2009 Mitsubishi Lancer
Complaints about this year name pump far more often than the model's other years — 11% of them, about 10× the usual rate of 1.1%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 121 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 26 |
| Involving a crash | 11 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- light came — 14% of this year's complaints, against 3.3% across the model's other years (4.3×). Owners wrote it as: light came, fee, weird, weird noise.
- july — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (33.1×). Owners wrote it as: july, ditch, control car, lost control.
- rust — 9.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (3.9×). Owners wrote it as: rust, rusted, snapped, out control.
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
- slow down — 8% of complaints, 21× usual
- engine engine — 8% of complaints, 21× usual
- engine cooling — 8% of complaints, 21× usual
What owners wrote
SLOW DOWN LIGHT COMES ON GOING 75 FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES ON HIGHWAY. THEN THE CAR HAS A WHINING NOISE THEN LOSES ACCELERATION AND POWER STEERING WHILE DRIVING. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS.
NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V562000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING); HOWEVER, THE PART WAS UNAVAILABLE TO PERFORM THE RECALL REPAIRS. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE ISSUE. THE CONTACT HAD NOT EXPERIENCED A FAILURE.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V279000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 18V069000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 18V071000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 14V562000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V232000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 15V233000 VISIBILITY 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 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer? What happened to yours?
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