Owners have filed 10 complaints on the Mitsubishi Lancer SportBack, covering 2004–2013. The system named most often is Electrical System (4 reports). Worst years by volume: 2004, 2013, 2010; cleanest: 2010, 2013, 2004. On average the car was 5.7 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Mitsubishi Lancer SportBack
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 10 Lancer SportBack complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 4 Read
I own a 2004 mitsubishi lancer sportback. The heater and cooling control knob for interior heating and cooling will not change over from air conditioning to heat. In the area that I live it is very cold in the winter months ( 20 - 30 degrees). According to research I have done on this issue it is s known issue at…
My heat and cooling control sticks and it hard to turn the knob from cold to heat and heat to cold. The piece finally broke 3 on 11/12/11. The unit now has to be changed under the dashboard which I am unable to do while driving, when my windows are foggy I have to drive with them been foggy if it is not in the right…
I have a 2004 mitsubishi lancer sportback. The fan control unit is defective and was fixed once at the dealership of purchase however, since that time fan has repeatedly malfunctioned in terms of it running during the entire time that the vehicle is in operation in addition to it staying on even after the engine is…
Power Train 1 Read
Vehicle hesitates during acceleration, car is equipped with a continuously variable transmission, hesitation is extremely severe at much lower speeds, often the car will lunge forward at a severe rate because the accelerator will be almost to the floor in an attempt to overcome the hesitation, vehicle does this every…
Structure 1 Read
2010 lancer recall number sr-18-003. While driving from texas to california after getting out of the service the sunroof blew out and ripped away at from the car while driving 75 mph and it was in a closed and locked position. Called mitsubishi and they said it was not covered under the recall, even though it is same…
Engine And Engine Cooling 1 Read
I have a 2004 mitsubishi lancer sportback. The fan control unit is defective and recalled on other various mitsubishi models including outlander and lancer. However, since my model, the lancer sportback was not listed under the recall, mitsubishi refuses to repair/replace it
Vehicle Speed Control 1 Read
The contact owns a 2004 mitsubishi lancer sportback. The contact was driving 25 mph when the vehicle began accelerating abnormally. The contact was able to stop the unintended acceleration by applying the brakes abruptly. The vehicle was diagnosed by a local repair shop that advised that the fly-by-wire would need…
Lancer SportBack years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Power Train | — | — | |
| 2010 | Structure,unknown Or Other | — | — | |
| 2004 | Electrical System | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 8 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.3 |
| Worst single series | 2 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.7 years |
A model average of 1.3 hides a worst series at 2. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Lancer SportBack?
By complaint volume, 2004, 2013, 2010 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Lancer SportBack years are the cleanest?
2010, 2013, 2004 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Mitsubishi Lancer SportBack have?
10 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2004–2013. Of those, 0 describe a crash and 0 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.