Alas, that brings us back to anecdotal complaints. I wonder what responsibility your dealership has for creating your issue, when you're literally the first and only person who's had a fuel pump fry the car's harness, in here, or in the Facebook group I help run. So very sorry you ran into that situation, but, you're the only one, so far - so, that smells of fluke or installation error during the recall. And, I hope it stays that way (it's been a while, so, so far, so good).
I am glad that, regardless of the cause (fluke or bad install), that Subaru apparently made it right for you. I do understand you not feeling safe after such a situation, regardless of cause.
But, let's get to the 2021. Keep in mind that Consumer Reports has NOT rated the actual reliability of the 2021 Ascent.
They've
predicted the 2021 Ascent reliability based on the
2019 Ascent data from their questionnaires, even while noting that reliability increased in the 2020 Ascent
(we who run the FB group asked, it's EXACTLY what they did). Consumer Reports is a GREAT resource, but, quite frankly, we have computers, and they need to learn how to make better use of them. They're horridly behind in data updates for their predicted ratings, and, it's far from just the Ascent. It really should be real time and ongoing. Instead, they're literally rating the
THIRD year (2021) of a vehicle, off the
FIRST year (2019) of production while their ancient algorithm can't take into account the
SECOND year (2020) of production, nor the data they're already collecting on the 2021.
Don't get me wrong - I am and have been a paid subscriber for YEARS (3.5 years, on this account, with donations), and before me, so has been my family (for decades, to this day). I
like their reviews and the consistency of them. And, even when they don't know a specific product very well, they do try to remain unbiased. But, again, it's time they bring their ranking and data usage out of the stone age and into current times.
IMAGINE...
Imagine trying to read reviews for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (something I am interested in), and, they give me a review/rating based on the Note 9 even though they (versions are Note 7, 8, 9, 10/10+, 20/20 Ultra).
Or imagine a couple years ago, me looking for ratings on the Note 9 (which I bought and kept to this day to use as my spare phone) and I see ratings for the exploding
Note 7 being masqueraded as ratings for the Note 9 under "predicted ratings".
Each of those phones are slight evolutions on the last, with more bugs and kinks worked out. Just like each model year of the Ascent. I won't settle for predicted reliability ratings of the FIRST model year for cars in the THIRD model year, especially when they already have the data (or should) for the SECOND and THIRD model year.
SIDE NOTE:
Consumer Reports told us they will be "updating" their ratings in July 2021 with the new data they've been collecting and sitting on. They were NOT clear whether that meant changing existing ratings across the years.