Air Bag Problems of Subaru Forester - part 2

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.

See all problems of the 2018 Subaru Forester 🔎.

My 2016 Subaru Forester has issue with the passenger side front airbag ods and the. Srs light go on even if my car had been fixed on 2020 after recall. The airbag has a heavy safety an really important on person. Subaru need. To fix it completely and permanently not temporary.

See all problems of the 2016 Subaru Forester 🔎.

The airbag warning light illuminates sometimes. I investigated the area under the passenger seat, related to the previous recall for the passenger seat occupancy sensor, and found that there were cut cable ties and no support for the wiring under the seat. I attempted to reseat the connectors and the warning light turned off for a while but turned back on later. It appears that either the previous recall didn't fix the issue or that the repair work was not performed correctly.

See all problems of the 2017 Subaru Forester 🔎.

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.

Front passenger airbag sensor light stays on continuously.

See all problems of the 2015 Subaru Forester 🔎.

The contact owns a 2016 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while her husband was driving 70 mph, the air bag warning light illuminated. The information alerted the contact about an srs issue. The contact stated that there was an audible ding with the warning light flashing on and off. The contact buckled the passenger’s side seat belt to stop the dinging sound. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, and the contact was informed that, without a warning light being illuminated, the cause of the failure could not be determined. The contact had taken a picture of the warning light. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed, and determined that the sensor needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that the part was on back order. The dealer confirmed that there was no warranty coverage on the vehicle for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

The contact owns a 2014 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while driving at 35 mph, the contact fully collided with another vehicle. The contact spouse sustained injuries, and medical attention was provided, and the contact was taken to the local emergency room. The contact stated that the steering wheel and the knee airbags were deployed during the incident, which caused the injuries to the contact. The contact sustained an upper chest injury and contusions to both of their legs, and the contact's left leg was also burned. A police report was filed with the warren county police department, and the report number was provided to the contact. The vehicle was towed and destroyed. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 103,000.

See all problems of the 2014 Subaru Forester 🔎.

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

The passenger airbag sensor does not sense when I have a passenger in the vehicle. This was a recalled issue and was fixed. However, the fix did not work and Subaru dealership says that they already fixed it and it is because water probably got on the seat. I have not let water get on the seat, and even if I did that would be a very poor design for a safety feature. I imagine people would spill or get rain on the seat very easily. Subaru also refused to fix it under the recall because my car was written off for cosmetic hail damage. So I asked if they could fix it and I pay for it -they quoted me to replace the entire passenger seat, but said there are no parts coming in so they couldn't fix it anyway. In many online Subaru forums, other owners have said their passenger airbag recalls were not sufficiently fixed and other dealerships also blamed the customer and a potential water spill.

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.

While I was driving to work, with cruise control set at 65, I hit a deer head on. All airbags deployed and engine ceased and I was able to brake car to a stop on the shoulder of the road. Within minutes, the engine erupted in fire and thankfully I wasn't trapped inside and was able to get out, because by the time I got 4-500 feet from the car, it had been totally engulfed in flames. From the time I hit the deer to the fire starting was less than 10 minutes. Fire truck wasn't even on scene yet and I was still speaking with highway patrol on the phone. If I had been trapped or the vehicle had rolled I wouldn't be here today. It was that quick.

The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the air bag warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was serviced under NHTSA campaign number: 19v701000 (air bags); but the remedy failed to fix the vehicle. The contact stated that the air bag warning light had remained illuminated after the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and opened a case. The failure mileage was approximately 55,000.

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.

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.

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

The airbag sensor (ods) malfunctions for front passenger seat. The "airbag off" warning lights up when the seat is occupied. This was fixed by dealer back in 2020 under recall wum-98/NHTSA id 19v-701000. However, this problem recurred intermittently about five months ago. I called capitol Subaru in san jose, CA and spoke with service advisor, dan padilla, who informed me that the recurrence of this safety issue would no longer be covered under this recall. He offered to schedule an appointment for a diagnosis, but I declined since it would cost $300. I also spoke with jorge, case specialist, from Subaru of America who reiterated that the aforementioned recall only covers a one-time repair and cannot be reopened. It is my understanding that safety recalls do not expire and that "federal law often mandates the manufacturer to provide free repairs for safety recalls on vehicles up to 15 yrs old. " how can NHTSA help in resolving this car safety issue with Subaru? the ods system is unreliable and poses a risk to my passengers.

Srs airbag system not registering that there is a passenger in the passenger seat and therefore the airbag is not turning on.

My 2017 Subaru Forester [touring] (VIN: [VIN]) has a recurring front passenger airbag deactivation problem even when an adult is seated and belted. The console shows “passenger airbag off” with an adult occupant. The seatbelt chime recognizes a passenger, but the airbag remains off. In many cases, the airbag will only enable if the passenger sits after engine start—classic occupant detection system (ods) misclassification behavior. The ods recall wum?98 (NHTSA 19v?701) for 2015–2018 Forester was completed before I purchased the vehicle in April 2020, but the same safety condition has returned. On 02/25/2025 at Subaru of sterling (va), the dealer wrote: “seats: occupant detection sensor mat circuit code. Passenger side seat sensor mat has failed causing air bag light. Recommend replacing passenger side seat bottom in the amount of $2,276. 51. ” I was also told the recall was “voided” because it had been completed before my ownership, and I must pay $2,276. 51 to restore airbag function. I opened a case with Subaru of America: 25?982548?811. This is the same hazard identified in NHTSA 19v?701 (Subaru wum?98)—the ods may misclassify an occupied seat and deactivate the passenger airbag, increasing the risk of injury in a crash. I am requesting NHTSA to record this as a post?remedy recurrence and to follow up with Subaru to ensure a permanent corrective action (e. G. , seat cushion/ods sensor replacement) without shifting cost to owners. I can provide the dealer ro/estimate and photos/video upon request. Dates & dealer: Subaru of sterling (va), 02/25/2025; ro amount $2,276. 51 soa case: 25?982548?811 recall reference: Subaru wum?98 / NHTSA 19v?701 (forester 2015–2018 ods misclassification).

A few years ago, our Subaru Forester had an open recall (wum98-1) due to an issue with the passenger-side front airbag ods, which caused the system to fail to detect a passenger, making it unsafe to drive. We had the recall repair completed at the time. However, about a month ago, the same airbag warning light came on again. After taking the vehicle in for service, we were informed that a different part (passenger front seat bottom assembly) now needs to be replaced due to code b1650. The dealership stated that this part is on a three-month backorder, leaving us with an unresolved safety issue. Since this appears to be the same underlying problem affecting the passenger airbag system, I am reporting it to the NHTSA to determine if other Foresters are experiencing similar failures. Additionally, this is an expensive repair, and I believe it warrants further investigation to determine if Subaru should take responsibility for addressing it.

I recently purchased a 2025 Subaru Forester. My wife is a petite woman, about 93-97 pounds and 5 feet 4 inches tall. When she sits in the front passenger seat the airbag light stays in the "airbag off" position. She is not heavy enough to activate the "airbag on" light. The dealer inspected the passenger seat and said that the airbag on/off function is working properly and works as expected for persons about 100 pounds or more. They confirmed that the "airbag on" light does not come on for my wife. Your website indicates that you have used dummies for airbag deployment for children and small stature women. Is it safer for a small stature woman to have the airbag not deploy in a frontal collision than to deploy? we checked a 2025 Honda cr-v and the "airbag on" light is activated when she sits in the front passenger seat. We were given information that a weight of about 65 pounds is required to activate the airbag. Subaru has not told us what weight is required. It seems strange that the airbag activation requirements would vary from on vehicle to another. We are wondering whether it would be safer for us to keep the Subaru vehicle (where the airbag would not deploy) or replace it with the Honda cr-v, for which the airbag would deploy. Does your research indicate which option may be safer?. Subaru customer service said the airbag system is operating as it was intended and would not buy the car back. The dealer has offered to buy the car at a reduced price if we want to sell it and replace it with the Honda cr-v. Can you please provide some guidance for us based upon your crash research studies. Thank you.

See all problems of the 2025 Subaru Forester 🔎.

The wum-98 recall fix did not address the problem with the front passenger occupancy detection system. We, and many other Subaru Forester owners are continuing to experience problems post recall repair with the srs airbag light on, indicating error code b1760 "occupant detection sensor mat" failure. Subaru is not covering the cost of addressing this problem, and the entire seat frame and bottom cushion (that includes the sensor mat) are required to be replaced at the consumer's expense, with bills for repair in excess of $1. 700. And, due to the high demand for this repair, parts are not available to perform the repair for as much as 6 months! this is jeopardizing the safety of occupants in the front passenger seat for extended periods of time while waiting for parts, whereby the airbag is not active due to the sensor mat problem. The original recall should have encompassed not only the harness cable component, but also the sensor mat. This is a very obvious Subaru problem and they should take responsibility and not pass this off to their customers.

Airbag warning light came on 1/25, took to Subaru dealership for diagnostic service. Was told the passenger front seat occupant detection sensor assembly needs to be replaced, airbag system is not functional. Item has been on backorder, unable to replace as needed and told this is a known issue for Subaru. Have since contacted Subaru national consumer advocacy for assistance (case #250418-1700639). We have been waiting for 4 months to remedy this situation. Through no fault of our own, our 2014 Subaru forrester does not meet safety standards of functioning airbags. This is a known problem for other Subaru owners and the part is in high demand due to inability to secure them. This has limited our use of the vehicle.

The airbag system has a sensor issue and I keep getting warnings from Subaru to get it fixed because it affects the seatbelts. The garage where I take my car says they are unable to get the part needed for the passenger sensor. And, Subaru says they need to replace the whole harness for $6000. Makes me wonder why a safety issue like this one seen in other Subaru’s have been recalled but not my model… also the start stop feature drains the battery excessively. I have had to replace the battery twice in less than a year. I push the button to stop this feature the minute I get into the car.

See all problems of the 2020 Subaru Forester 🔎.

A warning light will randomly light up indicating a problem with the airbag or airbag sensor in my front passenger seat. I have had it looked at by multiple Subaru dealerships and shops and have had various quotes in the thousands of dollars to repair it. The technicians have told me that the sensor likely has an issue because of potential spillage on the seat that would seep into the sensor and cause it a problem, however there have not been recent spills on the seat and the light has only been turning on in the past year or so. I recently heard from another Subaru Forester owner that a similar maintenance issue happened in their car so I felt it was appropriate to report this issue.

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.

Had a collision with another vehicle and my airbags never deployed. The other vehicles airbags did deploy.

See all problems of the 2010 Subaru Forester 🔎.

The passenger seat sensor intermittently turns on and off as indicated by the warning light on the dashboard and the "passenger airbag on off" light indicating it is off when an adult passenger is sitting in the seat. This put the passenger at risk of serious injury if a collision would have occurred or could occur. I took my car to the dealership on January 1, 2025 where they inspected the vehicle and said that the seat sensor needed to be replace costing ~$1,700. The above warning first occurred on December 19, 2024 and then on December 26, 2024, which both occurred on a 250-mile trip. The passenger airbag wiring harness was replaced under recall in August 2020 but failed to correct the problem. Internet searches have indicated that this is a continuing safety issue, but currently there is no recall on the seat sensor.

See attached document for complaint.

See all problems of the 2021 Subaru Forester 🔎.

The wum-98 recall fix did not address the problem with the front passenger occupancy detection system. We, and many other Subaru Forester owners are continuing to experience problems post recall repair with the srs airbag light on, indicating error code b1760 "occupant detection sensor mat" failure. Subaru is not covering the cost of addressing this problem, and the entire seat frame and bottom cushion (that includes the sensor mat) are required to be replaced at the consumer's expense, with bills for repair in excess of $2,000. And, due to the high demand for this repair, parts are not available to perform the repair for as much as 6 months! this is jeopardizing the safety of occupants in the front passenger seat for extended periods of time while waiting for parts, whereby the airbag is not active due to the sensor mat problem. The original recall should have encompassed not only the harness cable component, but also the sensor mat.

My srs airbag system is off for the drivers. It went off for no reason. I went to Subaru but they said it would be $3000 and an undetermined wait for the part to come in. But I’m supposed to keep driving my primary car with no guarantee my airbags will deploy if in an accident.

Passenger airbag sensor intermittently works and turns off when passenger is in the seat. Dashboard light for airbag is constantly on and passenger airbag is constantly off. Issues with seat sensor going off when no one is sitting in the passenger seat. Abs system error message. All identical to recall symptoms.

The front passenger side air bag remains turned off when a 105 pound adult sits in it, but turns on when a 185 pound adult sits in it. Subaru service informs us that it is factory set so that it will not deploy when a child is in the seat and cannot be adjusted. This puts any small adult or teenager sits in the front passenger seat.

See all problems of the 2023 Subaru Forester 🔎.

The vehicle hit a patch of ice at about 55mph, spun out, and left the road. It rolled onto its right side (a total roll rotation of 90 degrees), and the side airbags deployed at some point during the roll. When the front passenger-side airbag deployed from above the side window, it pinned the passenger's head to the window, causing significant bruising and a possible mild concussion. The real danger, though, was if there had been some projectile or debris that impacted the window while the passenger's head was trapped against it. The way the airbag deployed actually exposed the passenger to much more danger, and caused more more injury, than if it had not deployed at all. The passenger was awake and upright in her seat at the time of the incident. A county sheriff reported to the scene, and the vehicle was towed to a lot. The vehicle is otherwise untouched and available for inspection. No inspection of any kind has taken place yet (the officer at the scene did not examine the vehicle at all, and insurance has not seen the vehicle yet). There were no symptoms of the problem prior to the incident. The only warning light that was on was for a malfunctioning tpms system, but the tires were confirmed to be at correct pressure by external gauge.

I got in my vehicle after getting gas. I was on my way to neosho, mo, hundreds of miles from home. Thes lights were all on and I couldn't get them to go off. I figured it was because my windshield was dirty. I turned my wipers on to find out one needed replaced. I paid $30 for 1 since I have an odd type of wipers and I had been to 3 auto stores to find it. The eye sight, brake, check engine, air bag, and lane assist lights never went off. Now they come on randomly and go off randomly. This causes all safety features to not work. No adaptive cruise control, nothing. I finally got them to go off somehow the day I came back home. I live nowhere near a Subaru dealer. It had no other effect on my vehicle as far as I could tell. Now when they come on. I pull over until they come back on or have to drive it home to sit.

See all problems of the 2019 Subaru Forester 🔎.