I very rarely detail my vehicle. Only once when I bought it in 2013 and again recently. Both times, the seats were still wet from the detailing process when I picked it up. Both times, while someone was sitting in the passenger seat while it was still slightly wet, the dashboard lights showed that the passenger airbag was not on. It didn't matter if the car was moving or stationary. Once the seat dried, the airbag appeared to function normally. My husband took the attached picture while I was sitting in the passenger seat.
2012 Subaru Impreza airbags complaints
Page 2 of 5: complaints 11 to 40 of 105, newest first, as owners wrote them.
When driving with a passenger the air bag for the passenger will not turn on and dashboard lights will come on.
Passenger side airbag is turned off with a passenger sitting in the seat when the seat gets wet when something is spilled, or when the passenger sits in seat with damp/wet clothes because they got wet because it is raining outside. The passenger air bag light works properly when the seat dries out in a few days. This has happened multiple times , most recently being a few weeks ago. The light does not work properly when the car is moving or stopped.
Passenger airbag turns off while there is a passenger in the car. I have had it checked at john howard subaru in morgantown, wv. They were unable to find an issue. It has happened at least three times to me as a passenger in the car. I have attached two pictures of the lights while I was in the passenger seat. I wasn't wetthe invoice from the service appointment to have it checked is attached as well. The last occurrence of this was july 14, 2019. Thanks
Passenger airbag will intermittently turn off and airbag warning light comes on when there is a passenger in the seat. Seat is not wet. My 2012 impreza was not part of the recall of the passenger seat airbag sensor but I believe it should be as this sensor fails quite often and the passenger airbag turns off even when someone is sitting in the seat.
The airbag symbol turns on at almost random times, indicating that there is an error with the airbag system. About 50% of the time I drive, the airbag system light will come on and stay on during my drive, with a passenger in the front seat. Sometimes if I turn off the vehicle and turn it back on, the airbag light will turn off - but there is no consistent pattern. Today the light came on, I parked the car for about 2 hours when I turned it back on the light was still illuminated.
Manufacturer recall numbertkc19 - the federal safety agency recall number19v009000. Various subaru dealerships are booked through october '19, and january '20 in the ma area. This is forcing people to drive with defective vehicles for far to long. The only information I could get out of the phone reps was that they are limited to how many of these recalls they can perform a day. There should be no limits. It's unsafe for the wait time to be 6 to 9 months to get the repair fixed.
The occupant detection sensor (ods) cannot detect a person when seated in the passenger. I have attempted to sit in the passenger seat with the engine on and off; while in motion and also when the car is stationary. The passenger air bag light on the center dash remains illuminated "off" also, the airbag symbol turns on at almost random times, indicating that there is an error with the airbag system. About 50% of the time I drive, the airbag system light will come on and stay on during my drive, whether I am driving alone or with a passenger in the front seat. Sometimes if I turn off the vehicle and turn it back on, the airbag light will turn off - but there is no consistent pattern.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 subaru impreza. While driving 55 MPH, the passenger side air bag warning indicator illuminated while the front passenger seat was occupied. The contact also stated that the vehicle was repaired per the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v419000 (air bags). The vehicle was taken to subaru of corvallis (located at 800 nw 5th st, corvallis, or 97330, (541) 754-1515) where it was diagnosed that the occupant detection system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 102,000.
Passenger seat airbag warning light shows passenger airbag disabled while a passenger is in the seat. This happens whether the car is moving or stopped. Car is a 2012 subaru impreza 5-door wagon, built 10/2011. I see 2012 impreza sedans have been recalled, but I am having the same issue as those, but my car is a 5-door wagon and isn't on the recall list. Please expand the recall.
Passenger air bag turns off while occupant is in the passenger seat. Also seems to happen when I plug my phone charger into the car. Along with air bag light going off, the electrical systems in the car powered down while I was on the highway. This is a serious safety concern. Happens while driving or stationary.
The airbag sensor does not detect the front seat passenger during travel. The passesger airbag display is on at the start but then switches to off while the car is moving, after around 20 minutes or more of driving. So far, restarting the car has put the passenger airbag back on, but this requires the driver to find a safe place to stop and restart the car. This happened twice in june, once in july, and now twice this week (beginning of september). In june and july we were on an interstate going 70 MPH. This week we were driving in town at 40 MPH. The car was moving straight at the time. The seat was not wet.
Occupant detection sustem on passenger side malfunction, does not always recognize passenger. Sometime s it stops working in middle of trip. Happens sporadically, but is becoming more frequent and does not always resolve with restarting car. Has to do with capacitance detection, but so far subaru dealers I contact act like it's not an issue though earlier model apparently has recall for exact issue. And no the passenger isn't wet. Has been occurring for over a year and we have pulled over and restarted car, but on recent trip it was much worse. And shouldn't be happening anyway!
There is a safety issue with the occupant detection system. When there is a passenger in the front right seat the airbag sign will say passenger airbag off. This will happen when the car is moving or stationary.
Passenger and driver's air bags will show disabled whenever an electronic device is present on the person in the seat. Occurs in all conditions. Does not enable after removing electronic device from person.
My passenger side airbag warning light comes on, with an accompanying loud tone, at random times while driving, despite the fact that there is not a passenger in the car. Sometimes it senses something very light like my phone on the seat, sets off the warning, and stops when I remove the object. Other times, when there actually is a passenger in the seat, a different warning light will come on saying that the passenger side airbag has been turned off. This happens on its own, also randomly. I seldom have passengers, so it has been a problem I have ignored over the years. But when I had a car savvy passenger recently, he suggested I follow up on what could be a serious safety issue. It appears that there is a recall for this exact issue for my car's model year. However, when I called michael's subaru in bellevue, where I have had my car serviced for several years, they informed me that my VIN is not part of the recall. It seems clear to me that my car is having the same problem that other cars in the recall had. Please advise.
The passenger size occupancy sensor is faulty, when you have a cellphone in your hand or touch the metal door it turns the airbag off and then does not turn it back on until a key cycle.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 subaru impreza. While driving various speeds, the front passenger air bag indicator flashed on and off. The vehicle was taken to michael hohl subaru (2910 s carson st, carson city, nv 89701, (775‑885‑0400) for diagnostic testing and the occupant system malfunction code 'b16 50" appeared. The dealer stated that there was nothing they could do to assist. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and did not recommend any immediate action, except to contact the dealer if the failure persisted. The failure mileage was unknown.
We were broadsided (t-boned) in an intersection with traffic lights. We were eastbound going 25mph & had just left home. Two blocks from my home as I proceeded through the green light and bam she hit my driver side. Recessing my front tire 3 or more inches in towards my engine. She was traveling southbound on the intersecting road. She must have been traveling 25 MPH or more because damage continued all the way down the driver side (both doors) finishing on my rear tire where it bent it inwards as if it was a steering tire making a turn. The rear tire has a large gash in the side wall. The following where my wife's injuries as she was driving: acute cervical myofascial strain, cervical strain, closed head injury, dysarthria, elbow contusion, headache, muscle tension headache, post concussion syndrome, and shoulder contusion. She received all these injuries because the side impact airbags did not deploy which has to be a major manufacturing flaw of some type. Please explain to me why this happened. The insurance adjuster has totaled my wife's car. It is a 2012 subaru impreza premium. I have included some documents/photos.
An airbag malfunction indicator was displayed on the instrument display when I set my cellphone on the empty passenger seat. It also activated when my daughters were riding in the passenger seat. I purchased this vehicle from a local subaru dealer on april 4, 2017.
I have 2012 subaru impreza, and having a problem with the airbag light. When someone sits on the front passenger seat, the passenger side airbag indicator turns on after a few minutes, and then driver side airbag light comes on. There is a factory recall for occupant detection system (ods), and the ods control unit was replaced by the dealer (4/18/2017); however, the problem continued. I took the car to the dealer again (11/6/2017), and was told that the problem was due to the sensor mat, which is not under recall. It is $1,300 to fix it. This car has only 29k mileage, and ods sensor mad went bad! Why is sensor mat not covered by recall?
To whom it may concern: on two occasions in the past week, while I was driving at highway speed with the front passenger seat occupied, the airbag warning light turned on in the dashboard and the passenger airbag light switched to "off". In each instance, the airbag warning light turned off later that day and the passenger airbag returned to normal ("on" when the seat was occupied). A representative of subaru of america claims that it is normal for this to occur if there is any moisture on the seat. Of the two times that this has happened, there was moisture on the seat in one case, but not in the second case. My local subaru dealership claims that the problem cannot be diagnosed or fixed unless it is actively occurring. The airbag system is far too critical of a safety feature to be subject to such intermittent failures, and I hope that this problem will be resolved as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.
I was driving down the interstate with a passenger and the airbag light came on and the light for the passenger airbag said off. While driving, my passenger looked up some troubleshooting for this issue. Apparently there is a recall for other same year, same makes and models of my vehicle. My vehicle is not part of this recall based on what month it was made. After I stopped the car and restarted it, the light did not illuminate again until I was going at a high rate of speed again. This has happened more than once. Every time with a passenger and driving on an expressway.
I was driving down the interstate highway with my mother in the passenger seat when I suddenly noticed that the airbag light on the dashboard had come on. I then looked at the passenger airbag sensor light and noticed that it was in the "off" position. It concerned me that my passenger was not being detected by the airbag sensor, especially considering that I was driving at a speed of 65 MPH. We continued to our destination and then shut off the car and restarted it to see if the airbag sensor would detect my passenger, which it did not. After this incident, I brought the car to my dealership service center and was told that the sensor in the seat was faulty and, as a result, the entire seat bottom needed to be replaced, at a cost of about $1000. They claimed that the sensor can be rendered ineffective by liquid spills, though I have no recollection of ever spilling anything liquid on the passenger seat of this car. I then looked online and discovered that this is a known problem with this make/model/year subaru, and that subaru actually issued a recall for 32,000 2012 subaru imprezas (http://blog.caranddriver.com/subaru-recalls-32000-imprezas-for-airbag-sensors/). Unfortunately, as was explained by my dealer, my particular VIN was not included in that recall. The dealer's service reps explained that if I continue to drive with a passenger in my vehicle as is, the passenger airbag may not deploy in an accident, as the sensor may or may not be accurately detecting the presence of a passenger. I believe this is a huge safety concern, and one which I should not have to pay to fix, considering that there has already been a recall affecting the exact same make/model/year car that I drive. Since seeing the dealer, I have had this happen once more. I was driving city streets with a passenger, and the airbag light came on and the passenger airbag light was "off."
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 subaru impreza. The contact stated that the air bag warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was serviced per the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v419000 (air bags) at capitaland motors subaru (47 saratoga rd, scotia, ny 12302 (518) 399-9999) or goldstein subaru (1754 central ave, albany, ny 12205 (518) 869-1250), but the remedy failed to repair the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the air bag warning indicator illuminated several months after the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and offered no assistance since the vehicle was already serviced per the recall. The vehicle was not taken to an independent mechanic or dealer for diagnostic testing. The VIN was invalid. The failure mileage was approximately 53,000.
Intermittent problem with the occupant weight sensor in the passenger seat. When the passenger is damp (coming back from the beach) and with unknown origin. There is a recall for other 2012 imprezas for this exact problem, but for some reason our car is not covered by the recall.
Passenger airbag occupant detection system (ods) turns airbag off with adult in the front passenger seat. Adult passenger had seat upright, everything dry. No devices plugged in. We had been driving for 5 hours when light came on saying passenger airbag off. Stopped for gas, turned car off and back to normal for only 5 minutes. Now light is on as if no passenger in seat when in fact there is an adult there.
Passenger airbag deactivates while a passenger is in the seat. It happens intermittently. There are no electronics plugged into my car. The passenger airbag indicator light above my radio states that it is off when someone is sitting in the seat. My SRS airbag light is also on. This has been happening since I purchased the car in 2014. My car is still under warranty and there does not seem to be a resolution in sight/ my car is in the shop right now and they are telling me my car is working as designed.
The airbag sensor recall was performed on my vehicle, but the indicator light continue to malfunction. The dealership where the car is currently being serviced says they have 3-4 other 2012 subaru imprezas with the same post-recall problem. The only fix they recommend is replacing the entire module under the seat which they quoted as an $800 fix. The problem with the airbag sensor is exactly what is listed on the initial recall where the light turns to "off" when a passenger is sitting in the seat and something is plugged into the power outlet or they move around in the seat. This is a serious safety issue as it could cause the airbag not to deploy if a crash were ever to happen.
Passenger airbag will sometimes deactivate while a passenger is seated in it. I feel very unsafe driving with a deactivated passenger airbag. This happens seemingly at random, but while driving. It has occurred many times. It can be resolved by pulling over and restarting the car usually.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2012 Subaru Impreza?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history