Owners have filed 1,197 complaints on the Mitsubishi Outlander, covering 2003–2025. The system named most often is Power Train (157 reports). Worst years by volume: 2022, 2016, 2007; cleanest: 2025, 2005, 2006. 108 reports describe a crash, 9 a fire. On average the car was 4.8 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Mitsubishi Outlander
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,197 Outlander complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Power Train 157 Read
The shifter assembly was replaced by the manufacturer and I do not know if the item is available for inspection as the dealership handled the replacement. Mine and my daughters safety was put in danger on April 10, 2024 when I was turning into a parking space at my doctors office and went to put the car into park the…
We (driver and passenger) were pulling into a parking lot and going very slowly about to stop and get out of car. Suddenly and unexpectedly the car accelerated out of control and at an abnormal speed. The air bags deployed, smoke filled the cabin. After the police arrived and the car was towed, Liberty Mutual…
2 issues contributed to accident: 1st - Vehicle did not go into Park when button on gear shift was pushed. Driver did not notice that vehicle remained in Drive and exited the vehicle. 2nd - Vehicle did not automatically engage the emergency brake/park mode it is designed to do when Vehicle is in drive and driver door…
Suspension 137 Read
The contact owns a 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the front driver's side A-arm separated from the vehicle and the vehicle stopped abruptly, causing the contact's body to slam against the steering wheel. The contact sustained back pains and received medical assistance. Upon towing…
Control arm became unattached losing ability to steer and cracking the subframe on the front driver side
The contact owned a 2005 mitsubishi outlander. While driving 20 mph, the contact lost control of the steering wheel and crashed. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed and there were no injuries. The vehicle was destroyed and towed to a scrap yard. The…
Electrical System 124 Read
I rented this vehicle from Alamo/Enterprise at Denver Airport on 9/7/2025, and that day, while enroute to Casper WY hit a large deer on I-24 N in Wyoming where the posted speed limit is 80 mph, which was exactly the speed I was travelling. The deer was struck by the drivers side front of vehicle, causing extensive…
I was backing out of my driveway and my camera froze and I ran into a truck that was parked behind my car. The form would not let me continue until I checked the air bags box. But I do not know if that pertains to this situation
The contact owned a 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and turned off, a fire occurred near the engine compartment. The fire was extinguished by the fire department. A fire report was filed, and a fire report number was provided. The cause of the failure was possibly…
Structure 117 Read
Respectfully, we bought our brand new 2016 outlander from the dealership this may. My wife rear ended a car less than a month later on the highway. She said the car didn't stop when she hit the brakes and that the brakes don't work. The car was repaired by geico for $20k damage paid and she said she wasn't driving it…
I'm backing up on a reverse mode and a slightly elevated rv parking to get some heavy items next to my drive way, I slowly moving and try to aligned it to the pavement I notice the backup camera didn't work and press my feet to the brake then after I release it accelerate past backward hitting the wooden fench and…
I crashed my outlander in my parking lot, I was parking slowly, pushing the brake slowly, the car was at the final position in my spot and suddenly the car crashed into a tree. The tree was about 1 meter distant from my car...im 100% sure that the accident was a sudden acceleration. I had another similar episode about…
Air Bags 87 Read
The contact owned a 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle sustained a rear-end collision from another vehicle at a high rate of speed. No air bags deployed. The contact stated that the vehicle's left side had violently crashed into a wall, then the…
Front Collision Mitigation System, FCM, failed on frontal impact and airbags did not deploy. Vehicle did not activate audible or display emergency warning signals prior to frontal impact. We filed a complaint with Mitsubishi Motors national CR, and Director of Service with many calls, voicemails and emails just fell…
Front end collision, destroyed front quarter panels. Air bags failed to deploy
Steering 61 Read
I was driving my vehicle, the roads were snowy so was traveling slowly. I attempted to slow down a little more, when I pushed on the brake there was absolutely no response, usually you can feel and even hear the brakes (abs) functioning, there was nothing. I also tried to steer, again, no response, the vehicle…
I was driving speed limit, on a sunny day, when my car began to veer to the left. I eased back into the right lane and suddenly the car made a quick jerk to the left; then, another to the right. I slid on the bank and missed the ditch before becoming airborne and landing in a corn field. I was able to drive to a safe…
I crashed my car due to the rotting away of my sub frame and control arms, mitsubishi is not taking responsibility. The car has been sitting at crown mitsubishi and they only jwant to fix the recall
Exterior Lighting 60 Read
I purchased my vehicle 11/3/19, traded in my 2016 mitsubishi for 2019 mitsubishi outlander. 3 days later my lights went out and I took the car to victory mitsubishi dealership in the bronx and they said it was a loose fuse. They tighted the fuse and my lights came on. On 11/26/19, I was on the cross bronx high way in…
'takata recall' I got into a three collision accident on a city highway. When I was braking to avoid the accident it kept on moving like it ways delayed. I believe that the accident could of been preventable if my brakes was aware that my feet was on it. It's like the car was doing it's own thing. There could be more…
The contact owned a 2003 mitsubishi outlander. While driving various speeds at night, the headlights intermittently illuminated. The contact coasted the vehicle to the side of the road, waited a while, and was able to resume driving. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, but was not diagnosed or repaired.…
Service Brakes 55 Read
Mitsubishi 2007 outlander ls SUV anti-skid anti-lock system fail on 440n hwy in nj and my SUV collided in to other car and it was not big damage but outlander burst in to flames and caught fire within one minute I was able to get out otherwise I will be a dead man need to push mitsubishi to start investigation on SUV…
2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV brake-by-wire failure during a downhill U-turn at 100% battery state of charge. Pedal went completely soft to the floor, unable to stop, causing a crash
As I was parking the parking sensors didn’t engage to say I was too close to another vehicle causing me to side swipe the other vehicle! I thought it was just me but still 4 days later anytime I park the sensors don’t alert me as being too close! The forward and reverse emergency brake system is not engaging as it…
Outlander 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Back Over Prevention | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | Back Over Prevention | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | Air Bags | 14 | 1 | |
| 2020 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 2019 | Air Bags | 5 | 1 | |
| 2018 | Air Bags | 7 | — | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 7 | — | |
| 2016 | Air Bags | 7 | 1 | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 5 | 1 | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 9 | — | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 1 | 1 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 6 | 2 | |
| 2006 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 9 | — | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 9 | 2 |
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 | 695 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.7 |
| Worst single series | 10 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.8 years |
A model average of 1.7 hides a worst series at 10. 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
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
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 Outlander?
By complaint volume, 2022, 2016, 2007 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 Outlander years are the cleanest?
2025, 2005, 2006 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Mitsubishi Outlander have?
1,197 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2003–2025. Of those, 108 describe a crash and 9 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.