Subaru is the one make where the code on your paperwork might not look like a code at all. Roughly 2003 through 2014 cars report two-character airbag faults like 11, 22 or BB. Newer cars report five-character B-codes. Same system, two completely different numbering schemes.
Subaru's service manuals call it the airbag control module, and the module is described as installed inside the center console, containing the safety sensor and the G sensor. Subaru also has its own word for the clock spring: the roll connector, which lives between the steering column and the steering wheel and has its own removal, inspection and adjustment procedures.
The rest of the restraint cast carries Subaru names too: front sub sensors, side and curtain airbag sensors, a satellite safing sensor, door sensors, buckle switches, and an occupant detection system with its own control module and sensor. Newer cars add a knee airbag module. The models we service are on our Subaru airbag service page.
The older format is two hexadecimal characters with no letter prefix. Low numbers are the front airbag circuits, the twenties cover the module and the occupant detection system, thirties and fifties are sensors, forties and nineties are side and curtain circuits, sixties are pretensioners, and the E and F ranges are sensor bus communication faults.
The newer format is a five-character B-code in the B1000 to B19F7 range, and it is hex-capable, so codes like B11F2 and B169F are normal. The blocks there run roughly like this:
Deployment codes exist in both schemes and they read as firing output rather than as a fault. In the older format 22 is front airbag firing output, 55 is side and curtain firing output, and BB is rollover firing output. In the newer format the equivalents are B11F2 front impact deployment, the B11F7 through B11FC side impact deployment group, and B11E0 rollover deployment history. Those are the module's record of what fired. Everything in the sensor and squib ranges is a live measurement.
Codes with a link have their own page. Crash data clears with a module reset; hardware and circuit faults need the part fixed or replaced first.
| Code | Meaning | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Driver airbag failure, open or short or short to ground, roll connector included. | Circuit fault |
| 12 | Passenger airbag failure, open or short or short to ground. | Circuit fault |
| 15 | Driver airbag circuit shorted to power supply, roll connector included. | Circuit fault |
| 21 | Airbag ECU failure. The control module itself is faulty. | Hardware fault |
| 22 | Front airbag firing output. The front airbag and pretensioners are deployed. | Crash data |
| 26 | Passenger airbag indicator failure. | Circuit fault |
| 29 | Occupant detection system failure, sensor or control module. | Hardware fault |
| 2A | Occupant detection calibration error. Rezeroing did not complete. | Hardware fault |
| 2B | Occupant detection system wrong parts. Wrong module or sensor installed. | Hardware fault |
| 2C | Passenger seat belt tension sensor failure. | Hardware fault |
| 33 | Right front sub sensor failure. | Hardware fault |
| 41 | Right side airbag failure, harness or module. | Circuit fault |
| 53 | Right side airbag sensor failure. | Hardware fault |
| 55 | Side and curtain airbag firing output. One or both are deployed. | Crash data |
| 61 | Right seat belt pretensioner failure, open or short or short to ground. | Circuit fault |
| BB | Rollover firing output. Curtain airbags and pretensioners are deployed. | Crash data |
| B1000 | Airbag ECU malfunction on newer models. | Hardware fault |
| B1149 | Airbag ECU power supply voltage fault. | Hardware fault |
| B11E0 | Rollover deployment history stored in the module. | Crash data |
| B11F0 | Disposal process complete. Set when airbags are deliberately fired for scrapping. | Crash data |
| B11F2 | Front impact deployment recorded. | Crash data |
| B11F7 | Side impact deployment recorded. | Crash data |
| B1610 | Right front sub sensor fault. | Hardware fault |
| B1620 | Right side airbag sensor fault. | Hardware fault |
| B1650 | Occupant detection system malfunction. | Hardware fault |
| B1653 | Driver side seat position sensor failure. | Circuit fault |
| B1656 | Left front buckle switch failure. | Circuit fault |
| B1661 | Passenger airbag on and off indicator failure. | Circuit fault |
| B1800 | Driver airbag squib circuit short. | Circuit fault |
| B1801 | Driver airbag squib circuit open. | Circuit fault |
Subaru is blunter than most makes about scan tools. The factory procedure for reading airbag codes carries the caution do not connect the scan tools other than the Subaru Select Monitor. The connection point is the data link connector in the lower instrument panel on the driver side. A generic reader has no path to the restraint module.
Two Subaru gotchas come up constantly. The first is occupant detection rezeroing. Subaru requires a calibration any time the passenger seat is removed or disassembled, and after replacing the seat cushion cover. It runs through the Select Monitor with the car parked level, the seat empty and its belt unbuckled, and nobody rocking the vehicle while it works. Skip it and you get a calibration fault and a lit lamp.
The second is what Subaru expects after a collision. The manual's inspection list after a crash names the airbag control module as a replacement item under all three headings, frontal, side and rollover. It also says a seat belt with a deployed pretensioner cannot be reused. One thing that is not restraint related despite coming up in the same conversation: EyeSight camera recalibration after windshield work belongs to a separate driver assist module.
When a Subaru sets a driver airbag circuit code, the roll connector is a listed cause in the manual, not a guess. Both DTC 11 and DTC 15 name the roll connector circuit specifically, open or shorted or shorted to ground on 11 and shorted to power supply on 15. The modern equivalents sit in the B1800 through B1804 block.
Occupant detection is the other regular. NHTSA recall 19V701000 covers 2015 to 2018 Foresters with heated seats where an electrical connection in the front passenger seat for the occupant detection system can loosen, and 15V419000 covers 2012 Imprezas where the system may deactivate when a front passenger operates the seat. Both show up as an airbag light plus a passenger airbag indicator behaving strangely. Subaru also carries a wide Takata inflator recall footprint across Baja, Impreza, WRX, Legacy, Outback, Forester and Tribeca, mostly rolled out by state.
Yes. Subarus from roughly 2003 through 2014 report airbag faults as two hexadecimal characters, so 11, 22, 2A and BB are all legitimate Subaru codes. Newer cars switched to five-character B-codes.
Front airbag firing output, meaning the front airbag modules and the seat belt pretensioners are deployed. It is the module's record of the event rather than a circuit problem.
Subaru's own manual instructs technicians not to connect anything other than the Subaru Select Monitor for this procedure, and the restraint system is not on the generic OBD2 path.
Subaru requires an occupant detection rezeroing whenever the passenger seat comes out or apart, and after the seat cushion cover is replaced. Without it the system logs a calibration fault.
Keep reading:
Crash data clears with a reset of your own module. A hardware fault needs the part. Either way, call and we will confirm.
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