“Love is what makes a Subaru” — but regulatory labels are what make them roadworthy.
Subaru has issued a recall for 541,237 vehicles due to a misprinted Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) on the federally required certification labels, potentially leading to safety risks associated with vehicle overloading, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday.
The GAWR reports the maximum weight that can be supported by a single axle, but the recalled models are displaying the incorrect weight on the certification label. The recall documents do not specify what the correct rear GAWR should be, nor the value that the vehicle currently has printed, so the scale of the discrepancy is unknown.
The recall affects 2019–2026 Subaru Ascent, 2025–2026 Subaru Forester and Forester Hybrid and 2026 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid models. An estimated 100 percent of the affected 541,237 vehicles in the recall population are believed to have the issue:
- 2019-2026 Subaru Ascent (383,800)
- 2025-2026 Subaru Forester (49,849)
- 2025-2026 Subaru Forester Hybrid (77,504)
- 2026 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid (29,297)
Subaru warns that the incorrect label could result in the vehicle being overloaded, suggesting the printed GAWR may be higher than the actual rating of the scale. That could potentially lead owners to load more weight onto the real axle than it was designed to carry.
Those with these vehicles do not need to immediately act. Subaru will mail out corrected GAWR labels, and owners can apply them over an existing one. If customers do not want to install it themselves, a dealer will reportedly do it at no charge.
Notification letters about the safety risk will be mailed out to those affected in late August and an additional notice will be sent out about the solution, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Owners will receive two mailings. One will be sent on Aug. 25 to alert them to the issue, and a second will be sent when the remedy is available.
This is the second major recall Subaru has commenced in 2026, with the first being a recall of nearly 70,000 models for fuel leaks causing fire risks. The 2025 Forester Hybrid and 2026 Crosstrek Hybrid were experiencing leaks from the filler cap when the temperature rose, which is caused by pressure from a nearly full fuel tank.
Dealerships replaced the fuel filler cap gasket, free of charge, and Subaru advised owners to park outdoors and keep the fuel tank below 50% capacity until the fix was performed.
For more information, owners can contact Subaru at 844-373-6614. The company’s internal recall number – which is an assigned identifier for a specific safety defect – is WRH-26.
The replacement labels will be sent out in January 2027.
