Recalls
| Campaign | Manufacturer | Manufacturing date | Type | # of units affected | Date Owner notified Mfg | Recall Initiated by | Manufacturers of recalled vehicles/products | Report Recieved Date | Record Creation Date | Regulation Part Number | FMVSS Number | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEAT BELTS - REAR | ||||||||||||||||
| 12V099000 | SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC. | from 11/26/2007 to 03/13/2012 | V (Vehicle) | 275000 | 03/26/2012 | OVSC | SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC. | 03/13/2012 | 03/13/2012 | 571 | 208 | |||||
| Defect Summary | Subaru is recalling certain model year 2009-2012 forester vehicles manufactured from november 26, 2007, through march 13, 2012. the automatic locking retractor in the seat belt assemblies located in the rear center seating of the affected vehicles do not meet lockability requirements and fail to comply with federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 208, | |||||||||||||||
| Consequence Summary | An insecure installation of a child restraint can increase the risk of injury to a child during a crash. | |||||||||||||||
| Corrective Summary | Subaru will notify owners, and dealers will replace the rear center seat belt assembly with a newly modified automatic locking retractor, free of charge. the safety recall began on march 26, 2012. owners may contact subaru at 1-800-782-2783. | |||||||||||||||
| Notes | Subaru's recall campaign number is wqa-37.customers may contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty: 1-800-424-9153); or go to http://www.safercar.gov. | |||||||||||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEAT BELTS | |||
| 10/10/2012 | 1 | ||
| I took my 2010 subaru forester this morning to farrish subaru of fairfax, virginia to have the center seat belt replaced per the above recall. farrish subaru replaced the defective center seatbelt. when i returned home, i inserted all male handles into the female buckles. since i had never ridden in the rear seat, i did not realize that all rear seat belts had been installed in an unsafe manner. in this situation the two center female buckles were toward the outside rear doors, while the right and left female seat buckles were on the inside center position. i returned to farrish subaru where service consultant jack lindeman found that my rear seat belts were in an improper order. he called it a birth defect, meaning that the installation had been done improperly at the factory. lindeman agreed with my assessment that when all three seat belts were buckled, the straps crossed over the red release buttons. this made it impossible to reach the buttons to release the belts from the buckles. i asked lindeman to correct the problem. farrish subaru placed the buckles in the correct order with both female center buckles in the center and the right and left female buckles toward their respective outward positions. however, when i tried to insert the male center handle into its respective female buckle, the female center buckle fell below the seat cushion. neither i nor lindeman was able to raise the female buckle above the cushion to its proper height except with great difficulty. this is a dangerous situation because the male handle cannot be inserted into the female buckle while that buckle is below the seat cushion. when i asked service consultant lindeman to fix the sinking seatbelt problem, he said he was unwilling to do anything further. this is a very dangerous situation. for the moment i have taped the female buckles together to prevent them from falling below the seat cushions. if there is a permanent solution, i would appreciate learning about it. *tr | |||
| 06/08/2012 | 36000 | ||
| Nhtsa campaign id number: 12v099000 subaru's recall campaign number is wqa-37. i had this recall done and want to inform you about this new safety issue. subaru has this recall on rear seat belts buckles. per the subaru mechanic, they are exchanging two buckles and twisting the new once together during the installation. the new installed buckles are shorter! in addition, they are twisting them together which is unsafe and makes them even shorter! this is a safety issue! new buckles being shorter do not come out, out of the seat making it extremely hard if not impossible to buckle any one or all three real belts when a person sits in there let alone when you have a child seat in place. because the buckles are so short and extremely hard to reach and work with, many times unknowingly you don?t lock the seat belt in the buckle because it stays in, which creates falls feeling of security and a safety issue. subaru mechanic told me they have received multiple complains from forester owners about this issue. 2010 subaru forester, x (base) model | |||
| 11/22/2011 | 29000 | ||
| Subaru was slowing to a stop behind a chevrolet suburban when it was struck from behind by a mercedes suv. the mercedes was traveling at approximately 30 - 35 mph. the subaru was driven into the rear of the suburban causing the subaru's airbag to deploy. the impact site of the airbag was in the chest area and not the face. upon arrival, the medics and firemen noted that the seat belt was totally deployed and were unable to retract it into the pillar. bruising was noted across the subaru driver's chest and upper thigh area which was associated with the pattern of a seat belt. i sustained a moderate concussion and moderate to severe neck strain. | |||
| 11/15/2009 | 7560 | 1 | |
| The front passenger seat belt storage spool will not release. the shoulder part of the belt was across the front side of the back rest and the lap part of the belt was flipped to the back side of the back rest and then buckled to keep the warning light from flashing while my dog was riding in the seat. the belt was left in this position after the dog vacated the seat. later, my father sat in the seat , unbuckled it, and slipped under the shoulder part of the belt only as the lap part was still around the back of the seat. he then buckled it. after a short drive he released the buckle to get out of the car. the ratcheting spool for the seat belt would not release any stored belt. he tried moving the seat forward and back.also tried moving the back rest up and down. the belt only tightened. eventually he got out from under the belt . i then tried to get the storage spool to release. still it only would tighten.. i took it to subaru santa monica where they informed me it was not covered by the lifetime warranty but that i could probably fix it myself by removing a couple of bolts. the belt is currently stuck very tightly around the seat rest. *tr | |||