My vehicle has a capacitive sensor in the passenger seat that determines if someone is sitting in the seat and turns the airbag on or off accordingly. Starting towards the beginning of March, my vehicle stopped detecting if someone was sitting in that seat and permanently disabled the airbags. I took the vehicle in to a Subaru dealer to get this fixed, as I view airbags as necessary to the safety of passengers in the vehicle. As it turns out, there was a previous recall for a part in this airbag system related to a wire harness. However, the dealer replaced this wire harness (at their expense) and it did not re-enable use of the passenger airbags. The dealer believes that the root cause of the issue is with the capacitive seat sensor. Not only was there an extended lead time on replacing this part (originally up to 1-year but luckily came in after a couple of months) but they would not pay for the cost of this part. Since there is no way for me to bypass this sensor to re-enable the airbags on my own, I believe that this part should be covered by Subaru. Furthermore, I don't understand how this part wasn't covered under a recall, either past or future, if it permanently disables a safety system. I was able to find a workaround online that involves installing a capacitor that makes the airbag system think someone is always present but Subaru would not perform this. This would mean that the airbag would go off even if someone is not sitting in the seat, but that seems like a small price to pay for potentially saving someone's life in the case of a potential accident. My case number with Subaru's Customer Advocacy group is Case # 250528-1300198 for any follow-up with them.

- Oak Park, IL, USA

Airbag/seatbelt system failure August, 2024. Passenger Occupant Detection System (ODS) failure. Detection system fails to correctly detect passenger in the seat. Sometimes it thinks there is no passenger, when there is one (will fail to deploy airbag in a crash); sometimes it thinks there is a passenger when there is none (requires seat belt to be buckled with no one in the seat). Recall (19V-701 -- ODS harness replacement) repairs were done to this vehicle Feb. 2020. New solution is different than for the 19V-701 recall. For this issue, dealer recommends replacement of seat frame bottom (seat sensor). The seat sensor is failing. Repairs can not be made because replacement seat sensors are NOT AVAILABLE. Backordered. Subaru USA estimates July, 2025 first availability. This means critical safety issue for passengers in this vehicle will exist for nearly a year--even if parts become available in July.

- Moorpark, CA, USA

My issue (which started a week ago) is that the Occupant Detection System (ODS) shows the passenger airbag as OFF and gives an SRS Airbag warning when my spouse is sitting in the passenger seat. When I sit in the passenger seat, the passenger airbag shows ON. But then when the car is driven with no passenger, the system dings until the driver hooks the passenger seatbelt--it thinks the passenger is still there. (I weigh 190; my spouse weighs 125). The consequences are that if the vehicle is involved in a crash and my spouse is in the passenger seat, her airbag will fail to deploy. If anyone is driving without a passenger (after I have been in the passenger seat) the passenger airbag may deploy unnecessarily, should a crash occur. My ODS harness was replaced in Feb., 2020 as part of NTSA Safety Recall ID 19V-701 (Subaru Safety Recall WUM-98) to address faulty ODS issues. (I was not having an issue then). Yesterday my local Subaru dealer recommended "Seat frame bottom replacement and ODS harness DTC B1760, 17067" to address this "ODS Internal Failure." "Part is on back order" so repair is pending.

- Moorpark, CA, USA

The error message for air bag/seat belt warning comes on and off. It turns the passenger side air bag to off. It seems to be activated by weight on the seat.

- Bardstown, KY, USA

Passenger Airbag light on seatbelt light on passenger front airbags inactive

- Duluth, MN, USA

My Subaru just failed inspection for a defective airbag sensor in the front passenger side. We had this repaired at a Subaru dealer in Jan 2020, to the tune of $1500. There was a recall in 2020 for this exact problem, and our vehicle fell with the guidelines (2015-2018 Foresters equipped with heated seats), but for some reason our vehicle wasn't included in the recall. So we paid for our fix out of pocket. Now 2 years later we are seeing the same problem. This is unacceptable on Subaru's part. Why is our vehicle excluded from the recall when it is obviously having the same problem?

- Wells, ME, USA

SRS airbag light with and without passenger in front passenger seat. Brought to dealer for diagnostic and code B1650 is coming up.

- Hammond, LA, USA

Front passenger seat doesn't detect passenger. Airbags off and come up with warning signs stating that they are off. "SRS airbag system needs to be checked."

- Ponchatoula, LA, USA

While taking groceries out of back seat, I found a 14mm shiny nut on back floor, left back side of front passenger seat. It fell off the bolt holding the front passenger safety belt retainer (part you click buckle into). After putting it back on, and torquing the heck out of it, I found that the two bolts holding front passenger seat down, were loose and standing about 0.75" above bracket surface. I also torqued those down to avoid seat becoming loose. I then checked all other bolts for front seats and found no problem. We were very lucky to have had the seat belt nut fall where it did, or my wife could have been hurt.

- Stamford, CT, USA

While driving down the highway the seatback emitted a loud "bang" sound. It then lost all support and structure, forcing me to drive my vehicle while attempting to maintain an upright position. At the time of the failure I was not adjusting any element of the seatback -- I'm one of those people who set it once when I bought the car and hasn't touched the adjustments since then. I brought it to my local Subaru dealership, and they stated that the seat frame broke internally and the entire seat needs to be replaced. It was pure luck that it occurred at a moment where I was able to maintain control of the vehicle despite suddenly falling backwards.

- West Haven, CT, USA

Driver was rear ended on the highway when at a dead stop by a vehicle going around 60-70 mph. The bottom of the driver's seat jerked forward and impacted driver leg causing contusions and the back support and head rest portion flew backwards, causing driver glasses and hat to come off and land toward the back hatch of the vehicle. Spare tire was dislodged from trunk area and impacted driver's head due to the seat back being in the reclining position. Air bags did not deploy at any level as well.

- Denton, TX, USA

The passenger side seat registers that no one is sitting in the seat and it disables the airbag system. Someone can be sitting in the seat buckled up and then it will randomly pop-up with a warning message that there is an airbag issue and that no one is sitting in the seat.

- Greensboro, NC, USA

The passenger airbag seat sensor intermittently fails to detect the passenger causing the passenger airbag not to arm. This is also accompanied by the SRS dash light to turn on as well.

- Sammamish, WA, USA

When a passenger is sitting in the front passenger seat, the airbag will frequently fail to turn on. An airbag warning light will instead appear on the dash. When I brought the car to the dealership, they insisted (before even looking at the car) that something must have been spilled on the seat and that the seat would need to be replaced (for $895). Nothing has ever been spilled on the front passenger seat, nor has it gotten wet. Visual inspection of the seat shows that it's in pristine shape. Sometimes the airbag alert will appear when the car is still stationary. Other times, it has only appeared once the car was in motion.

- Carson City, NV, USA

In May 2019 the airbag sensor warning went on unexpectedly and for no apparent reason while driver and a front seat passenger were in it and the car was in motion going approximately 30-40 mph on a town road. Adding extreme danger to this situation is the fact that the sensor turning on made the passenger 'airbag off' warning immediately light up even though a person was in the seat when it happened, the airbag had previously been on with them in the seat, and the car was moving. It was checked by the dealer who simply cleared a code and suggested a cell phone could, perhaps, have interfered and caused the sensor light to go on. Dealer also alternatively suggested that if someone spilled something this could have caused it. (nobody spilled anything and dealer verified in writing that no stain was found on the seat to suggest otherwise.) over the course of the next month the airbag sensor randomly went on (dangerously causing the airbag to turn off again, often despite someone being in the seat!) in this same manner several times. Sometimes the car is in motion when it happens, which is particularly dangerous and has caused us to stop allowing a human to be in the front seat because we cannot rely on the airbag at this point. Other times, the car had been parked and when I turn it on the airbag sensor turns on. Taking it back to the dealer 7/11/19 here is what they stated under 'cause' and 'correction' on our invoice: "...code B1760 stored in system inspected seat found no stains on seat inspected wiring found wiring to be good rec replacement of seat bottom" and "customer has been advised that due to no electronics being on the seat when the light and faults keep returning replacement of seat bottom (occupant detection sensor) is the next step..." they estimate $1032.45. The car is just under 90K miles and thus, according to Subaru, out of warranty for this problem.

- Belchertown, MA, USA

Passenger air bag turned off while passenger is in the seat while vehicle is in motion. In case of an accident the air bags will not deploy.

- Carlsbad, CA, USA

The passenger airbag warning light first came on as soon as I started my car one morning in mid-October 2018, in which I took my car to Subaru of kennesaw, ga to have it looked at. They first asked if I had spilled anything on the front seat (in which I responded "no") and then advised me that the whole seat bottom would need to be replaced (about $989 parts and labor) and that the part was on back-order. I followed-up with them in December 2018 and never heard back. When I recently went there for an oil change February 18, 2019 they brought the issue up to me again, in which I responded that nobody ever returned my call. They checked again to see if they had the part but stated it is still on a nationwide back-order. We are now going on 5+ months of my passenger airbag warning light being on (it sometimes turns off intermittently, but in those instances the passenger seatbelt light will come on and ding repeatedly until the seatbelt is plugged in - even if there is no passenger). I have done quite a bit of research into this issue and it seems like a lot of other consumers are experiencing similar issues. Subaru seems to have different explanations and seems very unwilling to fix their faulty passenger seat sensors. It is upsetting and discouraging to know that they have allowed me to drive around this long with a defective airbag/passenger seat sensor.

- Dallas, GA, USA

Passenger seat airbag sensors malfunctioned. This caused the airbag to be turned off. This happened while the vehicle was stationary. Dealer indicated the seat has to be replaced. The part is on back order. This indicates to me there is a wide spread problem.

- Bexley, OH, USA

I purchased a certified preowned 2015 Forester in November from northtown Subaru in amherst, NY in November 2017. I was sold a basic model and assured that the remote car starter and heated seat that they could install at the dealership were as good as the ones included in more expensive Forester models. Safety issue: On Wednesday 3/28/18 I was driving in the city of buffalo with my heated seat turned on. The back of my leg, right below my knee became intolerably hot. I turned the heated seat off immediately and reached down. The seat instantly burnt two of my finger tips. I shouted in pain and explained to my friend what happened. He said he smelled smoke and burning plastic. I got out of the car and looked at the front of the seat (near my calves) and the heated seat element had burned through the seat upholstery and was still burning inside the seat and smoking. I called northtown Subaru as soon as they opened in the morning and explained the severity of the situation. I was passed to voicemail boxes that were full and put on hold for an extended period of time. I explained to everyone I spoke to the severity of the issue. I was told that I needed to speak to someone in the smart car department but their voicemail boxes were full. The service rep would leave a note on the smart car employee's desk and have him call me immediately. This was at 9:30 and by 2 I had not heard back. I called the sales person who sold me the car and he said he would have his manager call me immediately. I finally heard back at 3 and was told that I should drop off my car Monday morning and they would 'make it right.' I felt that everyone at northtown was dismissive and not concerned with a product they installed that had severely malfunctioned and injured me.

- Buffalo, NY, USA

The vehicle was driven several miles with the passenger sitting on a thin pillow. When arriving at the destination it was noticed that the passenger airbag off light was illuminated. The light is very difficult if even possible to see in the sunshine, so it is unknown how long it had been illuminated. There was no audible indication that was noticed. The vehicle's manual was later read where it was discovered that this is as the vehicle is built, that a passenger needing a pillow must use the back seat. Without that knowledge beforehand and a non-noticeable light, a life was endangered. The secondary complaint is that the manual states to write to "contact the vehicle manufacturer concerning modifications for persons with disabilities that may affect the advanced airbag system." I propose that may have been put in the manual as a legal sidestep and that handicapped persons rights are abused with this design. I recommend writing to that address to see if there is a response. (100 mileage is estimate).

- Chandler, AZ, USA