Subaru Forester, model years 2009 to 2012. Filed by Subaru Of America, Inc. and reported to NHTSA on 13 March 2012. 326,014 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says 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 …
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
Subaru's own number for this recall: WQA-37. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 12V099 is the number NHTSA gave the same campaign, and the number this page is filed under. They are one recall, written two ways.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 12V099 cover?
- Subaru Forester, model years 2009-2012.
- What is wrong with them?
- SUBARU IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2009-2012 FORESTER VEHICLES MANUFACTURED FROM NOVEMBER 26, 2007, THROUGH MARCH 13, 2012.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- AN INSECURE INSTALLATION OF A CHILD RESTRAINT CAN INCREASE THE RISK OF INJURY TO A CHILD DURING A CRASH.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Not yet, on the wording NHTSA publishes today. SUBARU WILL NOTIFY OWNERS, AND DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE REAR CENTER SEAT BELT ASSEMBLY WITH A NEWLY MODIFIED AUTOMATIC LOCKING RETRACTOR, FREE OF CHARGE. AN INTERIM LETTER WAS MAILED ON MARCH 26, 2012. OWNERS MAY CONTACT SUBARU AT 1-800-782-2783.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Subaru calls this recall WQA-37, which is the number on the owner letter and the dealer paperwork.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “AN INSECURE INSTALLATION OF A CHILD RESTRAINT CAN INCREASE THE RISK OF INJURY TO A CHILD DURING A CRASH.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 12V099 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC. |
| System at fault | Seat Belts:Rear/Other |
| Reported to NHTSA | 13 March 2012 |
| Model years | 2009-2012 |
| Vehicles named | SUBARU FORESTER |
What the notice says today
The consequence
AN INSECURE INSTALLATION OF A CHILD RESTRAINT CAN INCREASE THE RISK OF INJURY TO A CHILD DURING A CRASH.
The remedy
SUBARU WILL NOTIFY OWNERS, AND DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE REAR CENTER SEAT BELT ASSEMBLY WITH A NEWLY MODIFIED AUTOMATIC LOCKING RETRACTOR, FREE OF CHARGE. AN INTERIM LETTER WAS MAILED ON MARCH 26, 2012. OWNERS MAY CONTACT SUBARU AT 1-800-782-2783.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 451 notices in the record whose component field names seat belts. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 48 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 12V099, wording as read on 17 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/12v099/
The cross-border matches used on this site are deposited as a citable dataset: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22087136. The recall wording itself is published by the national authority named above and is theirs, not ours.
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other Subaru notices we hold
- 26V436: 2026 Crosstrek Hybrid, 2025-2026 Forester Hybrid, Forester, and 2019-2026 Ascent
- 26V346: 2026 Forester and Forester Hybrid
- 26V106: 2026 Crosstrek hybrid, and 2025 Forester hybrid
- 25V889: 2026 Forester
- 25V419: 2025 Forester
- 25V033: 2025 Forester
- 24V227: 2020-2022 Outback and Legacy
- 23V755: model year 2021 Crosstrek, 2022 Forester, 2021-2023 Legacy, and Outback
All 110 Subaru campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 12V099 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
758bc896 - Consequence
e7bb8d0e - Remedy
4430fa37
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 12V099 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the Subaru Forester, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
Put this notice on your site
A small badge that links here and names the register's reference. It costs one line of HTML and needs no key.
The badge is free to use. It links to this page and nowhere else, and it never shows advertising.
Owners of these cars
No register publishes what happens after the letter. Owners do: tell us, in two taps.
Anonymous: no account, no cookie, nothing you type is stored beyond these choices. Figures appear once 3 owners have answered, and are published with the record under CC BY 4.0.