Subaru has recalled 541,237 vehicles because the gross axle weight rating on their certification labels is wrong, and the filing never says by how much or in which direction. The affected models are the 2019 through 2026 Ascent, the 2025 and 2026 Forester and Forester Hybrid, and the 2026 Crosstrek Hybrid. The fix is a replacement sticker.
A sticker recall sounds trivial, but the sticker is a federal document. The certification label must carry a gross axle weight rating, or GAWR, for each axle, listed front to rear, and federal tire rules are written against that number. Subaru has not published the corrected figure, so owners cannot yet tell whether their label overstates or understates the rating.
What Subaru told NHTSA
Subaru’s Part 573 report counts 541,237 vehicles in its headline totals: 384,407 Ascents, 77,504 Forester Hybrids, 49,946 gasoline Foresters and 29,380 Crosstrek Hybrids. The narrative section of the same report lists slightly lower counts for three of the models, and those add up to 540,450. The Ascent makes up about 71 percent of the recall, with build dates running from March 19, 2018 to June 11, 2026.
Subaru’s chronology says NHTSA notified the company on May 12 of a potential problem with the stated rear axle GAWR. Subaru met NHTSA staff on June 4 and decided on June 30 to conduct a noncompliance recall. The report calls the defect an “incorrectly stated GAWR” and says the vehicles fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 110, the rule covering tire selection, rims and load-carrying capacity information. NHTSA’s acknowledgment letter gives the safety risk as overloading, which raises the chance of a crash. The cause field in the report is blank. Subaru says it has received no technical reports in the U.S. market and knows of no crashes or injuries tied to the condition.
What the number on the sticker controls
Under 49 CFR 567.4, the label must list a GAWR in pounds for each axle. It must also list a gross vehicle weight rating that cannot be lower than the vehicle’s unloaded weight plus its rated cargo load plus 150 pounds for every designated seating position. FMVSS 110 then ties the tires to the axle: for multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses and trailers, the sum of the maximum load ratings of the tires fitted to an axle cannot be less than that axle’s GAWR.
That is the mechanism behind a recall that replaces no part. The tire check is arithmetic: add up what the tires on the rear axle are rated to carry and compare the total with the GAWR on the label. If the label figure is wrong, the comparison was made against the wrong number, which is what Subaru is telling NHTSA makes the vehicles noncompliant. The filing does not say whether any factory tires fall short of the correct rating or whether the problem is confined to the sticker. Nothing is being swapped, so the sticker looks like the whole problem, but that is The Auto Wire’s inference from the remedy, not a statement in Subaru’s report. Automakers certify their own vehicles to these standards and NHTSA checks afterward, and here the chronology shows the question coming from the regulator, after Ascents had carried the label since March 2018 production.
A 19-day audit that reached back to 2003
From June 5 to June 23, Subaru reviewed the calculated GAWR ratings for all of its vehicles dating back to 2003, according to its chronology. The recall covers only the models above, and the filing does not describe what the audit found on the rest of the lineup. Corrected labels entered production on June 9, while the audit was still running and 21 days before the recall decision.
Nissan filed the same kind of recall in July
Nissan filed a similar recall in July, when The Auto Wire reported that 168,149 Armada, Infiniti QX56 and QX80 models carried a wrong number on a federally required sticker, in some cases going back to 2011. Together the two campaigns cover 709,386 vehicles by The Auto Wire’s count, and neither replaces hardware. Both filings treat a wrong label as a safety noncompliance and not a paperwork slip, because the number feeds the tire rule above.
What owners can do now
Subaru’s report schedules interim owner letters for August 24 through 27 and remedy letters for January 7 through 14, 2027, as a phased recall. Owners can check a VIN at NHTSA’s recall lookup or call Subaru customer service at 1-844-373-6614 and give recall number WRH-26. The corrected label is mailed to owners to apply over the existing one, or a dealer installs it at no charge. Anyone replacing tires before the new label arrives should stay with the size listed on the vehicle’s tire placard.
Subaru has told NHTSA the number was wrong and has told owners a new sticker is coming, but the corrected figure appears in neither of the NHTSA documents. Should a recall like this have to publish the right number, or is a replacement label all an owner needs?