2015 Subaru Forester

I own a 2015 Subaru Forester that was involved in the NHTSA recall ID 19V-701 - Subaru safety recall WUM-98 in 2020. My VIN is [XXX] and my dealer is Lancaster County Subaru in Lancaster, PA. For about four months in the end of 2019 until February of 2020 we were unable to use the passenger seat due to the air bag problem which was intermittent. This required either my wife or I to ride in the back. We could correct this error on a restart by moving the yellow ODS wire harness under the seat and restarting the car. But our dealer and Subaru of America could not assure us that the air bag would deploy properly if we were in an accident because the system only does a system check when first starting the car, not while driving. Two weeks ago, about [XXX] my airbag issue has returned, again it's intermittent. I opened a case with Subaru of America, Case # [XXX] and they say there is no further recall for this issue. This is the same issue that was resolved by the NHTSA recall ID 19V-70. When it faults an orange SRS image appears on the screen then it shows an orange "i" on the top part of the center screen along with an orange image of the airbag error in the tachometer area and shows the airbag system is off. Once we aren't using the front passenger seat because of the safety concern about air bag not deploying properly if we were in an accident, because the system only does a system check when first starting the car, not while driving. Thank you INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

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/seatbelt system failure August, 2024. Passenger Occupant Detection System (ODS) failure. Detection system fails to correctly detect passenger in the seat. Sometimes it thinks there is no passenger, when there is one (will fail to deploy airbag in a crash); sometimes it thinks there is a passenger when there is none (requires seat belt to be buckled with no one in the seat). Recall (19V-701 -- ODS harness replacement) repairs were done to this vehicle Feb. 2020. New solution is different than for the 19V-701 recall. For this issue, dealer recommends replacement of seat frame bottom (seat sensor). The seat sensor is failing. Repairs can not be made because replacement seat sensors are NOT AVAILABLE. Backordered. Subaru USA estimates July, 2025 first availability. This means critical safety issue for passengers in this vehicle will exist for nearly a year--even if parts become available in July.

The Vehicle was sold to me by a local dealership not SUBARU Manufacturer themselves with the conditions marked above and more, the wheels when purchased as i turned any corners it would sound like the underside of the vehicle would explode even when driving straight it was just less frequent and caused the ABS system to activate and would pull one way or another. the Transmission has never been inspected by the dealership that sold it to me and the manufacturer seal was broken so it had leaked and caused major lack of power resulting in many close calls due to lose of forward propulsion it is a closed transmission without a dip stick and the dealership refused to do anything about it. the Airbag system has never worked at all and the dealership knew this and same with the Reverse hazard warning detection system or the TPMS and again i was told that i just needed to drive it and it would work itself out by the owner of the dealership who test drove it 3 times and refused to do anything about the obvious issues and now it has been a little over a year i’m in debt and basically out of a vehicle and can man as well as personal money sunk into this vehicle that I would consider beyond a lemon

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.

The contact owns a 2015 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated, and the message "SRS Air Bag System Failed" was displayed. Additionally, the contact stated that the message "Passenger Air Bag Off" was displayed while the front passenger's side seat was being occupied. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V701000(Air Bags); however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was 120,000.

This year, an error message indicated that the SRS system has ceased functioning on the passenger seat. According to the Subaru Service Center, a sensor within the seat has malfunctioned. This issue appears to be common, based on online research. The failed sensor poses a risk to the front passenger, as it may disable the SRS system and potentially the airbag. Despite this, the dealer has informed us that the repair will not be covered under warranty due to the vehicle's 2015 model year. The dealer has recommended replacing the entire seat, which seems to be an unusually premature failure for a part expected to last the vehicle’s lifetime.