Subaru is recalling nearly 120,000 vehicles over defective air bags.
The recall covers 118,723 Legacy sedan and Outback crossover models from 2020-2022 with a sensor issue that could prevent the front passenger air bag from deploying during a crash, according to documents the Japanese automaker filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The company said no injuries caused by the defect had been reported.
Subaru said the affected sensor does not recognize that someone is in the front passenger seat. The issue is caused by a faulty circuit board in the vehicle’s Occupant Detection System.
Drivers will know there is an issue because the “air bag system warning lamp will illuminate, the front passenger’s frontal air bag OFF indicator will illuminate and the front passenger air bag may not deploy in certain crashes as designed,” the recall states.
“This recall only relates to the passenger-side front air bag inflator in certain Subaru vehicles, and does not affect our driver-side front air bags, which were not equipped with a Takata (air bag) inflator,” Subaru said in a statement. “Therefore, if your vehicle requires a recall service, we recommend that occupants not use the front-passenger seat until the repair is performed.”
The company said owners can have the issue fixed for free at dealerships, which have been made aware of the problem and solutions.
More than 4 million vehicles from several other automakers have been recalled since the start of the year for a variety of problems.