TEL51

A couple of problems with Subaru's "Mobile-It_Ease" program is that the form you have to fill out says Subaru bears no responsibility for any modifications. Also, you have to purchase the vehicle first and then make any modifications. What if the changes don't work or are problematic in some way. Your're stuck with a vehicle that doesn't meet your needs and you have to immediately resell it at a big loss. Frankly, too big of a hassle. I checked one thing out. Stylus tips are made from conductive silicone rubber. You can buy sheets of that material and they may work, but the material is not available locally to try out. I'd have to buy some from the manufacturer and have it shipped. Again, big hassle. The CRV is my second choice by just a little bit and I'm thinking that that's the direction I'll go. By the way, my research also turned up the fact that someone wearing a heavy coat might result in the airbags not activating. I wonder how many Subaru owners out there would notice that the airbag is "Off" when there passenger is wearing a heavy coat. It's something you might not notice and it's not like a lot of people are even aware of this technological change and the potential problems. After all, two of you who responded to this thread are obviously Subaru enthusiasts (based on the number of posts), but were unaware of the demise of the weight-based sensors. Maybe a warning should be pinned on this site to give owners a heads up. Thanks for your help guys. Maybe by the next time I need to replace a vehicle there will be some solution to the problem. Personally, I would recommend that Subaru have the current setup being the default when a vehicle is turned on, but have an override switch to turn on the airbag system if the situation warrants. By requiring the owner to take an action to override each time they turn on the vehicle, I would think that would put the responsibility on the owner if they turned it on when they shouldn't. Just a thought.

Don't think suede or any type of leather would work. Otherwise, the leather seats of the Touring would set off the sensors. Many laptops and all tablets are touchscreens these days and touchscreens are, I believe, based on capacitance. That's probably why they activate the sensor. As was suggested, some kind of electrical device could probably fool the sensors, but I would prefer to go with something more low tech as well. Wonder what material they use to make a stylus which works on a touch screen. Also, certain materials that have a lot of static electricity in low humidity conditions might work, but that would only help sometimes so is not practical. We really need an electrical engineer to chime in with some thoughts -- or maybe someone who can speak to the Subaru tech people who designed the system. We really want to buy the Subaru, but will have to go with our second choice soon if we can't find a solution.

I don't know how it tells a child vs. an adult. However, we've been told the same thing by the sales person and the sales manager. I also called the Subaru 800 number and they confirmed. I also downloaded the pdf manual for the 2015 Forester. The following statement appears on page 1-46 of the manual: "The occupant detection system sensor is installed under the seat upholstery and monitors the physique and posture of the passenger. Using this information, the occupant detection system determines whether the front passenger's SRS frontal airbag should be deployed or not." Finally, when we were testing different seat cushions, we would remove the cushion and sit directly on the seat and the airbag would show "On" and when we put the cushion back and sat on the cushion the sensor would show "Off". It also didn't matter whether my wife was sitting or the cushion or I was sitting on the cushion (I weigh 180 lbs). Bottom line - it's definitely not weight that determines the passenger airbag on/off status -- at least it's not for the 2015 Forester. P.S. Just found the following site which describes the system for the Impreza and BRZ. Although it's a 2012 article, seems like the same technology is now employed on the Forester. http://www.stanleysubaru.com/blog/2012/august/6/how-does-the-occupant-detection-system-ods-work-in-my-subaru.htm

We've been told that the 2015 Forester airbag sensors are not based on weight . . . that's what's causing our problem. Apparently, whether the airbag is turned on or off is based on an "Electrostatic Capacitance Sensor". I don't know when the change-over occurred, but the new sensor is present in the 2015. The 2015 CRV is still based on weight and is our second choice if we can't find how to make the Forester work.

Help! My wife and I want to purchase a new 2015 Forester. In fact, we had one picked out and ready to take home but had to cancel the deal. Here's the problem. My wife has a bad back. She needs a seat cushion that levels out the car seat as well as a separate lumbar cushion. When she sits on her preferred seat cushion. the passenger side airbag sensors won't recognize that someone is sitting in the passenger seat and, therefore, the airbag is shown as being "Off". We've tried everything we can think of to solve this problem. Different seat cushions of varying configurations. Any cushion that we've tried that "levels" the seat completely covers the airbag sensors. Seat cushions that don't cover the sensors are either too short or too narrow and are uncomfortable. The dealers talked to their Subaru technical contacts who couldn't provide a solution. The dealer suggested the possibility of going to a specialty company that does mobility-related modifications (which, of course, Subaru wouldn't warrant). Trouble is we really don't want to take the risk of anyone messing with the technology plus the fact we would have to purchase the vehicle not knowing for sure that modifications could be done. Any suggestions on what we can do so we can join the Subaru family. I was thinking that there might be something that I could insert inside the cushion cover (on the bottom of the cushion between the cushion cover and the foam insert) that would "set off" the sensors and turn on the airbags. Something that would not do any damage to the seats or the sensors. I read where certain electronic devices sitting on the passenger seat cause the airbags to turn on, but my wife doesn't particularly want to buy an iPad to insert into the seat cushion. Assuming one of you comes up with a workable solution, I just want to verify one other thing. I assume the same problem would not exist when my wife is driving the car since I would guess that the driver side airbag is always activated when the vehicle is turned on.