Buyer Research

2024 Subaru Legacy — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $22,000–$30,000. This is one of the more reliable vehicles in its class — here's what to watch for anyway.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 15 Subaru Legacy years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

Seventeen complaints and no recalls: the 2024 is the last Legacy before Subaru ended the model, and it sits outside both of the 2023's recall populations (the driveshaft bolt campaign was 2023-only and the inhibitor-switch campaign stopped at 2023), which is why this page carries no recall where the 2023 does. What the seventeen owners filed is almost all one thing seen from two sides — the 11.6-inch Starlink screen and the EyeSight system that depends on it: CarPlay refusing to load, phone calls muting, safety features dropping out mid-drive, and a handful of hard automatic-braking events with nothing ahead — plus the windshield-cracking thread that runs through every year of this generation. Seventeen filings cannot rate a car's reliability. They can tell you what to test: a long cold-start drive with the screen, CarPlay and EyeSight all in use, and a slow look at the glass. Do that, and buy on the remaining factory warranty.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 17 owner complaints for the 2024 Subaru Legacy, and no recall campaigns.

That is too small a record to read a pattern from, so we are not going to pretend otherwise — with numbers this low one owner moves the percentage by a lot. What has been filed is grouped under the driver-assist and automatic braking systems (5), electrics and electronics (5), glass, wipers and mirrors (4). Treat those as things to look at, not as the vehicle's known weaknesses. A thin file usually means few of these were sold or few owners filed. It is not evidence the vehicle is trouble-free, and the issues below are our own research rather than a reading of this record.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2024 Subaru Legacy

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

EyeSight braking for parked or turning cars, and safety features switching off mid-driveMedium

Five of seventeen complaints name the forward-collision system, and they split two ways. Some owners report EyeSight braking hard for a car stopped in a left-turn lane or parked at the curb — an alarm, then an abrupt stop in moving traffic, repeatedly. Others report every driver-assist feature shutting off while driving with a 'loading' message on the screen, which points at the head unit rather than the cameras, because on this car EyeSight's alerts and settings live in that screen. Neither is a repair bill you can pay your way out of at an independent shop: the fix is a software update or a stereo-camera recalibration at a Subaru dealer, under the 3-year/36,000-mile warranty on most 2024s. On the test drive, use adaptive cruise on a road with cars waiting to turn left and see how the car behaves; then check the EyeSight menu comes up and stays up.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$500 for dealer software updates and camera recalibration; a replacement stereo camera outside warranty runs well into four figures

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the driver-assist and automatic braking systems (5).

Starlink screen: CarPlay 'problem loading this content', calls muting, audio dropping outMedium

The electrical cluster on the 2024 is the centre screen. Owners describe wireless CarPlay failing with 'There was a problem loading this content', the phone muting the driver to the person on the other end so that they have to pick the handset up, speakers going silent for calls and media, and warning lights for EyeSight and 'transmission oil' appearing on the display with a MySubaru alert to match. One owner was told by Subaru of America that the muting affects most 2024s and was given headphones. Because the screen is also the climate control on this generation, a head unit that will not boot leaves you without defroster settings, not just music. Pair your own phone before the test drive and make a call. One complaint in this cluster is rodent-chewed wiring that took out the power steering — not a 2024 defect, but a reason to look under the hood for droppings and nesting before you buy any car that sat outdoors.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$1,800 — software updates under warranty at the low end, a replacement head unit outside it at the top

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (5).

Windshield that cracks from small road debris, sometimes repeatedlyMedium

Four complaints, three of them the windshield: four rock chips under 3,000 miles on paved roads, a windshield cracked four separate times in seven months, a small object at 70 mph that split the glass, and one owner who replaced it with Subaru OEM glass and cracked that three days later. This is the same complaint that leads the 2022 and 2023 Legacy records, so we treat it as this generation's known weakness. A replacement has to be EyeSight-compatible glass with a stereo-camera recalibration, which is why a windshield costs what it does here. The fourth complaint is windows lowering on their own with the car off, across four incidents and three dealerships — check the key fob's window-down function was not left enabled, then watch the car after you lock it. Run a finger along the bottom edge of the glass by the wipers and look for repaired chips before you talk price.

Repair cost (estimate): $500–$1,200 per windshield including EyeSight recalibration

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under glass, wipers and mirrors (4).

Passenger airbag warning light staying onMedium

Three airbag complaints, and the one we can read the detail of is a passenger airbag light that has been lit since September 2024 on a car bought new that June, with the dealer relationship gone sour over an unrelated engine replacement. On this generation the usual cause is the occupant-detection sensor in the passenger seat cushion, which is a seat-bottom repair rather than a module swap, and is warranty work on a 2024 with the light documented. Three complaints is not a pattern. It is a five-second check: turn the key with the passenger seat empty and confirm the light behaves — OFF indicator lit with the seat empty, cleared when an adult sits down.

Repair cost (estimate): $0 under the 3-year/36,000-mile warranty; $600–$1,500 for an occupant sensor and seat cushion outside it

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (3).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗'There was a problem loading this content' on CarPlay, or a phone call the other party cannot hear
✗Screen slow to boot on a cold start, or climate controls that do not respond
✗Any hard braking from EyeSight on the test drive with clear road ahead
✗Chips or a repaired crack along the bottom of the windshield by the wipers
✗Passenger airbag light that stays lit with an adult in the seat
✗Droppings or chewed insulation under the hood

Good Signs

✓Screen up, CarPlay connected and a test call heard clearly within a minute of a cold start
✓Dealer work order showing the Starlink software update performed
✓Windshield replacement invoice listing EyeSight camera recalibration
✓Adaptive cruise held a steady gap past cars waiting in a left-turn lane on the test drive
✓Remaining factory warranty with the in-service date confirmed on the Subaru dealer's system