Scope before value · evidence before confidence
How SubaruFacts handles evidence.
The archive preserves uncertainty instead of manufacturing one clean story from incompatible sources.
Scope
SubaruFacts covers the Subaru-branded marque globally, not US-first — kei cars, JDM-only homologation specials, and rally-raid history are first-class content, not footnotes, alongside every US-market vehicle. Every claim records its market scope explicitly rather than defaulting to one market. Chassis codes and model years coexist because Subaru's own enthusiast community identifies generations by chassis code (GC8, BE, VA) at least as often as by model year.
Evidence states
Settled claims have sufficient consistent support for their stated scope. Disputed claims preserve incompatible positions — a 22B STI production number that two different auction houses report differently stays disputed, not averaged. Provisional claims have meaningful but incomplete support. Unsupported leads remain attributed; unknown and not-applicable are not zero.
Sources
Primary documents lead when available. Specialist forums (NASIOC, IWSTI, LegacyGT.com) can preserve first-hand recollection and community-maintained records that factories did not. Repetition is traced back to its underlying account so copied claims are not mistaken for independent confirmation.
Images
Only individually reviewed public-domain, CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA, or permission-granted images ship. Creator, source, license, attribution, and privacy edits remain attached. Candidate reference copies never enter the public build — see the site's public image register for what's approved versus still pending permission.
Identification and privacy
The VIN reader runs entirely in your browser: what you type is never uploaded, looked up, or logged, and the site content-security-policy blocks any external call. Its output is labelled decoded — a rule-based reading, never an authenticity certificate. No OCR, upload, garage, or photo-identification feature ships in this release.
Independence
SubaruFacts is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Subaru Corporation or Subaru of America, Inc. It uses vehicle and manufacturer names descriptively, displays no manufacturer logo, and does not imitate a factory certificate or service document. "SubaruFacts" is the working project name during this research phase; a public brand name distinct from the manufacturer's trademark is a separate, not-yet-finalized decision.
How gear is chosen & disclosed
The "Recommended gear" cards are a shopping aid, not part of the evidence record. Items are picked editorially for what a Subaru owner actually reaches for — universal accessories, never a claim that a specific part fits a specific chassis. Outbound links go to a product search; where they carry an affiliate tag, a plain-language "As an Amazon Associate, SubaruFacts earns from qualifying purchases" disclosure appears on the same card. Commissions never influence which vehicles, facts, disputes, or reliability issues this site covers — money is tracked separately from evidence so it can never become a ranking input. No VIN, decoder, correction, or diagnostic activity is ever used for ad targeting, and no shopping links appear inside the VIN reader, diagnostic warnings, or source citations.