general problems of the 2018 Subaru Forester - part 1

Airbag light comes on due to some failure in the passenger seat. This vehicle year has had a recall on the same issue but this VIN number was not included for some reason. Another consumer posted his assessment which I have attached. My vehicle falls under his category. He has sold his since his was never resolved.

Subaru recall wum98 was issued in 2019 to replace the ods harness on my 2018 Subaru Forester. The part replacement was completed in in April 2020. The harness failed again in oct 2024. It was replaced for the 2nd time. Now, my passenger air bag light is on for the 3rd time, and the dealership is indicating that the ods mat is the culprit (not the harness). Subaru is not covering this under any open recall. Note that Subaru currently has an open recall wra-24 for certain 2020 - 2022 Forester & outback models to replace all (four) of the occupant detection system sensors in the front passenger seat. Since Subaru is saying that the issue in recall wra-24 is the same as my issue, it is my belief that other models should also be included in this recall. It should also be noted that for wra-24, they still don't have parts for many of the vehicles that need the seat assembly replaced, which may indicate supply issues. I was also told that Subaru does not have the seat assembly for my vehicle. The length of time for Subaru to get parts is unacceptable. Recall wra-24 was issued by letter on may 21, 2024. It is my belief that they should also cover costs for rental vehicles until the issue is fixed.

Intermittent failure of occupant detection system on front passenger seat which turns off airbag even though an adult is sitting in the seat. The occupant detection system wiring harness was recalled and replaced in 2020. I believe there is a continuing issue with this recall either not being a complete solution or being repaired with a defective part or new part that did not solve the issue. This is a critical occupant safety issue. This issue has occurred multiple times and continues to be an issue.

Passenger front seat. Airbag light is on when someone is sitting in the seat and seatbelt indicator dings when nothing is in the seat.

2018 Subaru Forester safety air bag recall I drive my grandchildren in front passenger seat. There’s a safety recall. No incident yet. What has to happen before this air bag problem is fixed?.

I am the second owner of this vehicle and lately my passenger airbag sometimes doesn’t turn on due to a harness connected to the occupant plate being faulty. When the issue first occurred I contacted my local Subaru service center and explained my situation and told them I had seen there was a recall for my exact issue. They informed me that the repair had already been done on my vehicle and the only solution offered was to pay a $140 diagnostic fee to see if that was the actual cause of my airbag not turning on. I took it to my local mechanic shop named peet’s garage and they confirmed there was an issue with the harness and my vehicle had a code for my passenger side airbag. I contacted Subaru customer advocacy since the affected part had a past recall. I was told since the repair was done in 2020 it’s no longer their responsibility and was refused further assistance . I now have a 50/50 chance of having a passenger airbag working in my car and if I want it to be repaired I’ll have to pay out of pocket. There has been multiple complaints from other consumers online being affected by this issue on the same make and model and Subaru is still refusing to take further action. This is a very serious safety issue and not a cheap repair as the only solution made available by Subaru is to replace the entire seat cushion and wiring when all they did was replace the effected harness.

My airbag warning light comes on intermittently. My mechanic found it is due to a recalled part but my VIN number is not listed on the recall even though it meets the criteria. Subaru safety recall wum-98 NHTSA recall id 19v 70. The person in the passenger seat's safety is at risk if the airbags don't deploy in the event of a crash.

Airbag alert for front passenger seat is lit and disabling the airbag. The seat was empty and dry with nothing in it.

Passenger seat occupancy detection sensor failure. Known recall for the issue from same year 2018, my VIN not included. Delaership stated 5300 dollars to repair. Subaru of America to provide goodwill gesture of 2000 dollars. Remaining amount is 3500 to repair ods.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the air bag warning light illuminated, and the air bag was not activated message was displayed. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70, 000.

The passenger airbag light in my 2018 Subaru Forester intermittently turns off and on, even when the seat is occupied. The vehicle has never been in a crash, and the airbags have not deployed. This issue raises serious safety concerns, especially since it may prevent the airbag from deploying in an accident while a passenger is in the seat. I raised this concern to a local Subaru dealer, and they shared Subaru has not issued a recall on this make/model and the dealership has not provided a lasting fix. I believe this may be a defect in the occupant detection system or seat wiring.

The passenger-side front airbag occupancy detection system harness failed on my vehicle. The dealer charged me for a replacement, even though this part was recalled. They said they could not perform the repair free of charge because the recall was not listed for my VIN. I attempted to contact Subaru 12 days ago to request reimbursement, but I did not receive a response. I do not have the old part available, but I do have a photograph of the supplier code and date code on the harness. The codes are within the affected range, as indicated in recall bulletin wum-98r (NHTSA id 19v-701) evidently, Subaru has failed to identify all of the vehicles affected by this defect. Passenger safety was put at risk because the airbag system would disable itself whenever somebody sat in the front passenger seat. Because the problem was intermittent, and because Subaru failed to notify me of the defect, this led to a delay in getting it repaired. The dealer diagnosed the issue and determined that the harness needed to be replaced. Whenever the failure occurred, the airbag trouble light turned on and the message "passenger air bag off" was displayed, even if there was a passenger in that seat.

My 2018 Subaru Forester has a faulty passenger air bag sensor, which has been diagnosed by my local Subaru dealer, with a repair cost of $1,500+ for labor and parts. It has intermittently turned on and off again, but after getting a separate issue fixed by my dealer, they diagnosed this problem, and every time the car is turned on, the warning light is constantly displayed, and the passenger seat airbag light shows "off" even when someone is in the passenger seat. Upon research, this is a known and common issue with other Subaru Foresters with heated seats in the same model year (my Forester does have heated seats), but my VIN is not included in the Subaru recall for this specific repair. This greatly puts the passenger in my car at risk, as the sensor does not recognize that a person is in the seat while they are riding, and if we were to be in an accident, their airbag would not deploy. I am frustrated that this is a known, common safety issue that affects my model and year of car, but my VIN is not included on the recall list. I would expect that my car should also be included in the recall and fixed by the dealer at their expense as it is clearly documented many times on other 2018 Subaru Foresters.

The ods is not properly determining the status of the right front seat occupant. The airbag warning light is illuminated, and the front passenger airbag is deactivated even with a person sitting in the passenger seat. The ods is also unable to determine if someone is in the seat and triggers the seatbelt alert when anything (even a purse) is on the seat. This exact issue was part of a Subaru recall wum-98r, for 2015-2018 Subaru Foresters produced between January 20, 2015 – August 01, 2017. Subaru is claiming my vehicle doesn't qualify as it was not part of the recall even though I having the same issues as the recall and I own a 2018 Subaru Forester. Furthermore, as listed in the recall if a vehicle is part of the recall and is brought in for inspection "the part identification label affixed to the yellow sensor mat wiring harness is the focus of this inspection. If the date code is 18074 or before and has the supplier code 6578 (red box in photo) on it, the harness is ng must be replaced. Proceed to harness replacement procedure as outlined below. " the date code on my label is before 18074 and the supplier code is 6578. I am asking for your assistance in holding Subaru accountable to add my vehicle to the recall.

The passenger seat occupant detection system (ods) sensor failed, turning off the airbag and illuminating the srs light. This is a known safety defect covered by Subaru recall 19v701 / wum-98 for 2015–2018 Foresters built through August 1, 2017. My vehicle, a 2018 Forester xt touring (VIN [xxx] ), has the same defect but Subaru and NHTSA do not list it as part of the recall. I waited nearly a year for the replacement seat to arrive, and Subaru of America only offered $500 goodwill assistance. I paid about $900 out of pocket for the repair. Given that this is a critical airbag safety system, I believe this vehicle should have been included in the recall population. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

This is related to the ods recall (October 3, 2019 NHTSA campaign number: 19v701000) where the sensor mat harness was replaced. Turns out the ods sensor mat also needs to be replaced. The issue was happening intermittently throughout 2024 and I have brought the car in for service but the part is on back order for 2 months now.

Per the dealership, the occupant detection wiring harness resulting in the passenger side not activating despite a passenger sitting in the car. This causes a risk to the passenger as the airbag is not activated and the warning light goes on. This problem has been confirmed by the Subaru dealership. There is currently a recall for this issue for this particular issue and vehicle, however the VIN is not included. Additionally, when I look at the product campaign bulletin it outlines how to identify if there is a faulty harness. The harness id falls in the vehicle within the the range of numbers that classifies it as a faulty harness. Despite this, Subaru refuses to replace it at their cost as the VIN is not covered by the recall notice.

I receive a warning light and the passenger air bag does not turn on when I have a passenger in the front seat.

Vehicle airbag light on dash and is available for inspection upon request. Safety is at risk due to airbag srs system being disabled and bas will not deploy due to malfunctioning component. Vehicle has the symptoms of "Subaru recalled certain 2015-2018 Foresters equipped with heated seats, due to faulty wiring in an airbag sensor. If the wire's connection loosens, the front passenger airbag may deactivate even though the seat is occupied, increasing the risk of injury in a crash. ? this was remedied by replacing the ods (occupant detection sensor) in the passenger seat. Vehicle will be brought to dealer for inspection, however, myself and others on forums with 2018 Subaru Foresters with heated seats apparently fall outside of the recall, but experience the same issue. Warning lamps appeared and system was scanned, airbag module tested ok.

Around 83,000 miles my passenger safety air bag warning sensor started coming on and off intermittently. It would happen both when a passenger was in the seat and when no one was in the seat. There have been no previous issues. I immediately scheduled my car to be diagnosed at the Subaru dealership and they notified me the passenger occupancy sensor pad is faulty and that it would cost $1,483. 47 to replace. The dealer stated that the passenger airbag might not deploy if the sensor is not replaced. This puts the safety of the passenger at risk. I researched and found that there was a recall with 2016-2018 Subaru Forester SUV's with heated seats. Recall wum-98. However, when I called Subaru they said that there were no open recalls on my car.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the front passenger’s side air bag warning light was intermittently flashing on the instrument panel with or without an occupant seated in the front passenger’s seat. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where a diagnostic test was performed; the diagnostic test discovered that the occupant detection system mat was defective and needed to be replaced. Upon investigation, the contact discovered NHTSA campaign number: 19v701000 (air bags) which was linked to the failure; however, the vehicle was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was then notified of the failure and confirmed that the vehicle was not included in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 57,000.

Airbag on passenger side stopped working last November . Subaru says it’s the switch in the seat and the seat needs replacing at a cost of approximately $1300. This should be part of the recall and be paid for by Subaru.

We took the car in for servicing because the srs light went off. Upon inspection, the Subaru service department found that the srs sensor was faulty and needed to be replaced. They said if not replaced, there is a chance the airbag would not go off in the event of an accident. The part is backordered until January, but Subaru won't ok a rental or car loan until the part arrives. Their solution is to inform us that there is nothing they can do until the part arrives, and released our vehicle with instructions to not have anyone in the passenger seat until then. This cannot be a safe and appropriate course of action.

In early October, 2023, the red airbag inoperative light (airbag "off") came on the dashboard when someone is sitting in the passenger seat. This was an intermittent issue with the light coming on at times and off for several days before reappearing. On oct. 10, 2023, the vehicle was brought to the suburu dealer (Subaru of auburn, wa) for testing and repair. Suburu technicians tested the seat sensor unit and determined is was at fault. (see uploaded work order) part number 64139sg200vh was ordered as no local dealers had stock of this particular part number. At the time of the order, I was informed that the part would be available in December, 2023. I queried suburu of auburn in mid-December and they indicated a new date of February, 2024 for availability of the part. On Feb. 23, 2024, I visited the suburu dealer and was told the part is still "on back order" with no firm date of delivery. My concern is this is a safety related issued that has no definitive time frame for rectification. This renders the vehicle unsafe for front passenger occupancy.

Our Subaru began experiencing intermittent issues with the warning light for the occupant detection wiring harness (ods) in October 2023. The vehicle was inspected by duteau Subaru of Lincoln ne on October 19th 2023 who determined the issue was a malfunctioning of the seat sensor for the occupant seat and was told I would have to replace the entire seat base to correct the issue. I understand that this issue has already been recalled in Subaru Foresters produced from January 20 2015 to August 1 2017 in recall NHTSA id 19v-701; however, my Forester was produced in March 2018 outside the recall dates. Upon inspection of the ods sensor mat the tag specified in the recall (photo attached) matched the producer (6578) and dates specified prior to 18074 (17321) in the recall so we were wondering why our car was not part of the recall if all parts by that producer were recalled prior to production date code 18074??when I contacted Subaru of America to determine why our car was not also recalled I was told that recalls are VIN specific and set by the national highway traffic safety administration and no further action was going to be taken to replace the defective seat sensor.

The malfunction identified in NHTSA campaign number 19v701 has been continually malfunctioning again, beginning about a year ago. This is happening within a relatively short time after it was supposedly fixed. (Subaru's number for this recall is wum-98). It is the exact same problem as previously identified in 19v701.

When there is a passenger in my Subaru forrester, the occupant detection system deactivates the passenger airbag. When I researched the issue, I noticed there is a recall for Foresters but my specific vehicle doesn't fall into the recall. When reviewing product campaign bulletin on the NHTSA website, the harness label inspection procedure states to inspect the label and if its has supplier code 6578 and the date code before 18074, the harness must be replaced. My Forester has both the supplier code and the date code before 18074 but my vehicle doesn't have a recall associated with it so the Subaru service center won't replace it. I'm currently driving with a deactivated airbag and that can't possibly be safe. Please NHTSA, widen the recall!.

My 2018 Subaru Forester should be included in a recall and Subaru is denying that this recall exists. My srs air bag light is on. The dealership wants to charge $1216. . Read more...

Not sure why my car is not being recalled for occupant detection harness. Subaru telling me it’s the VIN number, that’s not the problem it’s I have a defective harness according to Subaru product bulletin wud-98r harness with date prior to 18074 is defective and needs to be replaced free of charge. My harness has a date of 17293. My car has all the criteria of the recall. This started back in April 2020 with warning light on and off same with airbag indicator. Now the warning light is on constantly and airbag is off constantly.

My srs airbag system has just started going on and off. What I read is there is recall for this. 2018 with heated seats caused by faulty wiring. Yet when I put in my VIN shows no recalls. Filed complaint with Subaru they stated basically go get it fixed and will notify you if there is a recall.

Nhtsa 19v-701 is for Subaru Forester's concerning the passenger airbag being off while the passenger seat is occupied. The recall stops with forrester's built after August 2017. My forrester has this problem but was built in October of 2017 so Subaru says it is not covered! that's ridiculous. The exact recall problem not being honored because of some Subaru created arbitrary date? Subaru should repair this for me. I reported it to them and they never followed up as they indicated they would. Since I'm driving the "safest car in America" according to Subaru, my passenger airbag should work while someone is riding in the passenger seat!.

The srs passenger warning light comes on intermittently. Sometimes with a passenger the indication is the air bag is "on" and everything seems to be fine. Sometimes with a passenger we get the message that the "srs system needs to be checked". And sometimes we get that message even without a passenger. This started at around 80k miles.

The contact's mother owns a 2018 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the front passenger's side seat belt warning light failed to illuminate and alert the passenger to fasten the seat belt. The air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the front passenger's side seat and sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that a credit towards the repair would be provided. The failure mileage was approximately 23,000.

The passenger sensor light is on and Subaru says I need to replace the seat. There was a recall for certain vehicles but my VIN was not part of the recall - however, if the issue persists why isn't the recall expanded? do we really want drivers like me to have to replace seats because Subaru is not living up to the standards - due to their faulty wiring? please expand the recall.

My dashboard for the past several months has intermittently indicated that there is an issue with my front passenger airbag. I just discovered there was a recall for this issue for cars manufactured with heated seats the same year as my vehicle but my vehicle is not part of the recall. This recall may need to be expanded.