2013 Subaru Impreza

The airbag indicator light on the driver’s dash is illuminated most times that I drive my car. The passenger airbag indicator shows that airbags are OFF, even when someone is seated in the passenger seat. This is a very serious safety concern. What if an accident occurred and the airbags don’t deploy? I’ve also read about a switch in the airbag assembly that could explode causing serious injury or death to the driver or passenger. The problem has not been confirmed or inspected but seems to be a problem with many Imprezas. It is the number 1 concern for 2013 Subaru Impreza owners.

Passenger side seat occupancy sensor failed to recognize the occupancy of the passenger seat. Sensor seams to have failed causing the airbag malfunction light to illuminate on the dash. After considerable research online this seems to be a consistent problem with these vehicles. The NHTSA has issued a recall for the same sensor in 2012 Subaru Imprezas but not for the 2013 Subaru Imprezas.

If a passenger with mildly damp pants or bathing suit sits in the car the airbag warning light will come on and the indicator for passenger airbag disabled will light. This happens consistently and does not require much moisture. It happens with a mildly damp bathing suit under shorts while sitting on a towel. It will not happen (again, consistently) if the passenger sits on a plastic bag. The airbag should be more reliable than this. The dealer said there is no fix for this issue and it is known that moisture may cause the airbag to not work. The customer advocacy dept of Subaru of America deferred to the dealer and just said there are no recalls for the vehicle. This appears to be the same issue as the 2012 recall. Subaru would not explain to me how my problem is any different from the 2012 recall problem.

The passenger airbag occupancy sensor in my care is broken and has been since I purchased this vehicle in 2016. It is the same issue that caused the recall of 2012 Impreza models, however, my 2013 model is not covered under the recall despite having the same occupancy sensor for the airbags. If the passenger airbag sensor is exposed to moisture, whether from a wet seat, a sweaty bum, or even an excessively humid environment like Charleston SC in the summer or western Washington, the passenger airbag will switch off even when there is a passenger present. . The warning lamp on the driver dash lights up, and the passenger airbag display reads "OFF". The airbag will shut off at any point, even if the vehicle is already in motion, should the moisture levels reach a certain level in the environment. This is an expensive, cost prohibitive repair that I believe Subaru consumers shouldn't be responsible for. This malfunction puts passengers in my vehicle at risk should an accident occur when the airbag is shut off despite the presence of a passenger. I have documented this on MANY occasions- from 2016 to 2021. Subaru should step up and expand this recall to other models that use the same passenger occupancy sensor as the recalled sensors in their 2012 Impreza's.