Oversensitive air bag deployment

An NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation into Subaru vehicles. Closed 30 April 1997.

Investigation
PE96075
Type
Preliminary Evaluation
Opened
18 December 1996
Closed
30 April 1997

What NHTSA investigated

Odi has reviewed 33 complaints of oversensitive' air bag deployment (i.e., any non-crash deployment) received by odi and subaru involving model year 1995 subaru impreza & legacy vehicles and all other impreza & legacy vehicles equipped with air bag systems identical or similar to those in the 1995 impreza & legacy; they are late 1994-1996 impreza and ALL1995 & 1996 legacy (33 complaints out of 165,385 vehicles).odi's analysis indicates that certain impreza & legacy vehicles - - late 1994 & early 1995 impreza and all 1995 & early 1996 legacy (29 complaints out of 95,678 vehicles) -- have much higher complaint rate than the remaining vehicles which are different in vehicle structure or equipped with different air bag sensing system.most of the complaints (26 of the 29) indicate that the vehicle's dual air bags deployed from an undercarriage impact with a curb, bump, dip, pothole, etc.in the remaining 3 complaints, the driver alleged that the air bags deployed inadvertently or without any impact.in 13 of the 29 cases, only the vehicle's front tow hooks reportedly were found damaged or showed evidence of impact, and in 6 other cases both tow hooks and other undercarriage components were reportedly damaged or impacted; no details were given in the 10 remaining cases.this pe has been upgraded to EA97-010

Vehicles covered

MakeModelModel years
SubaruIMPREZA1994–1995
SubaruLEGACY1995–1996

Source

From NHTSA’s investigation file, rebuilt daily. To report a problem with your own vehicle, go to nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem. All open investigations.