2008 Mitsubishi Lancer
Complaints about this year name fixed far more often than the model's other years — 14% of them, about 14× the usual rate of 1%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 91 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 26 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- heard — 19.8% of this year's complaints, against 7.1% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: heard, abnormal, subframe, referred.
- suspension — 17.6% of this year's complaints, against 5.9% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: suspension, structure, structure suspension, attention.
- took car — 18.7% of this year's complaints, against 7.4% across the model's other years (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: took car, didn, won, car dealer.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- later — 11% of complaints, 27× usual
- now — 19% of complaints, 4× usual
- back — 18% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
I HEARD A CLUNKING NOISE. PARKED AND FOUND ROTTEN PARTS ON TIRE. MECHANIC SAID IT CANNOT BE FIXED. EVERYTHING ROTTED. NEEDS WHOLE NEW FRAME. WE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED.THANK GOD I WAS CLOSE TO HOME. NOW I HAVE NOTHING BUT AN EXISTING CAR LOAN FOR IT.
IN RAINY WEATHER CONDITIONS, THE CONTACT NOTICED WATER ENTERING THE VEHICLE THROUGH THE DRIVER SIDE CABIN. ALSO, THE TIRES HAVE PREMATURE TREAD WEAR. HE TOOK THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALER AND A TECHNICIAN REPLACED ALL FOUR TIRES AND PERFORMED A WHEEL ALIGNMENT. SE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V279000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 18V071000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 14V562000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 09V077000 SERVICE BRAKES, AIR Fixed free of charge.
- 09V435000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Mitsubishi Lancer was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer? What happened to yours?
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