SAFETY RECALL - Impreza and Forester

[Mr Taxpayer]

This may have been posted before because it dates back to January 2012. It applies to Imprezas and Foresters from 2002-2007. The front lower control arms can corrode and fail. I found out about it when my offside control arm failed on Friday evening.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/e...

[vxr2010]

I think the Sti ones are alloy so this is possibly just wrx models ?

[vxr2010]

A correction to above , They are not alloy on a ver jdm 7 Sti but mine look good not long in the uk

[ohtari]

Mine failed last April, was not a happy bunny.

Subaru replaced an awful lot of parts under warranty, so hats off to them!

Both lower arms
Front arb
Drivers side front wing
New alloy wheel
Drop links
1 half shaft
4 new bridgestone potenzas
And all the new bushings, bolts etc to tie it all together

Total bill would have been somewhere in the region of £3k!!!

Get it into your local dealer and explain the situation, chances are it won't be their first in a similar state

[vxr2010]

Does it need to fail first or is Subaru changing them all any way ?

[peter8171]

Had this recall at the time. The recall stated that the dealer would check the condition of the lower arms and only replace them if there was evidence of structural corrosion. If there wasn't, they would just seal the arms to prevent the onset of corrosion. If the car has a failure as a result of tye arms corroding, Subaru should replace the damaged parts.

[Mr Taxpayer]

vxr2010 said:

I think the Sti ones are alloy so this is possibly just wrx models ?

It's ALL Impreza and Foresters from 1 Jan 2002 to 31 Dec 2007.

Subaru are checking them anyway. The recall affects 22000+ cars.

Edited by Mr Taxpayer on Monday 28th March 15:07

[Mr Taxpayer]

vxr2010 said:

A correction to above , They are not alloy on a ver jdm 7 Sti but mine look good not long in the uk

Could be an idea to get them checked anyway, the rustproofing on JDM cars isn't always the same as as European market cars. The recall came about because if a failing on European and Canadian/US snow-state cars.

[Mr Taxpayer]

ohtari said:

Mine failed last April, was not a happy bunny.

Subaru replaced an awful lot of parts under warranty, so hats off to them!

Both lower arms
Front arb
Drivers side front wing
New alloy wheel
Drop links
1 half shaft
4 new bridgestone potenzas
And all the new bushings, bolts etc to tie it all together

Total bill would have been somewhere in the region of £3k!!!

Get it into your local dealer and explain the situation, chances are it won't be their first in a similar state

Fortunately, only additional damage on mine seems to be the ARB drop link. My only out of pocket expense (so far) seems to be the £120 charge to have the car trailered to the local Subaru dealer.

[James19181]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be contacting Subaru about mine

[Konan]

Mr Taxpayer said:

vxr2010 said:

I think the Sti ones are alloy so this is possibly just wrx models ?

It's ALL Impreza and Foresters from 1 Jan 2002 to 31 Dec 2007.

Subaru are checking them anyway. The recall affects 22000+ cars.

Edited by Mr Taxpayer on Monday 28th March 15:07

That's either changed or a different recall to the one I had my arms replaced under. It was just Foresters, NA Imprezas and WRX wagons - all with steel lower arms.

I've not actually had my latest bugeye checked yet.

Anyone wonder if this is why the wheel came off of Richard Hammond's Subaru in their Africa film?

[vxr2010]

The alloy control arms do not seem to be the issue its just the steel ones , so there will be a stage when the alloy arms were fitted to the Sti so should not be an issue , the sg9 Sti have alloy ones so they don't rust , the wagon ver 7 Sti has steel but Arms look in a good state prob still worth a trip to a dealer , it's funny the recall was kept so quiet , like the engine issues ??

[Konan]

Fortunately, the previous owners of one of mine forwarded me the notice on. Most of the hassle I've had has being getting the car in my name with Subaru.

The cars were booked in quickly and had new arms put on.

Not having so much luck with the airbag inflator! I've been trying to get in for that since before Christmas. Their advice is that nobody uses the front passenger seat. I think 50 million odd cars have the issue - our Toyota is also on the list (because it just couldn't stand the Subaru having a safety recall all to itself )

I enquired with the dealer as to how long I'd be waiting as I've got a lot of travel to do in May. They told me they're being sent the replacement part at a rate of 1 to 2 a month and couldn't guarantee I'd get it sorted by then.

[Jazzy Jefferson]

Hi all,

Thought I'd look into this and if it helps anyone - a 55 Plate STI (Widetrack) is not effected by this recall.

However, my local dealer pointed out the passenger airbag recall and that I need it to be done. They have two items coming into stock every month and a current list of 35 people waiting.

Their advice was ring round dealers as some have the parts more readily available than others.

[Mr Taxpayer]

Konan said:

Not having so much luck with the airbag inflator! I've been trying to get in for that since before Christmas. Their advice is that nobody uses the front passenger seat. I think 50 million odd cars have the issue - our Toyota is also on the list (because it just couldn't stand the Subaru having a safety recall all to itself )

I enquired with the dealer as to how long I'd be waiting as I've got a lot of travel to do in May. They told me they're being sent the replacement part at a rate of 1 to 2 a month and couldn't guarantee I'd get it sorted by then.

My dealer said that they've just fitted Airbag #9 and I've joined the list at position 54. I'll take a seat, then.

[Smollet]

Got my airbag replaced by Bell&Colvill in February. They service and MoT my 2005 WRX so I hope any other recall problems will be sorted foc by them

[Barkychoc]

Bit of a thread resurrection - but my sons car is now off the road with a collapsed lower suspension arm.
It's at the dealer somewhere miles from us (taken by the AA) and the work is agreed by Subaru.
The flaw in the plan is the lower arms are on back order with no date for delivery.

[crispyshark]

So where do we stand if the car is an import?

[corvus]

I rang the main dealer near me and apparently mine have been checked under the recall at an earlier stage in the cars life and deemed safe enough not to need replacement - they must have been rustproofed instead.

I doesn't fill me with much confidence though, as soon as the balljoints need replacing I'll be getting Sti arms for peace of mind after seeing these posts. Mine do show signs of corrosion.

At the time of ringing, I tried to look up the cost of a pair of replacement standard arms and found it very hard to find the SG version, the SF arms were plentiful on Ebay, ironically they don't suffer from corrosion anything like as badly as the later cars from what I could see.

Edited by corvus on Wednesday 31st January 16:43

[tonyb1968]

crispyshark said:

So where do we stand if the car is an import?

If its an STI (2003 onwards) they have alloy and not steel arms so not affected, otherwise you can still take the car to the dealer, they are obliged to fix it as its a world wide recall