Three problems related to side/window air bag have been reported for the 2017 Subaru Forester. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2017 Subaru Forester based on all problems reported for the 2017 Forester.
Passenger side air bag came on with no passenger in the seat. It would happen with the vehicle stationary or moving. Sometimes it would reset on its own but after a few days the complete airbag system warning has come on and won't go away. Found out online that it is common problem with the Subaru Forester and the manufacturer needs to put to task as they are definitely not doing enough and are playing with the lives of people. When I contacted a local dealership (Subaru of grapevine) they outright wanted money for diagnosing a problem they knew was preexisting. This clearly reflects the attitude of the dealership and the manufacturer towards this serious issue.
The passenger side airbags are intermittently being disabled when a passenger sits in the seat. I am alerted to this by my instrument cluster. It typically happens when within 30 seconds of starting the car and is usually still stationary.
Tl the contact owns a 2017 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the passenger side air bag sensor would turn off when the front passenger seat was occupied. The failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to sellers Subaru (23651 hall rd, mccomb, mi) where it was diagnosed that the air bag sensor in the front passenger seat was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired and the failure was remedied. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 20,000. The VIN was unknown.