Originally Posted by Dave Sherman
Ex wife's 2005 Subaru Legacy had a colossal failure in the design of the cabin air filter. The back of the glovebox popped out to get access, but somehow they screwed up royally in lining up the filter housing with the slot in the glovebox. If you elected to change the cabin filter, which I had to after a mouse got in and made a nest out of it, the only way to change it involved taking most of the dashboard apart, starting with the center console, and finally the whole glovebox had to be removed. Subaru's official fix was to cut a new hole in the back of the glovebox, and cover it with black tape. That sounded much better than the 4 hours I spent doing it the other way.
Several late model Nissan products have the cabin air filter mounted next to the driver's side footwell behind the center console and requires disassembly of a number of under dash items, including removal of the gas pedal assembly, to get it out. Then there are the vehicles that have the cabin air filter under the hood, necessitating disassembly and removal of the cowl. In addition to your Subaru, both of these other designs are also stupid.