2002 Subaru Outback — 3.0L

The 2002 Subaru Outback falls in the middle of the second-generation run, and its federal record reflects a transitional year: 153 complaints represent a meaningful decline from the 2000 peak of 215 and a modest improvement over 2001's 170, while 5 recalls and 133 technical service bulletins sit at the high end of the early-generation arc and foreshadow the much heavier recall activity that hits 2003 (15) and 2004 (11). The dominant complaint clusters — service brakes (25), fuel system (19), engine and engine cooling (17), and powertrain (17) — are spread across major mechanical systems rather than concentrated in a single failure mode, and the data does not specify the underlying root causes behind any of these categories. Ten crash-related complaints and zero fire complaints are notably clean, and there were no open federal investigations on file for this model year. The arc suggests that 2002 was a year in which warranty and field-issue data were accumulating rapidly, even as owner-reported complaint volume was easing, which typically means Subaru was identifying and beginning to address problems before they escalated. **Bottom line:** 2002 is a defensible used buy in this generation, but a pre-purchase inspection plus a VIN recall check (and confirmation that all 5 outstanding campaigns have been performed) is essential — this is a year to buy, not a year to skip the homework.