I am reporting a severe saftey and crash-compatibility defect on the front passenger side of the 2026 Subaru Outback Premium trim. This vehicle is equipped with a fixed-height passenger seat that is positioned unsafely high relative to the headliner and sun visor assembly. Because the seat height cannot be lowered, an adult passenger of average height sits with their head in immediate proximity to the sun visor. Under standard deployment of the vehicle brakes, forward occupant kinematics cause the passenger’s forehead to travel collide into the rigid, unyielding lower edge of the sun visor, which act as a hard/sharp parts cut the forehead and twisting the neck seriously. During a recent braking event, this lack of structural clearance caused a direct head-strike incident. The occupant’s forehead collided with the sharp bottom edge of the visor, acting as a blunt knife edge that resulted in a laceration to the forehead and a hyper-extension strain injury to the neck. This is a critical design failure where occupant safety clearance envelope was poorly designed for this elevated fixed-seat configuration. In a high-speed collision, this layout poses an imminent risk of severe facial trauma, skull fractures, or catastrophic cervical spine injuries from the visor before the seatbelt pre-tensioner can fully lock. This requires immediate investigation and a mandatory safety recall to provide height-adjustable/lower seat frames to affected vehicles.
NHTSA ODI 11741702