The defect
Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Subaru Baja vehicles manufactured January 22, 2003, to July 21, 2004, 2004-2005 Impreza vehicles manufactured January 28, 2003, to May 31, 2005, 2003-2008 Subaru Legacy vehicles manufactured January 22, 2003, to May 2, 2008, 2003-2008 Subaru Outback vehicles manufactured February 18, 2003, to May 5, 2008, and 2005 Saab 9-2x vehicles manufactured February 11, 2004, to March 17, 2005. The affected vehicles are equipped with a passenger side frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture upon its deployment.
The risk
In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
The remedy
Subaru will notify their owners and General Motors will notify Saab owners. Dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The Subaru recall began on June 17, 2015. Owners may contact Subaru customer service at 1-800-782-2783. The Saab recall began on July 27, 2015. Owners of Saab vehicles may call 1-800-955-9007. Subaru's number for this recall is WQR-53. Note: The recall completely supersedes recall 14V-399 (WQL-48) and partially supersedes recall 14V-763 (WQP-51) in that model year 2004 through 2005 Subaru Impreza and model year 2005 Saab 9-2x vehicles are now only part of this campaign. Note: On December 18, 2015 Subaru informed NHTSA of an expansion of this recall to include certain model year 2003-2004 Subaru Baja, 2003-2008 Subaru Legacy and 2003-2008 Subaru Outback vehicles.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by ODI
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Saab 9-2X | 2005 |
| Subaru Baja | 2003, 2004 |
| Subaru Impreza | 2004, 2005 |
| Subaru Legacy | 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 |
| Subaru Outback | 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 |
Components: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saab 9-2X | 2005 | 111 | 4 |
| Subaru Baja | 2003 | 38 | 10 |
| Subaru Baja | 2004 | 18 | 9 |
| Subaru Impreza | 2004 | 96 | 8 |
| Subaru Impreza | 2005 | 75 | 6 |
| Subaru Legacy | 2003 | 60 | 14 |
| Subaru Legacy | 2004 | 49 | 10 |
| Subaru Legacy | 2005 | 184 | 9 |
| Subaru Legacy | 2006 | 87 | 7 |
| Subaru Legacy | 2007 | 33 | 9 |
| Subaru Legacy | 2008 | 65 | 9 |
| Subaru Outback | 2003 | 93 | 14 |
| Subaru Outback | 2004 | 90 | 10 |
| Subaru Outback | 2005 | 273 | 9 |
| Subaru Outback | 2006 | 277 | 7 |
| Subaru Outback | 2007 | 129 | 8 |
| Subaru Outback | 2008 | 226 | 8 |
Other air bags recalls in 2015
61 of the 863 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2015 concerned the air bags; Subaru of America, Inc. filed 101 campaigns in all.
| 15V830000 10 Dec 2015 | General Motors LLC |
| 15V823000 8 Dec 2015 | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
| 15V815000 4 Dec 2015 | Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. |
| 15V787000 23 Nov 2015 | BMW of North America, LLC |
| 15V739000 9 Nov 2015 | BMW of North America, LLC |
| 15V714000 29 Oct 2015 | Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) |
| 15V711000 27 Oct 2015 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 15V695000 23 Oct 2015 | BMW of North America, LLC |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2015