I bought a 2020 OB Limited about two weeks ago. When my wife is in the passenger seat the passenger airbag off light stays on. She's petite (about 5'0" and 90 lbs). If I switch seats with her the light functions normally. I've tried to have her shift her weight around, move the position of the seat, and even had her hold up to 25lbs of weights in her lap, all to no avail. Doesn't sound like keeping her in the back seats is a good solution. Anyone know if the sensors can be adjusted?

Has she had this issue with other cars? I would think the system would work down to 75lbs in the seat....

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It is occasionally a problem with our 2014 Honda Accord. Only an off light there and it will come on sometimes. I didn't try the weights in that car.

 

I believe this is one symptom of why injuries are more prevalent for short or lighter people (especially women) when air bags deploy. The standard crash test dummies are indicative of a typical male body and not lighter/shorter occupants.

The Crash Test Bias: How Male-Focused Testing Puts Female Drivers at Risk

Consumer Reports examines the crash test bias, the relationship between male-biased crash tests and data that shows that women are more likely to be seriously injured in real-world crashes.

www.consumerreports.org

 

I assume the sensor is to save airbags in the event of a crash with an empty passenger seat. Or maybe prevent injury to a small person. Find out if it is safe to jump the sensor to always be on, even when empty. SoA should have a safety able to evaluate the jumper approach or at least provide more information.

 

There is a section in the manual about the airbag operation. The first image show the sensor positions (which is not exactly how I would have envisioned them)/

And the next image is instructions for what to do if the passenger is not sensed.

 

Thanks for directing me to the manual. Tomorrow I'll try to have my wife follow the procedure as described. Otherwise, it looks like a call to the dealer.

 

If your wife is only 90 pounds, she may not be wide enough to trigger the sensors. I would also try having her sit a little away from the center of the seat.

Its funny how the manual says "adult incorrectly sitting". I think it might be more accurate to say, sensors design does not work in all sitting positions.

 

Something that may help; the manual describes sitting with legs out forward. A passenger that puts their feet flat on the floor will place less force on the seat sensors as the mass of most of their lower legs is going thru their feet.
It may be less comfortable to extend the legs out, but it could make a difference.

Btw, I have a friend that doesn't weigh quite a buck and has similar problems with some seat sensors.

 

Thanks for your help and suggestions. After trying out a number of seat back adjustments and sitting positions we had some success today. Besides the advice posted in this thread, the "Recommended Reading" listing had a number of threads th had some ideas. I find it interesting that this problem with passenger seat detection goes back ten years or more. Anyway, we've found a way for her to light the "passenger seat on" light.
First success was, with the car running, having my wife plop into the seat and sit with legs out, not flat on the floor. Also seemed to work after having her lower the seat. We drove a couple of miles to the bank. On the way, I pulled over and stopped, turned the car off and restarted. Damn "off" light came on. Then I had her raise her arms and push down from the ceiling to put more force on the seat. That worked and once the on light came on the "off" stayed off and "on" stayed on until we parked at the bank. On the way back I stopped and restarted several times. In each case she needed to use a ceiling push to get the "on" on. Once lit, it seemed to stay li (acted normal).
At least this seems like a solution to get the airbag armed. We'll see if there are tweaks to positions that can be made so that it is automatic or maybe things will loosen up. We were going to see the dealer tomorrow (with her sitting in the rear seat) but we'll now cancel that visit and see what happens.

 

I'm having the same issue with my wife sitting in the passenger seat and the airbag remaining off. This wasn't an issue with our 2016 outback, nor was it an issue in any of our other cars.

I see this as a serious safety issue that Subaru should address. My dealer claims this is normal operation and they can't do anything about it. If this is true, they should clearly state passenger weight requirements and warn people not to buy the car unless they weigh x-lbs.

If it can't be corrected, even though I love the car, I'll have to get rid of it. I can't have her riding in a car that's not safe.

 

Ask your dealer to put it in writing because your lawyer said it was needed.

 

I will certainly do that. I've made also made a written request that if it can't be fixed for them to either exchange the car for an equivalent Outback with operational safety features or full refund. The car is only 2 weeks old.

Per their request, I'm going to the dealership with my wife today so they can run tests with her in the seat and try to convince me this is as designed. Subaru used to promote the safty of their cars. I don't know when that changed. Next step will be to contact Subaru corporate and the NTSB.

 

They have tried to make it your problem, which it is not. Ask them to provide you an equivalent loaner for at least a week to evaluate if it has the same issue. It should be the same year as yours's. Does the sensor work for her in the drivers' seat? What ever the source of the problem, something related to the sensor(s), it is fixable.
.

 

What they did today was hook up the computer and monitor the sensors. It appears to toggle from the child and adult setting at 73-lbs on the seat. Even though she's over 90lbs, with feet on the floor the seat correctly measures her as less than her actual total weight. My wife is right at that threshold point, lift one foot up and it triggers to airbag on. We compared it with another outback on their lot and the readouts were nearly identical. Since all the measurements are repeatable and the same between Outbacks, it doesn't appear to be a component or electrical malfunction.

He recorded and saved all the measurements and I will contact SOA to review it. This may just be as designed and not an actual issue. At least it is now well documented.

 

Clearly, you just need to modify your family's eating habits, you need way more fast food, ice cream, chocolate bars etc.

(Kidding of course)

Can you try having your wife sit in another car on the lot, see if it's the same issue?

That would rule out of it's an issue just with your car, or the design of the seat/sensors.

In my work truck(Silverado) the seat sensors are sensitive enough that it will do the seat belt warning if I have a heavy laptop bag in the front seat.


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We just discovered that my wife is also not triggering the airbag to come on most of the time. And if it did come on, it shuts off if she moves around even while the car is in motion. She weighs 98 lbs fully clothed with shoes on.

Did anyone get a resolution to this problem?
Thanks.

 

I'd try the seat position a little further back and more upright. That's helped for me.
Also I'd have the service tech hook up the computer to verify that the sensors are working properly like in my post above. Seeing the the reading was nearly identical between my outback and one on their lot convinced me that for my car this is as designed and not a mechanical or electrical issue.

It's looking like Outback owners prefer skinny wives ☺

 

I totally had this problem with my 2010 Highlander - my wife is 80 pounds and 4'8"

They (Toyota dealer) said they could do nothing about it.

Now I gotta pay attention to the Outback, cuz it's absolutely correct that it would be, will be, is, dangerous for her.

In our Sienna, airbags saved lives when she was in a horrible accident, with a full car, including 2 small children in car seats.

So glad someone started this thread!

 

I've been watching this more closely, and it doesn't come on for her at least half the time.

I'm going to have to get the dealer to measure it, if 75 pounds is the setting, it should be coming on.

I had her pressing on the ceiling the other day and it didn't work.

 

Yeah, I really don't get why it's disabled for her. The driver's airbag is always enabled, so if she was driving the bag would deploy on her. It would be nice if they provided an override for known adults.

 

There are "bypass" sensors that can be installed. I have no experience with them nor am I advocating them, but anyone can search the internet and do their own research to determine if they are an appropriate solution for them.
Varied vehicle/owners encounter this problem, not just Subarus.

 

My one test today with the 80 pound mini wife - it took about a minute to come on, but it did. More tests to follow - I got my eye on it now.

 

It seems like the "airbag on" and "airbag off" lights should be different colors. Having the same orange light over in the corner makes it very hard to tell that something is amiss.

 

Agree completely - it is hard to tell what it is reading

 

What helped for my wife was to make sure the front of the seat was raised up the highest position, so her thighs would rest on the seat more, works 95% of the time.

After I got the car back from the head unit replacement, her air bag was back to staying off all the time. Turns out the tech lowered the front of her seat to have more working room. After we raised it, it's back to working most all the time.

From the diagrams, there are 4 weight sensors, one near each corner, so raising the front of the seat combined with her not holding her purse between her knees seems to have fixed it pretty well for us.

 

Ressurecting this thread since it is relevant to my question/issue. I have noticed my '23 OB's passenger seat SRS sensor says "OFF" for my 13 year old. I thought that was strange since she triggers the sensor for my previous subaru and our other Dodge. Then I found this thread and re-read the manual (below) and it seens to indicate that it is normal for that sensor to not detect a passenger and keep the sensor in the OFF position. It also clearly states that the sensor will be ON for an adult. Does this basically say that Subaru believes that the airbag should not go off when a young adult (or an adult of a certain size) is in the seat? I talked to my dealer today and they thought that the sensor should recognize my daughter and thought it was weird. I told them I'm going to do some more testing but now I don't think anything is wrong. Thoughts?

PS. I was supposed to post this thread last night. Since then I had my daughter sit in the passenger seat this morning for drop off and the occupancy sensor did work and the ON light came on. That said, the language above is still a bit tricky...

 

Bump! Anyone have any insight?

This morning, the OFF light came on again so it's very irractic. The instructions above make it so confusing like it's normal. The dealer has offered to take a look at it but I'd like to see if anyone else has any experiences so I can be further informed.

 

It's intermittent for my 85 pound wife, sometimes on sometimes off

Don't like that at all. It should be adjustable - but same thing as before with my Highlander

 

Thanks. We've been experimenting. It's a combination of sitting more upright and sitting more centered. It is very weird as are the text in the instructions.

 

Hello
Same I do have a 2023 Outback and my daughter (who is 18 years old) does not always trigger the airbag. ANybody found a solutions?