Issue with the Front Passenger Seat Airbag Sensor. The Airbag Warning Light, indicating an issue with the passenger side airbag, has been illuminated recently. Passenger seat is also occasionally registering as occupied even when no one is sitting in it. Previous recall on the same seat's wiring harness was completed previously. Took the vehicle to the dealer and they told me that the seat must have gotten wet to cause the issue. The seat has not been wet. Dealer said a new seat is needed at a price of roughly $1500. This is a safety issue, as I am uncertain whether the airbag will deploy if needed. Googling "2016 Subaru Forester Passenger Seat Airbag Sensor Issues" indicates that this is a systematic issue across Foresters of this model year and not isolated to my car.

- Lawrenceville, NJ, USA

SRS failure Passenger airbag default to off

- Amarillo, TX, USA

The Driver Seat Lumbar suddenly broke while driving, which caused a sudden unplanned sh*t of my driving position. There was also a loud hardware breaking or snapping apart, which caused a certain degree of panic and distraction while driving. I fixed the broken lumbar seat approximately less than two years ago and now the incident I mentioned previously, has happened again. I paid for the first repairs through an extended warranty I bought, I explained this to Subaru Corporate Customer Service, and they refuse to take responsibility for the inferior nature of the Lumbar System and thus refuse to cover the cost of fixing it.

- Hagerstown, MD, USA

In March 2020, I took my 2016 Subaru Forester to the dealership to fix the issues associated with the Subaru Safety Recall WUM-98 / NHTSA Recall 19V-701 (unstable electrical connections causing issues with the occupant detection system in determining the correct status of the right front seat occupant, which would prevent the front passenger-side airbag from deploying in the event of a crash). Service was performed and the ODS harness was replaced. In August of 2021, I took my Forester back into the Subaru dealership (where previous service was performed) because the -??airbag warning-?? light and the -??Passenger airbag off-?? indicator began to illuminate, however this occurred somewhat inconsistently. Sometimes both warning lights illuminate when someone sits in the front passenger seat, sometimes they do not illuminate at all and everything seems fine. Other times, the lights illuminate when no one is sitting in the front passenger seat. Additionally, sometimes the seatbelt alarm sounds when no one is sitting in the front passenger seat. However, this is also inconsistent. In August 2021, the Subaru dealership told me that the issue is likely caused by water damage (a spill) on the front passenger seat that has caused the sensors within the seat to malfunction. I told them that I did not recall spilling any liquids on the front passenger seat. Now the dealership is telling me to replace the passenger seat bottom assembly sensor for $1,211 USD.

- Meridian, ID, USA

On November 7, 2020 around 630pm, I was driving on city street going nw on sunset in fair oaks, ca in a far right lane. I was driving about 35 to 40 mph with one other cars infront or besides me. Certainly while I was driving, I heard a loud boom. Immediately after the loud boom, I could not see and realized my steering wheel airbag deployed. Then I looked to my right I saw a deer limping. So I immediately knew I just hit a deer from my front left corner bumper after I pulled over to the side street. After I pulled over to the side street I notice all airbags in the car deployed including the seats, dashboard, roof and side airbags. I took my car to get estimate for the repair. I was told that base on the damage of the vehicle hit by the deer, there is no way that the entire airbags in the car shouldn't be deployed. So I comaint to Subaru. It is still under investigation. I believe hitting the deer should have not made the airbags to deployed especially the entire airbags system. The estimate came out to be over $15000 to fix. More than the value of the car.

- San Jose, CA, USA

The vehicle began showing symptoms of a faulty "occupant detection system". the indicator would change from on to off randomly. Then there was an official recall, but no fix was available and they instructed to wait until the dealers contacted us. A couple of months, tired of waiting to be able to use the front seat of the car, I called Subaru of America. They told me the replacement was available. Dealer had to get parts and installed it. It seems now it still does not work under our typical use case. We found out what appears to be the cause. A different occupancy detection sensor in the replacement works using an "electrostatic" method. My wife was using a standard relatively thin seat cushion that apparently prevents the new sensor from working. I believe this is a significant liability to automobile passengers who drive in cars equipped with such equipment. Nowhere in the manual (or the recall paperworks) is there a note to not use a seat cushion of any kind. It also would not be intuitive to think this would be a hazard from a passengers perspective. You could have an impale setting on the car that just ends it for you (for those no helmet bikers). It would similarly be deemed acceptable, so long as there is an indicator light that says "impaler active" for people get to impaled by the vehicle when the ai system gathers their preference is dnr in an accident via their music selection. Many people wouldnt think to look at the airbag on or off light. Also you can use a seat cushion on the drivers side without any issue which further confuses things for the general public in terms of having any idea that a cushion is endangering them. I understand the need to protect children, but who puts their kids or baby seats in the front seat these days? there should be a way to turn the bag on or off, or at least on so that you can override a faulty sensor

- Charlottesville, VA, USA

Received recall notice about seat sensor and airbag defect. Need to, get, this repaired as a recall, but parts supposedly not yet available. Error messages since August when dealer told me that it was an air bag issue.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

Intermittent dash light saying the passenger seat belt and air bag is turned off with passenger in the seat and when car is being driven. Comes on in city and highway driving both..

- Spring Lake, MI, USA

In early May 2019, the vehicle started giving airbag warnings and disabling the front passenger airbag when the front passenger seat was occupied. I reported the problem to my Subaru dealer's service department when I took it in for routine service a couple weeks later. It took a month to get an appointment to have the warning diagnosed. Finally they did the analysis and told me the passenger seat sensor had failed, and claimed it was because the seat got wet (it didn't). After I complained to management they comp'd the repair and replaced the front passenger seat cushion at the end of June. The problem hasn't recurred.

- Vienna, VA, USA

Sensor in the passenger seat went bad under normal use and Subaru does not want to cover expense to replace, and this sensor lets driver know if airbag is engaged (on) or not.

- Springfield, IL, USA

The airbag sensor in the front passenger seat randomly goes off when there's a passenger in the car or not. The seat belt alarm for the passenger side goes off without a passenger in the car. Airbag sensor says "off" with a passenger in the car. This is very unsafe, as I do not know if that airbag is truly functional, and also an annoyance, as the seatbelt alarm dings while I'm driving.

- Norfolk, VA, USA

Subaru is knowingly building its cars with faulty passenger side air bag sensors which will randomly turn off the air bag while the passenger seat is occupied under normal life driving conditions. It is in the 2016 and 2017 owners manual that if there is a cell phone or electrical device in the front area of the car then the air bag sensors could malfunction. It also states that if your passenger is wearing a jacket or sweater this could cause the sensors to turn the life saving air bag off. My 17 teenager had no electronics but a sweater on and it shut off air bag while traveling on highway. How is this legal to knowingly sell a car with faulty safety equipment. Attached is the pages from the 2016 Subaru Forester owners manual.

- Tallahassee, FL, USA