including one that made international auto news). Some owners are inspecting their oil dip stick and finding anywhere from light to heavy sealant residue even on the dip stick. I inspected my own and found traces of RTV sealant stuck to it as well. In the provided picture, you will see traces of sealant on the length of the dip stick as well as the tip. At this time, Toyota and Subaru have not issued a recall or service bulletin of any sort for this problem. The online forums for these vehicles are filled with nothing but posts about finding sealant on their dipsticks, or posts from those that removed their own oil pan and found sealant clogging the filter.

NHTSA ID
11477886
Incident
Aug 4, 2022
Engine
Filed Aug 5, 2022

My car has excess RTV sealant on the oil pan that has now gotten into my engine and is causing oil starvation.

NHTSA ID
11477882
Incident
Aug 4, 2022
Engine
Filed Aug 5, 2022

The new 2022 Subaru BRZ's and Toyota GR86's have been found to have an excessive amount of RTV silicone on the engine oil pan. This can clog up the oil pickup filter and cause oil starvation leading to catastrophic engine failure. A few engines have already failed and more people have been finding RTV silicone in their oil filters and dipsticks including me.

NHTSA ID
11477878
Incident
Aug 5, 2022

Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.

Data sources

Data on this page last refreshed .