The 2015 Subaru Forester has 5 recalls, the most serious being a passenger seat occupant detection system that can incorrectly shut off the front passenger airbag even when someone is sitting in the seat.
This issue affects vehicles with heated front seats, where an electrical connection in the passenger seat can loosen and cause the airbag to deactivate, leaving a passenger without that protection in a crash. Prior repair attempts did not fully resolve the issue, which is why more than one recall addresses it. On the engine side, this applies only to 2.0XT turbocharged models: the air intake duct on the turbocharger can crack, causing rough idle, reduced power, or a stall while driving. There is also a brake light switch concern affecting a range of Subaru models from this era, where the brake lights may fail to illuminate when the pedal is pressed, leaving drivers behind with no warning that the vehicle is slowing down.