2011 Mitsubishi Lancer
This year drew an ordinary 49 complaints for a Mitsubishi Lancer — the model's median is 26. What they were about is the unusual part: 18.4% of them mention found, against 7.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 49 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 26 |
| Involving a crash | 1 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- found — 18.4% of this year's complaints, against 7.1% across the model's other years (2.6×).
- return — 6.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.2% across the model's other years (5.2×).
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.
What owners wrote
CAR WAS PARKED ON THE PARKING SPOT IN THE EVENING. NEXT MORNING CAR DID NOT START FOR NO REASON. ETAC ECU FAILURE CAUSED A RETURN SIGNAL TO BE BLOCKED ON A COMMUNICATION CHANNEL WIRE. ALSO WHAT WAS FOUND LATER AFTER A COMMUNICATION CHANNEL WIRE CONNECTIONS CLE…
THIS IS REGARDING MULTIPLE RECALLS FOR MY VEHICLE. I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE IN ST.THOMAS VIRGIN ISLANDS FROM BUDGET RENT A CAR IN 2013. THERE HAS BEEN 3 RECALLS FOR MY VEHICLE SINCE THEN I WAS NOT NOTIFIED, ONLY THROUGH RESEARCH I FOUND OUT. I'VE CALLED THE BUD…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V069000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V562000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V233000 VISIBILITY 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 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer? What happened to yours?
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