Legacy 2010 GT - passenger seat airbag light off when passenger weighs 125 lb or less. Adult is a full size adult: 120 lb, 5'5", 37 years old woman.

- Menlo Park, CA, USA

Frontal driver's airbag did not deploy when automobile struck a utility pole head-on with sufficient force to damage it beyond economic repair. Only occupant was operator, and was using seatbelt but was injured due to force of impact against the steering wheel. Note 1: mileage is unknown. Figure supplied is an estimate. Note 2: photographs of the damage are available and the vehicle is being preserved for further examination. Note 3: this report is being submitted by a professional motor vehicle accident reconstruction. The contact information in this form is that of the engineer who is investigating the accident.

- Cheshire, CT, USA

Rear-ended by driver coming at fast speed, shoved us into car in front of us twice, although I had my foot firmly on brake. No airbags deployed. My right knee was rammed into the sharp, hard plastic area under the steering wheel, which resulted in a deep cut and bruises which ended up being diagnosed as torn acl/miniscus and a fracture. I underwent surgery in order to repair my knee. Shortly after surgery, I received a recall regarding the airbags in the car and a component was replaced in the steering column. I believe that the area under the steering wheel of the 2010 Subaru Legacy is dangerous and needs to be modified.

- Eugene, OR, USA

I purchased a new 2010 Subaru Legacy. When my wife who weighs 120 lbs sits in the passenger seat the indicator light for the airbag that displays the system "on? does not always display. It remains in the off indication. I brought it back to my dealer twice who claims there is nothing wrong with the airbag and it is designed that way. Designed to sometime go on and other times not"makes no sense. I reported to Subaru America who gave me the same story and assigned a case number. I did further research on line and appears there are other reported instances, exactly the same scenario with 2010 Legacy and 2010 outback. If federal law requires passenger airbags, why would Subaru design a car where the passenger side airbag does not always go on. They claim my wife may be too light but 120 lbs is a full grown adult. Also does not explain why it sometimes works and other times not. This is a safety issue and someone needs to look into this. It is either a latent defect or a design flaw.

- Carmel , NY, USA

The contact owns a 2010 Subaru Legacy outback. The contact stated that while driving at unknown speeds, the air bag warning light would illuminate. The dealer diagnosed the failure four times and replaced the air bag sensor but the failure recurred. The dealer was unable to duplicate the recent failure. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was approximately 150 and the current mileage was approximately 4,000. Updated 12/6/10

- Littleton , CO, USA

Passenger airbag indicator intermittently lights but, says the passenger airbag is off most of the time when my wife or teenage daughter is in the passenger seat. I complained to walser Subaru service center in minneapolis. They reported to me that they have had several complaints but, no corrective action from Subaru so, they cannot fix it.

- Rochester, MN, USA

Air bag sensor / switch for front passenger seat malfunctioning. Tested and verified with both 125lb and 135lb adult female. Indicator light shows passenger air bag as off most of the time and intermittently changes to on while driving. I have had the technicians both look at and verify the problem more than once and have also recorded video showing my wife sitting normally in the seat with the airbag indicator showing "off". Subaru has continued to insist that the sensor is functioning properly and has even gone as far as claiming that my wife is sitting improperly. They have tried to "re-zero" the sensor and they claim that the system is showing proper function. I was told that there is no longer a specific weight specification for the sensor (80lbs) and that it uses fuzzy logic (multiple sources of data) to determine the switch setting. I have made 4 trips to the dealership to correct the problem including leaving my new car with them for 7 days only to have it returned in the same condition them stating that it works according to Subaru's policies. They have also claimed to recreate the problem on two other 2010 models of the car bringing them to the conclusion that the sensor is functioning properly. At 125 / 135lbs, my wife is well over the 80lb threshold often used to determine if an airbag should deploy or not. It is therefore dangerous and potentially life-threatening for my wife to ride in the passenger seat of our new car.

- Chicago, IL, USA